FACTS
• Cost £23m to develop
• 8,000sq m of real snow slopes
• The main slope is 160m long
• It has the UK’s largest indoor lesson
slope: 100m x 30m
• Snow play area for kids under six
years, with ringos and toboggans
• Rails and freestyle features
• Snow and Rock store
• The Edge café bar
• Three conference rooms
• 120 BASI-qualified instructors
MY EXPERIENCE
A
s a ski and snowboard addict who has been deprived for the past few years,
I was excited about the prospect of getting a fix at The Snow Centre.
It’s an impressive building which flows well. The café bar, with its
views of the slopes, has enough wood and slate in the design to give it a homely
Alpine feel. Although it was good to see Gluhwein on the menu, I was disap-
pointed not to get a crepe.
Much time and money has been invested in the manufacture of the snow and
the quality was good. Probably good enough to live up to the tongue-in-cheek
strapline of “the best snow this side of the Alps.”
I was pleasantly surprised at the standard of the tuition. My snowboard
instructor, Tom, was extremely likeable and I was impressed with the subtle
changes he made to my rusty technique. He gave me digestible advice and by
the end of the hour lesson I was snowboarding 100 per cent better and with
more confidence. It would have been an excellent pre-holiday refresher, if only
I had a holiday to look forward to!
The wood and slate within the design
gives the centre a homely Alpine feel
to the town. We did have to make some
changes to the initial plans; to start with
it looked a bit like a massive shed, but
the council told us we had to be more
eco-friendly so we’ve now got one of
the biggest cedar roofs in Europe.”
AMBITIOUS TARGETS
The operating costs are high, so the
stakes have been raised considerably
from the projections of the artificial slope.
In the first year, targets are 300,000 vis- obvious targets, the marketing is focused to people learning to ski and snowboard,
its, with a £6.5m turnover. This compares on reaching new people, such as the fam- but people can learn to become instruc-
with just 30,000-40,000 and £1m turnover ily market,” he says. “Most of the visitors tors, take refresher qualifications, or
for the original dry ski slope. are As and B1s: this area has six million adaptive training, for those who want
“It was a worry opening in the middle people within 45 minutes travel time. to teach people with disabilities. The up-
of the recession, but we were already Fanatics come from further afield – two take has been excellent, with all of the
committed,” says Gillespie. “However, to three hours drive – on a monthly ba- instructor courses already sold out.
we have been overwhelmed with the sis. In a few years we hope to be getting Surrey and Gillespie have high hopes
response and the level of success. We are 500,000 visitors a year. for the business: “The concept is to get
on schedule at the moment and looking it up and running as quickly as possible,
like we will achieve our year-end target.” CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE create the best business model in the
The centre is being marketed via a web- The level of tuition is the USP. It is the world and then open the next one. We
site and email marketing, as well as ski only British Association of Ski Instructors are already doing feasibility studies,”
and snowboard and lifestyle magazines. (BASI) accredited Centre of Excellence in Gillespie says. ●
“Although ski and snowboard fanatics are the south. Not only are lessons offered Kath Hudson is a freelance journalist
Issue 4 2009 © cybertrek 2009 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 69
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