EDDIE IZZARD

Facilities at the new £50m
Birmingham centre will include a
50m pool (above), a 220-station
health club and sports hall
“The university sector is good at sitting back and saying ‘operationally we’re very good
aren’t we’. But there are many things we can learn from the commercial sector”
approximately 9,000 students have
an activated campus card giving them
discounted pay-and-play access (the
student population is around 14,000).
Further to this, 42 of the university’s 65
sports clubs make regular use of Sportspark
facilities, alongside the top regional
swimming and athletics clubs. According
to UEA’s director of sport, Phil Steele, the
programme is managed to ensure there
are always slots available for members and
pay-and-play users, as well as club- and
performance-related activity. There is
inevitably some conflict, particularly when
hosting large-scale events, but careful
planning keeps this to a minimum.
The benefit of the model to the
university is clear, says Steele: “It cost the
university £2m [initial capital spend] for
what is now a £30m facility, in terms of
what it’s cost to build and extend. If we had
to build it now, it would be £60m.”
Crucially, the CUA also allows any
surpluses from the commercial side (Steele
receives a grant from the university to
subsidise student use) to be reinvested in
facilities or programming.
With regard to performance, Steele
admits UEA is not yet an elite sports
university, although he hints plans are
afoot to offer more support to its talented
athletes. In terms of facilities, a £1.5m
refurbishment project completed last
year included more performance-oriented
training equipment and a studio for higherintensity
training, while specific strength
and conditioning and targeted training
sessions have also been introduced at the
request of university clubs.
When it comes to staying ahead of
the game, Steele sets much store by
Quest, Sport England’s national quality
scheme, which functions both as a badge
of accreditation and a tool for continuous
improvement. Sportspark received its first
accreditation – Quest Entry, a one-day
assessment – in January this year, and
Steele now wants UEA to be the first
university to get a Quest ‘Excellent’ rating
at the Quest Plus level, which involves a
two-day assessment plus a mystery visit.
“The framework it creates ensures we
continuously reflect on service delivery and
review impact and outcomes, something
that commonly gets overlooked,” he
says. “This in turn should drive improved
customer satisfaction and a more
consistent level of service, both of which
help us to be more financially successful.”
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
At the University of Birmingham – which
next year will replace its existing indoor
centre with a new £55m facility – the
practice of catering for community users
alongside staff and students has an even
longer history than at UEA. According to
director of sport Zena Wooldridge, the UB
Sport team has been juggling the needs of
these different groups for 40 years. But
while management and staff are adept
at managing the inherent challenges, the
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