HEALTH & FITNESS
as it’s regulated by the Care Quality Commission. We employ our own full- time GP and he’s the gatekeeper for the whole practice. He carries out inter- nal audits of the medical outcomes of patients to ensure that, clinically, we’re producing good results. He’s then audited externally by another GP, and we have a panel of self-employed senior practitioners who vet any new practitioner we put forward. The integ- rity of the centre is very strong. “We market it as a separate entity –
approximately 40 per cent of custom comes from the club and around 60 per cent from outside, mostly through word of mouth. And it’s very successful. It turned over about £1.6m last year. “That means there’s enough busi- ness coming through the doors that practitioners are happy to cross-refer to each other, plus we have refer- rals both ways between personal trainers and the medical centre. And that’s quite a big step for our industry, because people normally tend to claim they can do everything. But being will- ing to pass a client on to someone who’s a real expert in their field is in the best interests of the customer and is a philosophy we certainly encourage. “We’re also signing an agreement with the Royal British Legion, our nominated charity, to provide rehab services for injured servicemen, as well as fundraising for them and even providing work placements at the club for those leaving the forces. “The concept of integrating health and fitness is in the name of most clubs, but it’s actually a reality with us.”
“There’s plenty of opportunity in London and that will be my focus. However if we can make the concept work across the capital, we may consider rolling out elsewhere through partnership deals”
NEW VENTURES
Dunmore now plans to roll out more Third Space clubs across London. “I’d like to be in Chelsea and maybe somewhere in the City, although that’s a hard environment,” he says. “Clapham would be great, and per- haps London Bridge. Even Richmond or Greenwich in due course. When we launched the management buyout, the backing was for a ‘five clubs in five years’ plan. The recession affected everybody, ourselves included, so in my mind that five-year plan starts now. “There’s plenty of opportunity in London and that will be my focus – I don’t know cities like Manchester or Birmingham well enough to expand there. However, if we can make the concept work across a number of loca- tions in the capital, it may be that we consider rolling out elsewhere through partnership deals in the longer term.” For now, the second Third Space site is under construction in the Marylebone area of London. Due to open in spring 2011, it’s a 1,350sq m (14,500sq ft) location in the Marylebone Hotel. “The owners had recently spent £37m refitting the hotel and wanted to upgrade the gym, which was run by
Virgin Active – a former Holmes Place club,” says Dunmore. “We were approached by the owners and, based on our designs, they awarded us a 15-year lease. “We’re retaining the pool but
everything else is being gutted. Marylebone has more of a vil- lage feel to it than Soho, so the finish at the new club might be softer, but design-wise it will have some similar features to the Soho club: open plan, with no corridors and an open stair- well so you can see everything that’s going on around the club – I think that encourages people to try new things. “We’re also putting in a Retro Gym. I don’t want to give too much away at this stage, but it fits in with fitness’ current trend towards using body weight as much as possible and is designed to be a bit of fun. It’ll be almost like an old-style school gym, where the cir- cuit training approach included some pretty effective exercises. “We aren’t having a medical cen-
The 20m swimming pool is ozone-treated
tre in Marylebone but, to add to our product range, we’re going to put in a spa, which we’re calling The Third Spa: three treatment rooms, two of which will be wet rooms, plus a sepa- rate manicure area and possibly also a spray tan area. We’ll also offer our own Third Spa signature treatments, which we’re currently working on. This spa offering was key to the hotel. “Ultimately we’re there because the hotel has invited us, and it’s funda- mental to the relationship that we treat their guests absolutely as our own members. But we’ll also be selling memberships and our Soho members will be able to use the new club too. “I know spa is quite a crowded sec-
tor, but I’ve been to a lot of spas in the last nine months and the customer
52 Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital ISSUE 1 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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