Parkwood Leisure continues expansion

Parkwood Leisure, one of the UK’s leading leisure facilities operators, has secured a new 15-year lease to run Grange Leisure & Community Centre, part of Stratton St Margaret Parish Council, from July 2019.

As part of the new agreement, Parkwood will receive £850,000 investment from the council to support the redevelopment of the Wiltshire-based facility, with plans to upgrade the gym including new equipment and a dedicated functional training area, plus two new fitness studios, alongside wider centre renovations.

The announcement of the new contract marks the fifteenth new site secured by the leisure operator in just four months.

Under the leadership of new managing director Glen Hall, Parkwood has significantly expanded its leisure management portfolio since the start of the year, and now manages more than 90 facilities in over 30 local authorities across England and Wales.

“We pride ourselves on being a vastly experienced and long term sustainable leisure provider, delivering highly localised, bespoke services in the local communities in which we operate.”

“The growth that we’ve experienced in recent months is testament to our commitment to maximising the leisure provision in the communities that we are responsible for, which is underpinned by our aim of helping people to be happier, healthier and more active.”

The 15 new facilities are split across seven local authorities, with multi-site contracts awarded by South Holland District Council, High Peak Borough Council and Erewash Borough Council, where more than £1m of capital investment has already been committed by Parkwood to improve the facilities within the East Midlands borough.

Parkwood is also working in conjunction with Broughton Astley Parish Council as part of a Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM) project, which will see the construction of a new £3.6m state-of-the-art leisure centre, set to open to the public later this year.

In addition to the sites operating under Parkwood’s ‘Leisure Centre’ brand, the operator has also recently secured contracts to run two popular visitor attractions – Plantasia, an indoor tropical rainforest experience located in the heart of Swansea, and the Pavilion Gardens, a unique conferencing, events and catering facility in the heart of  Buxton, Derbyshire.

“Whilst leisure facility management remains at the core of what we do, our experience and expertise mean we are able to extend out our services – supported by our ‘Outdoors’ and ‘Theatres’ brands – to the broader leisure industry,” explains Glen.

“Our recent expansion not only consolidates and strengthens our position in this sector, but also by diversifying our portfolio of sites, it enables us to engage with even more communities through physical activity, social, cultural and leisure provision.”