As a kid, Keith Heslop played football at the Sheddocksley pitches, learned to swim at Tullos pool, and played golf at Hazlehead, Auchmill and Kings Links.
“When I joined Sport Aberdeen, I knew every single venue,” the city leisure operator’s chief executive tells us.
“I knew the ski slope, the ice rink and the Beach Leisure Centre.
“I had known all these buildings… but what I didn’t know about was the amazing work we do within them. I had no idea.”
Keith left oil and gas to join Sport Aberdeen as finance director in October 2022.
Months later, a surprise £700,000 budget cut threw the council’s arms-length external organisation (ALEO) into budget turmoil, forcing the closure of two swimming pools.
Just over a year later, the 54-year-old took the top job, replacing Alistair Robertson at the helm in January.
Tragedy struck at Sport Aberdeen’s Get Active at Northfield centre only weeks later.
Jessica Rennie, 10, died in February after getting into difficulty in the swimming pool at the Kettlehills Crescent leisure facility.
As the charity’s chief executive opens up about the incident for the first time, Keith also tell us about:
- Sport Aberdeen plans for growth as another £450,000 cut looms next year
- A joined up approach to healthcare in Aberdeen – including Sport Aberdeen
- His pride in the charity’s community work, funded by the leisure operation
- What gets him out of bed in the morning
Sport Aberdeen costs £15m a year to run
As city funding for Sport Aberdeen reduces by the year, accountant Keith has a keen eye on the books.
“It costs us £15 million to run our business currently,” he tells us.
“And I deliberately use the word ‘business’ because although we’re a charity, we are run in a business fashion.
“We target our cost model to see where we can improve.”
Aberdeen City Council provides a “vitally important” £4.5m annual funding, though the flow of cash is expected to “continue to erode” in coming years.
Budgeting a year ahead of himself, Keith expects another 10% to be trimmed in 2025.
The other £10m to keep the lights on has to come from membership, corporate sponsorship and funding grants.
“It’s right we share the pain of the budget cuts but we have faced a 20% real terms cut in grant funding in the last five years,” he adds.
Keith Heslop: Sport Aberdeen wants to grow – not shrink – its way out of financial trouble
There are challenges in adapting how Sport Aberdeen operates in light of that.
But that shouldn’t mean you have to fear your local gym closing – so long as there are no “surprises” when councillors set the budget in March.
Sport Aberdeen operates 28 venues, with more than 20,000 people either holding a membership or being on one of their coached programmes.
The charity wants that figure to increase by another couple of thousand, as it targets one in 10 Aberdeen residents.
More than 5,500 people are learning to swim through Sport Aberdeen, which runs 750 aquatic classes a week.
But already, city officials are gauging public opinion on where the budgetary axe should fall, as they look to slash £34m from council spending next year.
It might seem like the walls are closing in. But Keith and Sport Aberdeen aren’t looking to shut up shop.
“Personally, I see the way out of it as not through closing facilities, or shrinking. It’s by growing.
“The model I see being successful and financially robust is multipurpose wellbeing centres.”
A…. what now?
It’s more than a fancy name for your local gym hall. It sounds a more joined up way of thinking about them as part of the city’s health service.
With some high-ranking folk, the corporate jargon of “partnership working” and “synergy” is a frustrating mask for a lack of substance.
But as Keith eyes closer links with just about everyone in the city, you get the feeling it’s for the benefit of Aberdonians.
There are the council’s other ALEOs, Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership (ACHSCP), Bon Accord Care and Aberdeen Heat and Power.
“Ultimately we are all in competition – but this is almost trying to remove that side of it.
“But there’s a much wider portfolio we could all provide by working together.”
The hope there is to find shared goals and overlapping work to lessen duplication and stretch resources to their maximum.
Already, ACHSCP has staff carrying out health work in two treatment rooms at Get Active at Northfield, a blueprint for the “multipurpose wellbeing centre” Keith believes is the future.
Sport Aberdeen is exploring how that can be emulated at its other facilities.
Having grown up in nearby Cairncry, the chief executive speaks enviously of the £4.8m leisure centre residents now have on their doorstep.
Jessica Rennie: Thoughts with family and counselling for Northfield pool staff involved
But he also fronts up to the tragedy of the death of young Jessica Rennie earlier this year.
Solemnly, he says: “It is still an ongoing investigation so I can’t say too much.
“Our thoughts are with the family and anyone else involved in that incident.
