Rainbow Leisure Centre in Epsom will open a full Spa-London offering this year, while Swiss Cottage (below) includes spa treatment rooms
“That logic needs to go into what we
do as well: if we can make savings, we need to look at how to re-invest them rather than allowing the money to go out of the system. Because once that money leaves, it never comes back. The result is that this ‘marketplace’ is driving down wages and driving down the skills base. It’s a process that’s wrecking the future of the industry.”
partnership working Nevertheless, GLL does become
involved in numerous tenders – not only within London and the M25 area, under the GLL umbrella, but also supporting other trusts around the country with their bids. “We believe it’s part of our job, as the
biggest leisure trust, to bring order and stability to the marketplace. We provide bidding expertise to other trusts to make sure they have the opportunity to get to the table. If they win, we then support the contract by acting as guarantor. It’s not our core business, of course, but we do charge for our services, so while there’s risk there’s also reward. Most of all, though, we want to grow market share for the trusts.” In January 2011, this co-operative
approach went one step further with the merger of GLL and Nexus Community Leisure, consolidating what was already a strong working relationship and creating a joint portfolio of almost 100 leisure centres.
august 2011 © cybertrek 2011
“The Nexus issue was
straightforward and something that affects a lot of trust-type businesses,” explains Sesnan. “It wasn’t about the day-to-day job but about Nexus’ ability to invest and take things on to the next stage. It could have carried on for the next 10 years doing what it was doing, but it was always stymied by its ability to invest: you have to be able to inject capital to make a sea change. GLL is in the fortunate position where it can do that and so, after a number of discussions with Nexus, it
seemed sensible for them to come into our family.” And the benefi t for GLL?
“Nexus is now on our balance sheet.” However, in spite of a growing
number of partnerships, Sesnan says GLL has “no grand plan to take over the UK”. He continues: “We don’t want to go out there and be aggressive – Nexus came to us rather than the other way round. However, I suspect our infl uence will continue to grow, in England in particular, as we’re open to discussions with any of the leisure trusts about collaborative working.
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 31
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