INTERVIEW
The GLL Sport Foundation provides funding for London athletes
believe is serviceable. But if you have one in east London, you don’t need both. “GLL’s strategy for the Olympic venues
is based on what you lose in one venue, you make in the other,” he explains. “The pool has a mass of water which needs heating and treating and lifeguards. To keep swimming accessible, you have to keep the prices down – the real cost of swimming is between £7 and £9 per ses- sion, which people won’t pay here. “To have these venues is the coming of
age for us,” Sesnan says, “and changes us from local to national. It ups the ante and increases the challenge. We’d have loved the Velodrome, so eventually may- be we can talk to Lee Valley about that. We’d like to work with Rio 2016, too,” he adds. “We met with the Brazilians dur- ing the Games when they were stabled up the road at Crystal Palace. No one’s yet got legacy rights, so if we deliver it would be interesting to get involved.” As to the Games themselves, Sesnan
“My challenge to our marketing people was that we run 110 centres and no one’s heard of us, but they know of David Lloyd”
says: “I don’t think we could have wished for better. It exposed people to a wide range of sports, not just the usual suspects. To see women’s boxing, for ex- ample, was fantastic. The organisers, the construction people, the athletes – every- one did us proud.” He also hails the focus on sport in-
spired by the Games. “Because we are in so many London boroughs we’ve noticed things getting done that wouldn’t have normally. In Greenwich, for instance, there are two completely new school sports centres, much bigger than any school would previously have had. There will now be seven 50m pools in London, up from only two 10 years ago. Applica- tions for everything for the under-14s is up, especially gymnastics. And you only have to go out on the street to see how
A SELECTION OF GLL’S CORE LEGACY COMMITMENTS FOR 2012-2016
■ To support 52 community sports events across GLL’s 27 partner regions per annum ■ To increase the number of young athletes supported by the GLL Sport Foundation by 5 per cent per annum ■ To offer the GLL ‘Kids For A Quid’ initiative to promote young people’s participation in swimming ■ To hold the GLL Senior Games each year as a dedicated sports and activity tournament for over 55 year olds ■ To provide a GP referral/health programme in all GLL partner regions ■ To deliver professional
qualifi cation skills training to 2,000 students per annum through GLL’s vocational training college ■ To have support agreements in place to promote and sponsor key disability sports clubs ■ To invest an average of £4m per annum into GLL-managed services to improve service and standards ■ To reduce gas and electricity consumption for each venue annually to reduce GLL’s carbon footprint by an annual average of 2 per cent ■ To trial and review two alternative forms of energy generation
many more cyclists and runners there are now – that’s good for us. We call it ‘the Jess effect’.”
BRANCHING OUT GLL is branching out into other areas of service provision, most notably library management. It currently operates all Greenwich libraries, including those at Belmarsh prison, hospitals and a mo- bile facility. When I suggest this to be a significant diversion, Sesnan disagrees. “Libraries are a part of the cultural block within local authorities,” he says. “We’re open to talk to any council where we already have an interest about integrat- ing their other cultural operations. You’d want your library to be open seven days a week, to be accessible, to have a crèche, a café, a car park and to be friendly and bright – which is the same specification as for a leisure centre. “Apart from a few shining examples,
libraries tend not to be like that,” he con- tinues. “They’re suffering from cutbacks and the people who run them aren’t building managers. We need between two and five library contracts in London to get the savings in the back office in book purchasing and so on. “About 80 per cent of book purchasing
can be centralised, which is in the local authorities’ interest.” Sesnan views early-age customers as so
vital – both to his business and in the war on child obesity – that children over 11 can use GLL centres’ adult facilities from 3.30pm until 6pm for free. “Getting kids to enjoy activity will deal with obesity – they’ll do it because they want to, not
18 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital Issue 4 2012 © cybertrek 2012
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