Sports Management Issue 1 2012 - Leisure Opportunities

INTENTION
Assess the market:
Current sports hall supply
in the catchment
Sports hall stock condition
Technical quality/relevance/scale
Current use; fully occupied/spare
capacity
Sporting need:
Which sports do you want to cater for
At what level(s)
Is there an NGB-identified
need in the locality
Sports status:
Levels of play in chosen sports
Facility(s) required to service this
Level of NGB technical
specification required
Quantity:
How much use can you
legitimately predict
...in each sport
...at each level of
competition/performance
Specification:
Is there a facility in place –
is it worth keeping
What facility(s) is/are required
What must the specification(s) be
to cater for the levels of play and
numbers predicted
Does it stack up:
What will it cost to open/run/operate
How much income will be generated
Is the business plan sustainable
DECISION
Changing shape
A key trigger for further change was
the Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
programme. This incorporated what was
called Building Bulletin (BB) ‘98’ guidance
which suggested that the minimum
size for new school sports halls should be
33m x 18m (594sq m). This guidance was
what both developers and the Local Education
Partnerships (LEPs) then picked up
on and specified.
However, halls of this size are now not
considered to be fit for purpose for the
key sports they serve and the prospect of
allowing another generation of facilities
that are just too small has helped Sport
England broker an unprecedented level
of co-operation among NGBs to develop
mutually agreed specifications.
To meet participation targets, support
clubs and leagues and enable
talented athletes to train and compete,
NGBs need access to properly specified,
correctly-sized facilities. The proposed
new core specification for community
and school sports halls described in Sport
England’s Developing the Right Sports
Hall document can work for all of them
and, at the base level, optimises potential
cross-sports use and income generation.
Development of 4+ halls
In seeking to change the core definition
of what we understand to be an
appropriate sports hall, Sport England’s
document provides excellent technical
detail about what is needed to accommodate
the various main sports as they
are played at present.
It also makes reference to the options
that developing various models of larger
halls offer to the operator and people
delivering recreational, competition
or performance-based programmes in
various sports. The document is accompanied
by business planning and modelling
spreadsheets to assist those considering
the various scenarios available to them to
do so with ease and confidence.
The new core unit (what we are calling
the 4+ hall), at a capital cost not
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