As part of the new schools “Fitness Suite Project”, research was undertaken to identify a number of companies that could possibly support and supply the right fitness equipment to attract and encourage training by a wide age group. The equipment needed to be state-of-the-art, eco-friendly, reliable and above all else, robust enough for the heavy use planned for the room.
The Lord Lawson of Beamish School was looking for a premium product and service that was affordable with in an approved budget. SportsArt Fitness was approached along with a number of other firms in order to engage potential suppliers in the decision making processes surrounding the type of equipment, the number of machines and importantly the actual layout of the fitness room.
Some companies offered to supply second hand refurbished equipment, and although this type of equipment offered a very cheap alternative, for the very obvious consideration of health and safety, particularly in a school, this option was discounted. Questions over reliability also helped rule out this option. To attract users to the gym, both John and Iain were very conscious that the equipment needed to look modern, offer innovative technical design, yet be user friendly.
As a result, this helped to narrow down the field and immediately and ruled out several other suppliers as their equipment looked and felt outdated, as well as having dangerous belts and chains exposed during operation.
SportsArt’s Northern Sales Manager, Eric Tait, talked with Iain and John in order to establish a rationale for how the fitness suite would be used, determining the age of potential users, time periods for use, plus whether the facilities would be used for dual-purposes involving the general public. Once these facts were established, SportsArt presented some scaled drawings of the floor space and possible suggestions on equipment selection and layout.
John Reach Deputy Headteacher reported, “Representing SportsArt, Eric’s experience was invaluable, enabling us to determine the optimum number of stations, matching our requirements with the most appropriate equipment. His knowledge of fitness training in general also proved to be a tremendous help. His background and involvement in professional sport both instilled Iain and myself with the confidence to make some extremely difficult decisions, based on his recommendations.
SportsArt’s involvement and support also came from the top, with their MD Mark Turner contacting the school on several occasions offering advice and guidance, plus he invited us to visit several other establishments using SportsArt equipment. This proved to be an excellent method of seeing the equipment on offer and provided an excellent way of communicating with other users to discuss problems that may have arisen.”
In circulating tender documents some companies did not satisfy the criteria specified, whilst others did not appear to read the brief correctly, which was extremely disappointing as so much time and effort had been poured into making the document as comprehensive as possible. SportsArt’s approach was very professional and customer orientated, ticking all the boxes and several more.
Although SportsArt’s tender was not the lowest, it was felt that SportArt’s fitness equipment was more robust, modern, versatile and visually appealing. Also, as the manufacturer, SportsArt’s comprehensive warranty and ‘after sales care package’ was far superior to competitors. The SportArt tender included for scheduled maintenance, onsite training and the supply of marketing and advertising products to help us promote the dual-purpose facilities to the general public.
After the installation of the equipment, SportsArt conducted onsite training with the staff of Lord Lawson School along with their formal partners from the field of athletics, basketball and football. This training was interesting and very informative. The training took place very shortly after completing the installation, which allowed the fitness suite to be open to students and staff within days. Not only did the training cover the safe use of the equipment, but advice was also given as to how best to run the gym both from a schools user point of view and also as a commercial enterprise. This advice was greatly received especially running the gym from a business perspective. The collective knowledge of the SportsArt staff and their vast experience at setting up gyms was very valuable.
Having been put to the test, operating every day from 9:00am until 9:pm in a school environment, which is not the kindest environment known to fitness equipment, there has been no break down of the equipment, no repairs necessary and the equipment looks and feels brand new.
The facility has brought a new dimension to sport at Lord Lawson’s as we now offer fitness modules to our GCSE work and younger students have an extra activity that is proving very popular. External groups are also very keen to hire our facilities, such as basketball clubs, football clubs and the local athletics club, as very few providers offer such a well equipped and professionally run gym to supplement their core function. Overall the project has been a very beneficial initiative to Lord Lawson. It was completed to budget and on time. We as a school would like to extend a very warm thank you to the staff at SportsArt. Without their professionalism, hard work and dedication this project would not have been as successful as it has proved to be.
We would thoroughly recommend SportsArt to anyone wishing to create, develop or extend any form of fitness facility.
