MDL Marinas – the UK’s largest marina operator – is launching into the health and fitness market – tell us what’s happening
We’re creating a new gym chain under the MDL Fitness brand to optimise our land and property holdings and extend the services we offer our existing customers, while reaching new audiences.
What’s the philosophy behind the new brand?
For operators to bounce back and continue to grow from the golden age we were in back in 2019, we all need to provide more than just health clubs, pools or gyms. We must all ensure the experiences we provide tap into the belief systems and ‘wants’ people now have.
It has to be about more than just achieving personal goals – it’s about being able to hold your customers’ attention and ensure they have a connection with the values you as an operator hold. MDL Fitness is all about making fitness sustainable and as straightforward as possible. It’s about helping people appreciate new environments they may not have been lucky enough to experience before and ensuring they’re open to people, no matter their personal circumstance.
What synergies do you see between the different elements of the business?
People are at the centre of everything we do. The more activity we can drive the better people feel and the more profit we make. Everybody wins.
Tell us about the first location
The first gym, at our marina in Queen Anne’s Battery, Plymouth, has a mix of different types of equipment, where most are capable of converting energy expended by the user into electricity to supplement the building’s power supply.
I chose SA Green Fitness – the UK agent for power-generating equipment line, SportsArt – as our equipment supplier, to ensure each workout reduces our carbon footprint, while lowering power consumption at the facility.
It’s a 35-station gym with group cycling and some great free weight and resistant equipment. Screens mounted on the walls and integrated into the website display the power generated – both as a total and from each piece of equipment – allowing people to compete against each other for kilowatt hours produced. This feature along with the panoramic views of Plymouth Sound sets this facility apart from others in the city, creating a USP for this health club.
The addition of a gym to our site at Queen Anne’s Battery also improves the marina offering and ensures people can also start to appreciate that getting out onto the water to increase activity levels is easier than you might presume.
How long has this plan been on the cards?
I presented the fitness proposal to my board in May 2020 and the doors to the first health club opened in September 2021. I feel very lucky to have such a forward-thinking and supportive MD and owner and of course the wider board who could have very easily pulled the plug, given the uncertainty of the times we’re in.
The launch is happening in part to optimise your landholdings. Will each of your marinas eventually have a health club?
We have plans for another three health clubs in the short-term, but will look at all opportunities across our estate. This will include more dry side facilities and more options around the wet side and other activity-led endeavours.
What mix of customers do you expect?
We’re open to all. Ignoring the torrid time we all had in 2020, we know that 2019 saw the rate of growth for members and market values grow across the public and private sectors, with the UK reaching over 7,000 gyms with a member base of over 10 million.
I think we’ll get a pretty even split between male and female, with our core demographics being dictated by the local population and with most members aged between 25 and 45. Having said that, we have a good opportunity with the local student market and also with the armed forces stationed nearby, so we could see an increase in penetration for the 16-25-year-old sector. We’re certainly priced to make it affordable.
What’s the price point and how will you upsell?
We’re priced at the higher end of the low-cost segment of the market – or more accurately, the good value end. We offer a non-contract membership option which can be paid daily, monthly or annually with the monthly option costing £24.99. Revenues will be grown from online options such as the ability to earn green rewards, general retail and of course some exciting options in the future incorporating more marine-based activities.
What’s your catchment?
The clubs will vary but the first location is a 1,000-member club. We expect the base to be local but also expect to see quite a lot of casual use from passing boaters, the local marine industry and contractors. The latent demand is very strong within a two-mile radius of the facility.
Tell us about the eco aspect
As an organisation MDL has always had a focus on the development of green, sustainable initiatives, working with partners such as the Green Blue and The Blue Marine Foundation for over 10 years, installing Oyster cages under our pontoons and working with suppliers to ensure products are from sustainable sources wherever possible.
With much of MDL’s core revenue coming from our customers’ enjoyment of the marine environment, water quality has and continues to be a big focus, as are the management of waste streams, separation of recyclables and green energy through the roll-out of solar cells.
There are, however, more opportunities to develop our green credentials and MDL Fitness is part of bringing these opportunities together, highlighting not only the environmental but also the commercial and marketing benefits to the company.
SportsArt is the only manufacturer offering fitness machines that recover energy expended by the user. Using this equipment gives us a green competitive advantage over other suppliers and we plan to extend this project beyond Plymouth by creating further MDL fitness sites using the SportsArt Eco-Powr equipment in 2022.
I want us to be the UK’s most sustainable marina operator, developing a culture of environmental awareness and care amongst both our customers and teams. The development of a new health club chain is one aspect of that statement.
