Guildford Spectrum Business Plan

CONTENTS

HISTORY 4

FACILITY 5

MANAGEMENT 5

CUSTOMER SERVICES 6

POOLS 7

ARENA 8

SPECKY'S PIRATE SHIP 8

ACTION SUITE 8

ICE 8

HEALTH SUITE 9

BOWLING 9

ATHLETICS STADIUM 9

MEMBERSHIPS 10

active CARD 10

CATERING 10

SHOPS 10

CRECHE 11

TECHNICAL 11

FINANCE 11

MARKETING 12

COMPETITION 14

CATCHMENT AREA 14

ICT 14

TRAINING 15

HEALTH & SAFETY 16

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE 17

AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS 18

SPECTRUM VALUES 19

TEN STEPS TO SUCCESS 20

TYPICAL DAY 21

LOCATION 22

HISTORY

Guildford Spectrum is owned and managed by Guildford Borough Council. It was built to take leisure provision in the Guildford area forward into the 21st century. The previous leisure centre was built in the 1970s and as such was beginning to show signs of wear and tear. In addition, demand for leisure was increasing and space for customers was decreasing. The leisure centre also needed financial support from Guildford Borough Council of around Ј300,000 per annum.

Spectrum cost Ј28.154 million to build. The country was in the grip of recession at the time and had it not been for the sale of two pieces of land, the facility could not have been built. The existing leisure centre site, situated in Bedford Road, was sold to Odeon Cinemas and the sale of Banisters Athletics track, which, like the Bedford Road centre, could not cope with demand and was steadily deteriorating, was sold to Tesco Superstores. This meant that no money came from council reserves to build the facility.

Local authorities find it incredibly difficult to provide a wide range of facilities for the public at their leisure centres, which returns a financial surplus (one of the main reasons for Compulsory Competitive Tendering) and this was something Guildford Councillors recognised. The new complex, therefore, incorporates conventional facilities such as the competition pool, arena, squash courts and aerobics studio, with commercial facilities such as the bowling centre, ice rink, leisure pool and health and fitness suite as well as branded catering. This means that rather than being a burden on council expenditure, Guildford Spectrum is one of only a handful of local authority owned leisure facilities that make an operating surplus. Much of the surplus each year is reinvested into the Complex, for the renewal of plant and equipment and improvement to the services and facilities for customers.

The 26 acres of beautifully landscaped parkland in which Spectrum was built is owned by the Borough Council and as such, was free. The location was crucial as, due to its size, it had to be out of town but also accessible to as many people as possible. The access to the facility is excellent with more than 700 free car parking spaces, a shuttle bus which runs between Spectrum, the railway station, Surrey University and the town centre and there is also easy access to the M25 via the A3.

Corporate image is not widely used by local authorities for leisure centres, but as Spectrum is marketed as not only a facility for local residents, but also as a tourist attraction and major events venue, branding is essential. The name of the complex was decided through a competition within the borough and sums up the numerous facilities, activities and schemes on offer. The Spectrum flame was designed to incorporate parts of the Guildford Borough logo and to be completely unique. Inspiration came from the Olympic flame as the Olympics bring many people together for a variety of different activities, something Spectrum is also proud to do.

FACILITIES

The facilities available at Guildford Spectrum are:

4 SWIMMING POOLS

OLYMPIC SIZED ICE RINK

TENPIN BOWLING CENTRE

INDOOR ARENA

AEROBICS STUDIO

BEAUTY THERAPY

RELAXATION AREA

FITNESS SUITE

SOFT PLAY AREA

SQUASH COURTS

SPINNING ROOM

CRИCHE

ICE STATION ZERO - LASER TAG

AMERICAN POOL DECK

ALL WEATHER ATHLETICS TRACK

4 CATERING OUTLETS

2 LICENSED BARS

Spectrum is set in 26 acres of parkland and is on 4 floors (including staff only basement area), with the actual building covering 10,300 metres2. Guildford Spectrum attracts 1.8million visitors per year at an average of 30,000 to 35,000 a week. During February half term over 55,000 visits are made in 7 days.

MANAGEMENT

The managers of Guildford Spectrum are an in-house team, who were awarded the contract through the governments Compulsory Competitive Tendering process in 1993. Numerous leisure centres around the country are now managed by "external" companies - such as Serco, DC Leisure and Leisure Connection, who run the facility on behalf of the Borough Council. The contract was tendered to various companies