As part of its commitment to create a more active city, BH Live has revealed its plans to launch a low cost multi-site membership and concessions across seven of Portsmouth’s leisure and sports centres.
BH Live is the south coast’s leading operator of leisure and event venues. It is also a charitable trust and social enterprise which focuses on making a positive social impact to the health, wellbeing and economic prosperity of its communities.
The organisation is already well established in the region and has managed Pyramids in partnership with Portsmouth City Council since 2013. It also manages several high profile venues, including Bournemouth International Centre, which has recently achieved gold standard accreditation from AIPC (International Association of Convention Centres), and Littledown Centre which was awarded the top position in the 2016 National Fitness Awards. Furthermore, the trust is an industry recognised event and hospitality provider for business, cultural and sporting events across the south of England.
From February BH Live is set to begin a ten year contract to manage Mountbatten Leisure Centre, Portsmouth Gymnastics Centre, Portsmouth Tennis Centre, Eastney Swimming Pool, Wimbledon Park Sports Centre and Charter Community Sports Centre in partnership with Portsmouth City Council, which will see £3.4m invested in improving facilities.
“BH Live is ambitious to continue what has been rapid growth across the south of England in recent years, says Peter Gunn, BH Live’s Chief Executive.
“Our new partnership in Portsmouth is a great opportunity to make a real difference in the city and enhance the leisure and event offer for residents and visitors to the region.”
One of its key ambitions, together with the council, is to make sure people who are already engaged in physical activity keep participating, and encourage those who are currently inactive, including young people, those living with health conditions or people on low income, to benefit from the city’s facilities too.
“It’s about getting more people of all ages and abilities regularly active, adds Mike Lyons, BH Live’s Director of Sport and Leisure.
“We want to make sure people know what’s on at their local leisure centre – and more importantly make it as easy as possible for them to join in. By improving the facilities, making our activity programmes appealing and introducing attractively priced activities to suit all pockets, we can start making a really big difference – and ultimately improve the health of Portsmouth’s community.”
From February, BH Live will be launching its 7 centres, 1 membership from £24 per month giving access to the gyms, classes and swimming pools. Concessionary, family and corporate memberships will also be announced with more detail to be released in the coming weeks.
Cllr Linda Symes, the council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure & Sport, said: “This is exactly the sort of innovative management we expected the new partnership to bring to our leisure centres. Residents across the city will benefit from the enhanced memberships options and improvements to facilities and this will make a real difference in helping to get more people active, improving health outcomes and taking pressure off of NHS and adult social care services.”
People can register their interest and get membership offer alerts at bhliveactive.org.uk/Portsmouth.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
For more information about BH Live please contact:
Elizabeth Symmons, PR & Corporate Communications Executive
E: press.office@bhlive.org.uk
T: (01202) 055562
About BH Live
BH Live is the south coast’s leading operator of leisure and event venues; a social enterprise that designs and builds engaging experiences to inspire people and enrich lives.
With more than three million visits a year and over £36.5 million turnover, the organisation is changing lives – placing it at the heart of the UK’s growing social economy.
In 2015/16 BH Live hosted more than 500 events, sold over half a million cultural, sporting and entertainment tickets. They welcomed 2.6 million visits into its leisure centres and 118,000 conference and exhibition delegates into its venues. An estimated £66.3 million for the local economy was generated through business and cultural tourism.
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From February 2017 BH Live will operate, in partnership with Portsmouth City Council:
- Mountbatten Leisure Centre – this is Portsmouth’s flagship leisure and event venue with a national-class 50m swimming pool, 150 station gym, sports hall, 2 squash courts, athletics track, function suite, and an onsite café
- Portsmouth Gymnastics Centre – this consists of a state-of-the-art gymnastics hall, physiotherapy room and meeting room
- Portsmouth Tennis Centre – consisting of 4 indoor tennis courts and 6 floodlit outdoor tennis courts
- Eastney Swimming Pool – 20m swimming pool and a spectators’ area
- Wimbledon Park Sports Centre – 20 station gym, 5 badminton courts, basketball court and sports hall
- Charter Community Sports Centre – 20m swimming pool, 20 station gym, sports hall and an outdoor multi-use games area