48 NEW OPENING
sportsmanagement.co.uk Issue 122 • 13 June 2016
Future of leisure The opening of Selby Summit last month could spell a new era for publicly-owned leisure centres. Tom Walker investigates
“W
hat makes the Selby project unique is that it’s the first public sector leisure facility which has no traditional sport within it,” says Sarah Watts, CEO of Alliance Leisure. “It’s what Sport England’s new strategy calls for – a focus on activities, rather than simply sport.” Watts is describing the new £5.2m Selby Summit Indoor Adventure in North Yorkshire – a next generation leisure centre developed by Alliance Leisure. Launched on 28 May, the facility is owned by Selby District Council and operated by Wigan-based leisure trust Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles (IHL). The centre’s facilities are unusual for a public leisure centre: no swimming pools or sports courts, but
instead a six-lane 10 pin bowling facility, 20 climbing walls designed for a wide range of abilities, aerial trekking ropes, an indoor skate and BMX park and an adventure play zone. There is also a Summit Ski centre – consisting of two indoor simulators, with their own mini slopes. An outdoor skate park, designed following consultation with local skate park users, will also be built on site with work due to start in July and be completed during the summer.
FUTURE VISIONS The centre’s concept was borne out of the desire of Alliance Leisure – in partnership with the council – to approach leisure in a different way. The aim was to create a place which would complement traditional mainstream local authority leisure provision, but
The innovative design of the centre is a first for a publicly-owned leisure facility
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