Sports Management Issue 1 2012 - Leisure Opportunities

SAPCA has announced the launch of the Sports
Facility Show – a new event aimed specifically
at those who buy, design, operate or maintain
sports and play areas.
The Sports Facility Show will be replacing
SAPCA’s long running Sports Facility Construction
events and will be taking a new format
– details of which will be announced shortly.
The first event will be held at Cheltenham
Racecourse on Tuesday 15 May 2012. The second
event will be at Salford City Stadium in
Manchester on Tuesday 12 June 2012.
■ More details are available by emailing
info@sapca.org.uk
A contingent of overseas UK Trade & Investment
(UKTI) officers recently visited the UK
for a week’s insight into the sports facility
and equipment market – an area of particular
British expertise.
Hosted by the Sports Technology Institute
(STI) at Loughborough University, the trade officers
attended from as far afield as Russia, Brazil,
the UAE, North Africa and Canada, where they
work to promote British expertise and source
business opportunities for British companies.
SAPCA, which works with the Global Sports
Projects team at UKTI, presented a one-day
seminar to the group. The delegation also visited
the sports facilities for both London 2012 and
the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The main focus for the board has been the review
of SAPCA’s strategic direction. It’s vitally
important that the association continues to
develop with a clear vision, agreed objectives
and a sound business plan. As a membership
body representing more than 200 companies
and organisations, it’s essential that we fully
understand the needs and views of the industry,
in order to prioritise our future activities
– especially at a time when the marketplace
faces new challenges.
As part of this work we undertook valuable
market research with sports bodies,
consultants, specifiers and a cross section
of member companies. In essence,
we proposed that SAPCA’s strategic
direction should be re-focused around its
vital work to raise standards of sports and
play facilities, the strengthening of the association’s
Quality Assurance system and
more effective communication of SAPCA’s
work across the marketplace to members’
customers and to the various sports, play
and funding bodies.
It’s SAPCA’s responsibility to ensure that our
members perform to certain standards. To do
this we ask all members to work to a Code of
Professional Conduct and we are constantly
adding new Codes of Practice for the design
and construction of facilities. Again, all SAPCA
members adhere to these codes.
In these uncertain times we also now undertake
credit checks of all members once a
year, which hopefully helps to give our members’
customers peace of mind. The scheme,
operated through Experian, provides a financial
stability figure for each member. Any member
not reaching the minimum figure has their
membership of SAPCA withdrawn.
During 2012, we’ll be strengthening this system
even further. We’re launching a track and
pitch registration scheme, which is great news for
the industry and will be invaluable to members as
a means of adding value to their projects.
All members within the Pitch and Track division
of SAPCA will have to register any pitches
(more than 3,000sq m) and athletics tracks
that they build. SAPCA will then contact the
end customer to advise what will be expected
from the SAPCA member in terms of quality
standards and Codes of Practice.
SAPCA will independently inspect a percentage
of these projects at random times
during the build, ensuring that these standards
are met. If customers are unhappy at any point
they can contact SAPCA to discuss the issues.
At the end of the project, SAPCA will contact
the customer for feedback.
The scheme is a great example of how
SAPCA is raising its game with regard to
quality and we want to show the sports
sector that SAPCA does have teeth and will
use them to ensure that only the highest standards
of sports and play facilities are built by
our members.
Definitely – we are looking to make SAPCA an
even more respected body within the sports
and play facility industry. And, with the addition
of Dave Moorcroft to the board, we’ve added
another dimension – someone that will be
the voice of sport and can help SAPCA with
lobbying and linking to key sports bodies. I’m
very much looking forward to the future of
sport and SAPCA’s role within it.
Issue 1 2012 © cybertrek 2012 Read Sports Management online sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 71