Leisure centre reopens after council’s major £500k refurbishment
The refurbishment took 12 weeks
A massive half a million pound investment by Blackpool Council has seen Moor Park Health and Leisure Centre reopen today after a 12 week refurbishment.
The council has invested £482,000 in the Bristol Avenue centre in Bispham, adding 20 new state-of-the art machines, including kit proven to vastly improve strength and reduce members’ bio age, their health, fitness and lifestyle age rather than actual years.
The centre is run by Active Blackpool, the council’s community health and fitness service which also operates Blackpool Leisure Centre (at Stanley Park) and Palatine Leisure Centre.
The refurb, led by Evolution Limited, has included adding six new EGYM machines, 14 pieces of Matrix Kit, and increasing floor space by 52sqm. The Centre has also added new consultation areas for members to discuss their fitness journey with an instructor.
It comes as Active Blackpool saw more than a 50% increase in memberships over the last three years. Now around 3,000 of its current 7,000-strong membership class the Moor Park centre as their ‘home site’.
WHAT THEY SAY
Chris Rushton, head of Active Blackpool, said: “At Moor Park we have seen membership double, which is great, but the issue was that we were full and at busy times we had members queuing up, which wasn’t what we wanted.
“This investment has seen us knock down walls and reconfigure the space to allow us to bring in 20 new pieces of top level, ultra-modern kit.
“People come to the gym for all sorts of reasons but the biggest challenge is not getting people to come, it’s getting people to keep coming and stay. The longer they stay, the greater the health benefits – and improving people’s health, both physical and mental, is what we’re all about.”
The EGYM kit additions follow last year’s gym improvements at Palatine Leisure Centre and Blackpool Sports Centre. EGYM is increasingly popular with Active Blackpool members, focussing on full body workouts and providing real-time data to both customers and gym instructors.
Figures from earlier this year showed that after three months of using EGYM, Active Blackpool members saw a 24% increase in their strength and an average reduction of their bio age of 10.5 years.
Bio age reflects how well your body functions, so can differ to your number of years since birth.
Cllr Matthew Thomas, Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for Communities and Wellbeing, said: “I’m delighted to see Moor Park’s gym back open. Staying active is vital and I am proud that Blackpool has spaces like this for residents to feel inspired to get active and stay active.
“To have a space filled with the best equipment and skilled, knowledgeable staff who understand the challenges people may face when walking through those doors is something we should all be proud of.”
Moor Park Health and Leisure Centre’s new space will also strengthen the council’s Exercise Referral programme.
This gives adults with long term or moderate health conditions personalised exercise plans and specialist pathways to use across Blackpool’s three leisure centres.
The 16 week programme helps adults to safely and confidently become more active.
Previously, these exercise plans focussed on using specialist power-assisted Innerva equipment sited within each centre’s Active Wellbeing Suite.
Now this machinery has now been integrated within Moor Park’s wider gym space allowing users to access the wider gym facilities, including the new EGYM and Matrix equipment. It is hoped this will increase accessibility and remove barriers some members may face around using a traditional gym space.
Liana, 26, has been a member at Moor Park for 18 months. She said: “The EGYM machines are really motivating as you can easily track your progress and see improvements. The staff at Moor Park arereally friendly and encourage me to try new exercises.”
Bev, 59, a member for 10 years, added: “I joined Moor Park to lose weight and get fitter. I was very obese when I joined. I had multiple health conditions that were affecting me. I am now 78kg and very healthy.”