Plymouth’s large YMCA has opened a new gym and immersive cycle studio as it progresses with a £1m revamp of the facility.
The centre, in Honicknowle, now has unveiled its gym and cardiac rehab services area, and the new hi-tech immersive spin studio, with its five-metre screen, showing VR images, and LED strip lighting.
He facility is equipped with top-of-the-range equipment from the likes of Precor and Assault Fitness, with 23 Spinner Chrono cycles in the immersive studio.
With upgraded changing facilities and a new reception area, conference room and even improved corridors, the overall cost of the improvements came to £800,000 - and there is more to come.
In 2020 YMCA Plymouth received a £450,000 investment, mostly a grant, from Postcode Innovation Trust, thanks to funding raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and social impact investors Resonance.
Sport England provided cash for the £50,000 upgrade of changing facilities and the charity also accessed social enterprise loans and was grateful to Plymouth building contractors who charged lower than usual rates for a job that could have spiralled to £1.5m.
Among firms that took part in the project were Keith Elliott Construction, which completed the foyer, and Nub Sound Ltd, Mitie, AWL Group, and Derwent Flooring Plymouth Ltd, all of whom also supplied time and materials for free to revamp the conference room and corridor.
The regeneration of the YMCA Plymouth centre is the biggest change the site, at one time called the Kitto Centre, has undergone since opening in 1973.
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The revamp is being carried out in phases with the sports facilities first to be completed. More developments are due during the next two to three years.
Eyes now turn to the outdoors concrete five-a-side pitch which is envisioned as a £75,000 multi-activity space which can be used by the community.
“We have put in a few bids for that,” said Lee Abbas, business development and marketing manager. “Possibly social investment.”
There is also a desire to increase the size of the site’s soft-play area, which would cost about £100,000, with smaller scale decorative work in need of doing too.
A revamp of a dining area is due to start in November 2021, to create a space for members and the community.
“We want to turn it into somewhere people could come for, say, yoga, and then stay for coffee,” said Mr Abbas. “We have other spaces that we want to improve.”
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The YMCA Plymouth site is also home to the YMCA’s Discovery College, which has 180 students learning on a range of courses including business, travel and tourism and child care. This is likely to grow. Mr Abbas said: “Classrooms would like to be expanded. We will probably have to expand the college at some point.”
YMCA Plymouth currently has 350 gym members but about 2,500 use the fitness centre, either individually or in block bookings. About 40 community groups rent the sports hall. In total, about 30,000 people visit the centre each year. The centre, including the college, employs 36 full time staff, with another 15 part time workers and volunteers.
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