This activity complements our current energy saving strategy which – until now – has been focused on solar cells. We now have solar installations at our Cobb’s Quay, Ocean Village, Saxon Wharf and Hamble Point marinas. Last year the installations at Hamble Point, Cobb’s Quay and Ocean Village generated 120,346 kwh of electricity. At Cobb’s Quay Marina we’ve saved 44,809kg of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of 969 trees being planted.
This activity reduces our carbon footprint and leads to lower energy costs and all this information will be displayed on a live basis through our website to motivate more reductions in emissions across our portfolio.
Will eco gyms become a new industry category?
I very much hope so!
Does being an eco gym operator give you a competitive advantage?
It does, but not a happy one. What I really want to see is more operators working with government departments or industry bodies, to see if any projects or investments qualify for grant money to help everyone upgrade existing equipment.
I want to see all the big operators move away from the comfortable fitness equipment brands we all know and start talking to the change makers. This is happening in the independent sector with operators such as SO51 fitness in Romsey and some of the UK’s universities, but the bigger operators choose to ignore the option of becoming more sustainable based on kit fulfilment.
Customers of all types are now interested in business sustainability, people – particularly millennials – say they want sustainable products and brands that embrace purpose and sustainability. Indeed, one recent report revealed that certain categories of products with sustainability credentials showed twice the growth of their traditional counterparts.
In one recent survey 65 per cent of people said they want to buy purpose-driven brands that advocate sustainability, yet only about 26 per cent actually do so. This is a challenge for all of us. How can we operate a business without impacting the environment negatively and still make it work commercially? Each of us can begin to make that journey to zero carbon with forward thinking ideas that are flexible enough to be developed alongside changes in government policy and fitness related legislation.
What persuaded you to leave the mainstream fitness sector and join a marina business?
I loved working in the health and leisure markets. Firstly with Esporta where I met my wife Heidi – who incidentally just passed her yoga qualifications and now teaches classes in the area we live – and then with Everyone Active.
Everyone Active is a great organisation. I loved working for their MD David Bibby, I had a great relationship with Jon Senior who was my direct boss for most of my time there. My last couple of years with Ben Beevers as the head of commercial and digital were fantastic.
All the team there are superb and I made lots of connections I continue to engage with. Funnily enough my now new competitor, Dave Greenwood, who runs the Plymouth leisure contract for Everyone Active is one of them.
I also saw an opportunity of being based on the coast with a chance to expand my knowledge and commercial input. The team at MDL are brilliant and the ethos very similar, with many transferable ideals.
Do you think more competition like this will come from outside the sector?
I think it already is – where companies have been disrupting mainstream fitness we’ve already seen an increase in retention.
It all started with operators adding in things such as Speedflex (Bannatyne), Blaze (David Lloyd Leisure), thé Yard (énergie Fitness) and Everyone On Demand (Everyone Active).
We’ve also seen Technogym, Les Mills, Peloton and many more driving remote training.
With more and more influencers and experiences available, all operators need to keep focused and keep innovating to remain relevant.
Who designed the club?
I first met Roger Eldergill from SA Green Fitness in 2017. I was looking at the idea of portable/temporary gyms that could be sustainable and dropped into low income areas to help get kids and those who couldn’t afford fitness centres interested in activity. So I was chuffed when the initial nod to explore the MDL fitness concept got the green light. Roger pulled together the first iteration and it has grown from there.
Have you created COVID-secure operations?
With restrictions now lifted, we haven’t had to implement COVID-secure protocols to the extent that many other operators have over the course of the pandemic – although we’ve obviously worked through it with our marina business.
We’re ensuring everybody acts carefully and remains cautious and when customers visit us, they will notice that our face mask signs remain in place.
Our toilet and shower facilities are fully open and we’re continuing with our enhanced cleaning regime. We’ve also enhanced gym equipment cleaning, with a request that customers also clean their equipment after each use. Hand sanitiser also remains available, while COVID-19 QR codes continue to be displayed around all areas for customers wishing to check in using the NHS COVID-19 app.
What was your advice to the board of MDL when it came to making this investment?
I advised that 2019 had been a strong year for the UK private fitness market. All four key metrics had shown year on year growth and reached all-time highs: number of clubs, members, market value and penetration rate.
The private fitness industry had been healthier than it had ever been. However COVID-19 fundamentally shifted the industry, giving opportunity to those in a position to enter the market and act as a replacement for those operators who haven’t survived the period.
Prior to COVID the industry was healthier than ever and one of the only markets to continue growing on our high streets in the last 10 years. So despite COVID, people will continue to want to get active, there is still 90 per cent of the population to go at, we can do it in a sustainable way, so what is not to love?
