Seven years ago Moray Leisure Centre was days away from shutting the doors for good after running out of cash.
To put it bluntly, they didn’t have enough members and customers coming through their doors to cover their bills.
Today, the centre has never been busier. Bosses are now plotting an £18 million expansion that could more than double the size of the gym and expand their fitness studios to new levels.
Management say the only thing holding the fitness centre back now is the cramped capacity of the aging 1993 building. They believe there is still an unknown level of untapped demand in the local area.
So, how has Moray Leisure Centre turned it around in such a short space of time?
The Press and Journal sat down with chief executive John O’Kane and operations and finance manager Alexandrea Macleod to find out how they’ve done it, including;
- How Covid provided an unlikely opportunity to increase Moray Leisure Centre offering.
- Why the Fit Life? membership scheme is one of the most affordable in Scotland.
- How bosses pack the Moray Leisure Centre timetables to make it one of the busiest facilities of its kind in the country.
- And why bosses aren’t afraid of commercial operators in Elgin providing competition.
How close was Moray Leisure Centre to closing completely?
In 2018 Moray Leisure Centre wasn’t generating enough income to cover its bills, including staff wages.
The building remains owned by Moray Council, but its day-to-day operations are run by an independent charity Moray Leisure.
Worries about the future of the building grew so severe that Moray Council turned to High Life Highland for help.
Current Moray Leisure Centre chief executive John O’Kane arrived as part of that rescue package. He revealed work immediately focussed on growing income.
He said: “If Moray Leisure Centre doesn’t bring in enough money, we’re not able to pay the staff. The facility was getting to that position at the time.
“We had to develop a sustainable future for Moray Leisure. We looked at the operations to try and find a way to generate more revenue, part of that was joining the Fit Life? scheme which had already been launched in Moray.
“Very quickly we refurbished the gym upstairs, put in a 100-station gym and made it all one room instead of a space that was split into two.”
Less than a year after the refurbished gym opened, Moray Leisure Centre like the rest of the country was plunged into Covid restrictions.
What was initially a crisis opened up new opportunities that had never been considered.
Mr O’Kane added: “We identified very early on in Covid we had very little to sell, due to the restrictions on people and spaces.
“So we immediately extended our opening hours and put on as many classes as we could and a lot of people came back as quickly as they could.
“It was faster than most other areas, which tended to be slower. Rather than cutting our opening hours, we extended them, got people back quickly and they continued their memberships.”
It’s a trend that has continued since Covid with documents filed with charity regulator Oscr showing Moray Leisure Centre’s annual income has grown from £2.2 million in 2022 to £3.7 million in 2024.
What makes Elgin leisure centre so popular?
A quick look at Moray Leisure Centre’s timetables show dozens of fitness classes every day beginning incredibly early at 6.10am with the last starting at 9pm. Meanwhile, the building itself is open open to 11pm.
The classes range between specialist sessions for women who have just given birth, sessions tailored towards teenagers or pensioners and intense workouts for all ages.
Demand for them is phenomenally high with many of them fully booked days in advance.
Meanwhile, swimming instructors run lessons for an incredible 2,000 learners every week, which is roughly the population of Fochabers.
Why are the classes at Moray Leisure Centre so popular? Mr O’Kane says its down to the phenomenal value of the Fit Life? membership, which is £34 a month for a family.
Similar memberships cost £40 for a family in the Highlands, while individual packages in Aberdeen start at £30.50 and at £35 in Aberdeenshire with no family offer.
Mr O’Kane said: “Conventional memberships have a conventional reach.
“Our membership is different. We want to provide the lowest possible membership for the public. We’ve done that. Nobody knows what the reach for it is now.
“We need to keep growing, that’s the most important thing for us.
“At the moment we’ve got demand with more people wanting to come into the building. We just need more space.
“We had 30 people in a dance fit class this morning. I know it could have been 60 if we had the space – we need more space.”
Mrs Macleod said: “That’s why we’ve expanded everything we’ve done. We’ve got 200 adult fitness classes a week to accommodate the demand.
“We’ve got 2,000 swimming lesson spaces a week, we’ve expanded the opening hours, we’ve refitted the spinning studio to get more space and get better.”
Inside Moray Leisure centre expansion plans
Moray Leisure Centre believes they can double their membership, taking them from 12,500 members to 25,000.
At the heart of the vision is an £18 million expansion plan, which would involve more than doubling the size of gym from 100 to 250 pieces of equipment.
Fitness studios would also more than double in size from a capacity of 20 or 30 people to 50 alongside an expanded cafe and welcome area.
And an overhaul on the machinery powering the ice rink and swimming pool is planned due to the current systems being well beyond their working life.
Moray Leisure Centre has already secured backing from building owners Moray Council for the plans. The local authority has pledged £2 million as well as a further £4 million in the form of a loan.
However, it is up to the operators to secure the rest of the money to fund the project.
Mr O’Kane explained expansion of Moray Leisure Centre was critical to ensure it can compete with rising operating costs.
He said: “If we don’t grow our business we’ll just become more expensive to operate.
“Every business at the moment has got rising prices, so if you don’t grow the business the only option that’s left is you have to put your prices up.
“The building is beyond its economic life. The behind the scenes stuff is falling apart. It’s not that obvious to members of the public but it needs significant investment reasonably quickly.”
Mrs Macleod added: “The pool plant and the ice rink plant have got their own issues but the whole building does as well.
“It’s all pretty much as when it was put in in 1993. The only major thing that is new is the new boilers we put in recently.
“It is due a refurbishment. It would make the whole building much more economical to run and environmentally friendly.”
Why Moray Leisure Centre is not worried about commercial rivals
Moray Leisure Centre is facing increased competition in Elgin in its expansion quest for members.
Moray Sports Centre opened in the south of the town in 2019 with its own gym offering.
And last year national operator PureGym moved into town with a 24-hour operation on the Edgar Road retail parks.
However, Mr O’Kane and Mrs Macleod insist they do not see the other providers as direct competition.
Mrs Macleod said: “The reality is we don’t really compete with PureGym. When they opened we refreshed our kit and we put in a new fast entry system, so we modernised.
“The reality though is that we have different markets.”
Mr O’Kane added: “The market is moving very fast. Technology is moving very fast. We need to be at the forefront of that.
“Our offering is much broader though. Two thirds of our members are families because our family membership offer is such a good deal.
“During the day our gym is incredibly busy, which is the main difference between us and other leisure operators.
“At 10am on Mondays nobody else is anywhere near as busy as we are. Generally our users get younger as the day goes on and by staying open until 11pm we are bringing in younger people.
“The difference is Moray Leisure Centre. The building has a relationship and engagement with the public that just can’t be matched.
“Generations of people have learned to swim here, people are taking their kids to skating lessons who learned to skate here and we’re providing a service to meet that demand.
“That busyness during the day is unmatched anywhere else, you just don’t get that. People love Moray Leisure Centre, they meet their friends here, they do activities together, people want to be here, it’s a community.”
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