COO FOREWORD
LEISURE DB
SHARING BEST PRACTICE
As a former operator leading portfolios of private health and wellness clubs for 30 years, I know first-hand the challenges the industry faces in its attempt to future-proof pools – especially when up against today’s many variables, from eye-watering energy costs to rising wages that put pool safeguarding resources at a premium. There are, however, numerous opportunities to maximise pool revenue streams, and ways to get energy costs under control; the operator interviews interspersed throughout this report offer invaluable advice and best practice from which we can all draw great learnings. We’ve also partnered with some of the sector’s leading suppliers to supplement our report with additional operational recommendations and solutions. It all adds up to make this year’s State of the UK Swimming Industry Report a more compelling read than ever – a report that since its first edition in 2010 has been the go-to resource for the sector, providing a comprehensive annual audit of all private and public swimming facilities in the UK. As always, this year’s report embraces all the different types of swimming pool facilities and includes a full breakdown of pool numbers and regional coverage, openings and closures, public and private sector analysis and expert commentary on the trends. You can review our research methodology on page 84. For me, one of the most interesting challenges and opportunities lies in the realm of energy consumption: across the UK, pools are a major energy consumer, with heating pool water and ventilating pool halls accounting for around 65% of total pool energy bills. Address this and we also address carbon emissions, which is something we’d all like to see, creating a more environmentally-sustainable network of swimming pools across the UK. Conducting a carbon audit can be a good first step, analysing current carbon performance and offering actionable steps to reduce pools’ carbon footprint – and in the process, promote better energy management. And there’s good news for operators, with some government funding available to support these efforts. Often only visibly promoted to the public sector – in the shape of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, for example – funding is in fact also open to some private sector operators too. In this case, operators must be serving the local community, and must be able to demonstrate – via a means test and open book policy – that they are under pressure to future-proof their pools and need financial support to reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption. So there is some support out there, and combined with the data, advice and partner solutions in this year’s report, we hope to support our sector as it moves to future-proof the vital, life-saving resource that pools represent to communities across the UK.
We hope to support our sector as it moves to future- proof the vital, life-saving resource that pools represent.
HEIDI BLACKBURN COO, Leisure DB
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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