SWIMMING POOLS
STOP TREADING WATER
Pools cost around £10 to run per visit for every user. Most people don’t pay that much to use them, so how can we best mitigate the losses, maximise ROI and safeguard the future of pools? Kath Hudson reports
S
wimming is one of the best activities for all-round exercise: it’s beneficial for blood pressure, improves lung
capacity and puts no pressure on the joints. It still remains one of the most popular activities in leisure centres but, despite this, swimming is very often the poor relation in the leisure centre mix. In the gym and fitness studio, new
classes and equipment are constantly being introduced to stop boredom setting in, PT and regularly updated
programming are offered to help people meet their goals, technology allows for data collection, and there’s a buzzing environment. In contrast, nothing much has changed poolside for some 30 years. Swimming pools still tend to be the same size and shape, with the same activities on offer; there’s been very little innovation. And there’s often a challenge to ROI
from outside of the facility walls too, with swimming considered important at government level, almost to the point of it being institutionalised. Local authorities are protective about its pricing, ensuring it remains affordable – it was even offered for free a few years ago. And swimming lessons are part of the national curriculum. So what can operators do to maintain
a commercial focus on their swimming offering, ensuring the best possible ROI from their pool? Firstly it requires a change of focus. Tara Dillon, executive director at RLSS, says operators need to
both increase revenue and take better control of their spending. “I suspect most managers don’t run their pools like their café or gym or crèche, where each square foot is accounted for,” she says. But there’s plenty more operators
could do to give their swimming offering new lease of life. We take a look at best practice from across the sector to understand what else operators might do to make the most of their pools.
Best use of time On the up side, there’s plenty of demand for swimming pools and a growth in swimming-specific memberships. Whereas a few years ago swimming lessons were really only for school-aged kids, now even older adults are showing an interest in improving their stroke. 1Life’s contract manager in
Wokingham, Tony Penge, says demand for swimming lessons has increased for three reasons: sporty people wanting to hone their technique so
Places for People
Leisure has introduced pool-based classes such as aqua circuits
60 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
February 2015 ©
Cybertrek 2015
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