“It has been very difficult for us to work through, though obviously nowhere near as terrible as the family’s experience.
“However, we need to make sure we’re an organisation that supports our employees.
“We have provided counselling for our team at Northfield.
“It was the right thing to do because it’s really important to me that we support our employees, young professionals who have also had to go through that experience.”
Addressing rumours of various safety improvements being hastily made at Northfield, he clarifies that no processes have been changed at the pool.
“We await the outcome of the investigation,” he finishes.
Keith Heslop: Sport Aberdeen centres must help fund community work
Despite the cloud hanging over Get Active at Northfield while inquiries continue, the pride Keith has in the local impact of the revamped centre, which reopened at the end of 2022, is clear to see.
There’s a friendly face at reception and the older regulars at the cafe who come in every day.
And the geriatrics in for tailored classes to keep fit, socialise and ultimately ease the strain on local health services, along with other Active Lifestyles work.
There’s also the mental health focused ProActive Minds project.
And the stellar Supported Physical Activity for Care Experienced (Space) programme is a particular point of pride, using the physical and mental health benefits of sporting activities to help support youngsters in the city’s care.
It could be aimed at getting kids to attend school or to help boost their attainment or confidence.
“That’s why I am looking to run facilities that, at minimum, wash their face financially but ideally create a surplus,” Keith explains.
“That is then reinvested back into Sport Aberdeen. There is no money leaking out of our organisation.”
‘It gets me out of bed in the morning’: Community work propped up by Sport Aberdeen’s leisure business
Keith reckons two in every five of Sport Aberdeen’s workers are carrying out worthy community work like that.
“We do a lot of things we’re don’t talk about like providing before school clubs and breakfast for kids.
“We teach your kid to swim in primary four. We make sure every child has a cycling lesson at school.
“We’re in every school with Active Schools, providing sport and physical activity support. That’s a key and core element of what we do and it’s almost taken for granted.”
He adds: “There are more focused areas of work for those needing extra support like quiet sessions at the ice rink, or drawing up programmes for people coming out of hospital for recovery activities like water aerobics.
“And for me personally, it’s absolutely critical we provide support for the Space programme, and help young people and those with additional support needs.
“It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.”
Sport Aberdeen needs to make money to keep up community work
But, Keith the accountant says: “To do that I need a model that creates surpluses in the venues to provide the funding to carry out that work.
“That’s the challenge. If you cut funding, you potentially cut a community programme.
“Sport Aberdeen’s staff are wonderful providing all kinds of support and that’s where we make a difference compared to other sport and leisure providers.”
He’s also leading work to engage with newer Aberdonians, to think beyond communicating only in English, and include minority populations and people additional support needs board level within Sport Aberdeen.
And it feels like Keith could speak enthusiastically about the inclusive plans and life-changing community work of his charity all day.
But our 45 minutes are up and he leaves me to go off to a meeting on another project about tight-knit partnership, with the other charities carrying out equally important work all over town.
‘Do we have the city covered?’
Along with the bosses of Aberdeen Sports Village, which is jointly funded by the city council and Aberdeen University, he’s steering a project to work out exactly who is doing what – and where.
That includes Sport Aberdeen centres, ASV, ACHSCP, the city’s schools and universities, and charities like Aberdeen FC Community Trust and the Russell Anderson Foundation.
Even the private schools are keen to be included, and could offer up some space.
Aberdeen’s facility strategy was first drawn up in 2016.
Keith explains: “We want to resurrect it to find out what we currently have and what we are trying to do.
“How many swimming pools do we actually need and where should they be?
“How many football pitches do we need?
“And what are our target outcomes in terms of getting children, young adults, those with additional needs and the elderly active?
“And do we feel we’re successful across the whole city?
“Being frank, I feel as though Sport Aberdeen is focused on areas such as Northfield and Middlefield. And I take comfort speaking to ASV that they work with the Russell Anderson Foundation to cover Seaton, Tillydrone and Woodside.
“But do we collectively have the city adequately covered?”
Read more:
- Bucksburn Swimming Pool reopening shambles scuppers multi-million-pound plan for new sports centre at Teca
- Westburn Park cafe and gym spending plan could be ‘game changer’ for Aberdeen
- Cash-strapped council could put future Aberdeen Beach masterplan work ‘on hold’
- Sport Aberdeen boss Alistair Robertson to retire after ‘completely transforming’ city leisure charity
- And you can take part in the council’s budget consultation, mentioned in the article, before September 15.
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