Pyramids and Mountbatten celebrate top marks from industry assessors

Portsmouth’s Mountbatten and Pyramids leisure centres have been rated very good by Sport England’s trusted trade body, Right Directions.

Mountbatten and Pyramids are owned by Portsmouth City Council and operated by BH Live, a registered charity and social enterprise.

The assessment, known as Quest, benchmarks cleanliness, how the centre is managed and its team’s performance against other operators in the sport and leisure industry. Assessors reward centres for their dedication to making fitness a clean, fun, and safe pastime. The rigorous process includes a mystery shopper visit, interviews and online research to get an authentic customer experience.

Thanks to BH Live’s professionalism, presentation, and commitment to inspiring more residents across the city to get active, Mountbatten and Pyramids were each awarded with ‘Very Good’ status – one of the higher accolades in the scheme.

Mountbatten was particularly praised for its Health & Wellbeing programme. This encourages and enables individuals living with long-term health conditions or illness, to be more active through supported and specialised Health & Wellbeing group classes.

The assessor noted that at Mountbatten, BH Live ‘provided an excellent environment to break down the barriers for those with lower confidence to be integrated into the gym environment’ and that the centre’s exercise referral scheme ‘covers an incredible amount of conditions, including stroke, cardiac rehabilitation, COPD maintenance, Parkinson’s, mental health and cancer’.

Furthermore, BH Live’s team at Pyramids in Southsea received praise for the ‘great variety of activities and sessions for members with additional needs’ on offer and for the centre’s work towards tackling inequalities through its ‘range of equipment, activities, and initiatives provided’.

BH Live’s team received positive feedback for the ‘strong support mechanisms in place via the health and wellbeing and sports development teams’. They were also applauded for their friendliness and professionalism towards colleagues and visitors. The assessor shared they were ‘very impressive’ with ‘many positive customer interactions observed’.

BH Live was also commended for its partnership work and outreach with organisations across the city to support and enable more people into physical activity. These include community groups such as Activ8, United Minds, and Urbond.

As a registered charity, getting more people active is one of its main aims. On behalf of BH Live, Rob Cunningham, Director of Leisure and Business Development shared:

“We have the privilege of operating some of the best leisure centres and sports facilities in the city in partnership with Portsmouth City Council. We are helping to improve thousands of lives every single day and I am incredibly proud of the teams at Mountbatten and Pyramids for their remarkable achievements.

“Thanks to our hard work, we’re making sure these community leisure centres continue to be fantastic places to work, play, learn and visit for better health and wellbeing.”

Sarah Lobo, Head of External Accreditations at Right Directions shared:

“It’s wonderful to see that both Pyramids in Southsea and the Mountbatten Leisure Centre earned a “Very Good” rating in their Sport England Quest Assessments. The Quest process has really helped highlight the value of the teams’ work and how they stack up against national standards. The facilities are clearly committed to encouraging more visitors across the city to stay active.”

Cllr Steve Pitt, leader of Portsmouth City Council, said:

“It’s great to hear both the Mountbatten Centre and the Pyramids Gym have done so well in the recent Quest Assessments. We have a strong partnership with BH Live and as a council we work hard to support and encourage healthy lifestyles for our residents. We’re absolutely thrilled to see the Mountbatten Centre receiving the recognition for its Health and Wellbeing programme and the Pyramids Gym for its array of offerings for those with additional needs.

 “Congratulations to BH Live, the recognition for the work you do is very well deserved.”

 Visit bhliveactive.org.uk for more information.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

For more information about BH Live please contact:

Daisy Saunders, PR & Communications Executive
E: press.office@bhlive.org.uk

About BH Live

BH Live is a leading operator of leisure and event venues; a registered charity and social enterprise that designs and builds engaging experiences to inspire people and enrich lives.

For more visit bhlive.org.uk.

Get social with us:
LinkedIn, X – @BHLIVE_UK
Facebook @SocialEnterpriseBHLive

BH Live is a leisure and cultural trust, established in 2010 as a ‘non profit distributing organisation’ (NPDO) for public benefit to promote participation in leisure and cultural events. BH Live is a Company Limited by Guarantee and Registered Charity. Charity No: 1138311. Company No: 07092112.  VAT Reg No: 108 2248 37. BH Live (Enterprises) Ltd, is a Private Company Limited by Shares and a wholly owned subsidiary of BH Live. Company No: 07175626. VAT Reg No: 108 2248 37. Registered Office: Bournemouth International Centre, Exeter Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5BH. Registered in England and Wales.

BH Live operates the following venues in partnership with Portsmouth City Council:

  • Mountbatten Leisure Centre – Portsmouth’s flagship leisure and event venue with swimming pools, a 150 station gym,
    squash, spin and dance studios, a cycle velodrome, athletics track, function suites with bars, a café and soft play facility.

Mountbatten is also home to an eight-court sports hall. The sports

hall remains temporarily closed for overhead repairs.

It is also home to a Clip ‘N Climb leisure attraction which opened in 2018.

For more visit bhliveactive.org.uk.

Get social with us:
X and Facebook – @mountbattenlc

  • Pyramids Centre – one of Portsmouth’s leading leisure venues overlooking Southsea beach and the Solent. It has state-of-the-art Technogym fitness equipment in a spacious gym with functional fitness, strength and cardio zones. There is a dedicated area for health assessments and people who are new to exercise, plus fitness tracking technology to help support people in reaching their activity goals.

Four activity studios provide a variety of daily exercise classes including Group Cycling, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), Yoga, Pilates and the Les Mills programme.

The centre is also home to Exploria, a themed play and bounce attraction which opened in 2021. A range of exciting experiences stimulate play and challenge children agreed from 6 months upwards. A bounce zone includes a diving tower with air bag, interactive games, themed slides agility parkour, battle beams and foam pits. The play zone includes ball pits, spider’s web and cargo climbing features, a rope bridge skywalk, bash bags, tunnels, rollers, beams and dodge ball shoot out. And the baby and toddler zone has all things Exploria, but downsized for little ones. There is also a range of interactive games, a dedicated sensory room, four themed party rooms and a café serving snacks, light bites and drinks.

For more visit bhliveactive.org.uk and exploria.org.uk

Get social with us:
X – @PyramidsCentre
Facebook – @Pyramids.Centre

  • Portsmouth Gymnastics Centre – gymnastics hall with physiotherapy and meeting room.

For more visit bhliveactive.org.uk.

Get social with us:
Facebook – @PortsmouthGymnasticsCentre

  • Portsmouth Tennis Centre – Situated in the north of Portsmouth consisting of four indoor courts and six floodlit outdoor courts. A comprehensive coaching programme caters for all ages and abilities. Sessions are available for tots, juniors, adults and also includes variations of the sport such as cardio tennis and touch tennis.

For more visit bhliveactive.org.uk.

Get social with us:
X – @PortsTennis
Facebook – @PortsmouthTC

  • Wimbledon Park Sports Centre – sports hall with badminton and basketball courts

For more visit bhliveactive.org.uk.

Get social with us:
Facebook – @WimbledonParkSportsCentre

  • Charter Community Sports Centre – 20m swimming pool, 20 station gym, sports hall and an outdoor multi-use games area.

For more visit bhliveactive.org.uk.

Get social with us:
Facebook – @CharterCommunitySC