Leisure centres and sports facilities are a vital part of the communities in which we live.
Not only do they provide essential facilities for people to be able to work out and exercise, they also serve as a meeting place, where those using the centres can meet up with friends, make new ones and gather with their families.
Then came Coronavirus and, like so many other sectors, leisure centres had to adapt and change. Part of the process of adapting was to think about how they would reopen in what quickly became known as the ‘new normal.’ With councils under huge financial pressure because of the impact of Covid-19, leisure centres, as well as privately-owned gyms, faced a different future.
So when Government announced that “normal life was slowly returning” and the rules were to be relaxed to allow gyms and leisure centres to reopen if they were Covid-secure, they quickly had to assess what changes were required and what they were going to need to do to reopen safely.
That included issues such as cleaning regimes, social distancing and new safety measures. Individual centres will offer guidance to help customers stay safe, covering everything from booking systems to what kit to wear, what equipment you can use, cleanliness and hygiene. It’s important that people returning to leisure centres and gyms, as well as the staff who work there, are able to do so feeling reassured that measures are in place to help protect them.
Many centres have installed sanitiser stations, as well as protective acrylic screens in reception areas and around equipment where necessary. Zero Point 8 is proud to have helped leisure centres and sports facilities adapt quickly to put those measures in place, working across a number of sites to assess the requirement, recommend actions to be taken, design and manufacture the screens and install them – all done from our HQ at the heart of the UK.
Zero Point 8 CEO Mark Baker said: “As a Black Country and British business we have been hit hard by the pandemic ourselves, so we have an innate understanding of what other sectors are going through. But we have come back stronger, and in doing so we are helping provide facilities for people which they rely on not just for the physical health but for the mental wellbeing too. Leisure centres are an integral part of our society, and by providing them with a turnkey solution we are doing our bit to get the UK moving again.”