Increase Attraction
£2.5M Cheltenham Leisure Centre Refurbishment and Fitness Suite Extension
Leisure at Cheltenham has completed a £2.5m refurbishment project, including an extension to the gym allowing the centre to accommodate growing membership numbers and better cater for those with disabilities.
The partnership project between The Cheltenham Trust, Cheltenham Borough Council, Sport England and Gloucestershire County Council creates a sport, fitness and play destination for visitors and members.
Following the expansion of the fitness suite, additional state-of-the-art Precor equipment has been installed and the cardiovascular range is now enhanced with Preva networked fitness consoles, providing up-to-date digital solutions for member connectivity. Preva networked fitness provides exercisers with an engaging and personalised experience, enabling them to set goals, track workouts and earn badges and milestones to help keep them motivated and on target towards their goals.
The gym also showcases additional award-winning Precor Adaptive Motion Trainers with Open Stride, elliptical crosstrainers with moving handlebars, recumbent and upright bikes and a further nine treadmills, two of which are IFI (Inclusive Fitness Initiative) approved, providing an extensive range of CV options for members to use.
Investment has also boosted the gym’s dedicated functional training PT zone, with members now benefitting from increased small group training and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) sessions following the installation of a Queenax™ functional training unit and the addition of an Assault AirRunner and an Assault AirBike Elite. The Queenax™ showcases a variety of accessories that can easily be attached, removed or reconfigured. These allow the unit to be effortlessly converted and adapted for different uses, offering versatile exercise options and encouraging participation with fun ways to exercise.
When used in combination with the Queenax™, the Assault AirRunner and Assault AirBike Elite provide members with unlimited HIIT workouts, offering class variety and varied levels of intensity.
The Assault AirRunner and the Assault AirBike Elite provide great alternatives for clients with injuries, putting less pressure on joints enabling members to push their workout as hard as they like. While the simplicity of the Assault AirRunner and its manually driven belt means members can jump on and start running with no buttons to press.
Aside from an upgrade in gym equipment in 2013, the project represents the first significant investment in the centre since it re-opened in 2008 following severe flood damage.
Stephen Petherick, Head of Commercial and Customer Services at Leisure at The Cheltenham Trust comments: “This investment will enable people to take part and enjoy some great new activities and experiences, whether in terms of their health and fitness or to simply play and have fun. A real focus has been on inclusivity and accessibility for the public to bring the services right up to date.
“Precor has always been a key part of our fitness offer to provide high quality cardio, strength and functional activity for customers. Our core offer has been complemented with the additional functional training equipment provided by Queenax™ including the Assault AirRunner and AirBike Elite. The new space and equipment allows us to offer real choices and diversity, as well as development of our in-gym training classes and activity.”
The introduction of inclusive equipment increases the centre’s capacity to meet the needs of health-related activities such as GP referral and physiotherapy programmes.
A new Pool Pod Hoist ensures access to the swimming pool for those with disabilities and the pool changing rooms now offer additional disability changing, including a changing places facility, while the refurbished female group changing includes new lockers, toilets and vanity area.
Two former large changing rooms have been converted into a large 88sqm, first of its kind in Cheltenham, aquatics play area for children and families, featuring a host of interactive water play facilities including jets, cascades and water curtains; hand wheels and fill ‘n’ spill buckets; and a slide and interactive wall panels.
Two of the centre’s five squash courts have been converted into two new exercise studios, allowing the venue to expand its studio timetable.
The reception area has been remodelled to improve the customer experience with a new welcoming reception desk, new access control, fast track kiosks for members and retail space.
Since it took over the running of Leisure at Cheltenham, Cheltenham Town Hall, Pittville Pump Room, Prince of Wales Stadium and The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, The Cheltenham Trust has focused on improving the quality of customer and audience experience through a number of investment programmes, resulting in significant annual savings to Cheltenham Borough Council of £1.025m on revenue expenditure over a five year period delivered through efficiencies and income growth.
Find out more about Queenax Find out more about Assault AirRunner and AirBike Elite
