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Built in the early 1980s, Medlock Leisure Centre was historically a dry sports facility. Thanks to a three-way collaboration between Tameside Sports Trust, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and leading leisure solutions company, Pulse, the site has received a million pound make-over transforming it into a state-of-the-art health and leisure facility.
This is the story behind the successful partnership. We’ll establish the solutions implemented, the quality of the finishes and other interesting information.
The impressive centre boasts a new £3 million swimming pool funded by the Council and a further investment from Pulse of £1 million for the refurbishment of the existing dry sports facility and the provision of a new health and fitness studio, dedicated changing, reception, lounge and refreshments area.
The project at Medlock was about transforming the facility and providing a flagship leisure centre for the Trust’s new Active brand. Part of the challenge was to overcome public perception that redevelopment simply meant new equipment and a lick of paint. Pulse worked alongside the Trust with support from Tameside Council to complete a total transformation from the highest quality fitness equipment to contemporary internal décor and first class external building finishes - a truly redeveloped leisure facility.
Due to the flexibility of Pulse Select, the Trust was able to select a range of services that were best suited to its requirements. Pulse can provide everything from design and build, site surveys, feasibility studies, interior design through to marketing, training and sales generation.
The overall objectives for Medlock were to improve the
range and quality of facilities and activities available to the local community, to increase attendance, to improve the financial viability of the facility and provide equipment that was accessible and DDA compliant. Pulse was specifically chosen for this project by the Trust because they offered the best solution for delivering a high quality end product.
Pulse put together a comprehensive sales and marketing programme to ensure that the centre opened with impressive membership figures from day one. “The launch promotion Pulse implemented resulted in nearly 1000 new members,” comments Neil Chaisty. This launch plan included the development of the new Active brand for the Trust that works across all of the sporting facilities that the Trust offers including wet and dry sports. Promotional material is also supplied to the site on an on-going basis to provide support to the gym staff.
The Trust took on an Investment and Services Partnership that required no capital investment but delivered an exceptional facility with on-going support for the centre. This support includes a training programme that is delivered both before the centre opens, and
on a continuous basis for all the gym staff. Before the centre opened, all the staff were trained on how to use the new equipment and basic maintenance of equipment. Pulse also offers a number of accredited training courses that provide the gym staff with new skills.
Once the site was open, Pulse analysed the membership data for the fitness suite by mapping the membership data using GIS mapping capabilities. The results of the mapping exercise demonstrate that the centre is attracting a large percentage of members from some of the most deprived areas in the UK. It also demonstrates that most of the membership is gained from a 2 mile radius with the highest number of members only having a 10 minute journey to the facility. This information helps to formulate future campaigns and enables the Trust to better understand its community and the social issues important to them.
The key information feeding into this map includes:
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The total population of Tameside is 213,045 |
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The 16-24 age group is evenly spread across the borough |
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The over 60 age groups close to the facility do not appear to be drawn as direct debit members to the facility |
By overlaying these results on the Indices of Deprivation, Pulse was able to ascertain that:
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11% of members are from the top 10% of deprived areas in the UK |
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22% of members come from the top 20% of deprived areas in the UK |
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87% of members are from the top 50% of deprived areas in the UK |
Despite the potential lack of affluence within the Droylesden area where Medlock is situated, and the adverse affect that this has on health and car ownership, the plan put in place by Pulse still attracted members of the community to join Medlock Leisure Centre.
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