Quote:
The company who have made the offer to rebuild the Sparkhill pool at Moseley School is Pulse Fitness. My understanding is that they have a very good reputation.
Here's a link to a swimming pool that Pulse Fitness built which attracted people from areas of high economic deprivation - see
http://www.pulseselect.com/media_casest ... edlock.htm
I still want to meet with Pulse Fitness to finalise their offer, in particular - how would they ensure the admission prices are affordable; can we add a learner pool to the design; how do we ensure a high standard of maintainance/cleanliness of the building and equipment.
In the £100million investment progrmme in our swimming baths, we set aside £15million for both Sparkhill and Moseley Road baths.
The costings are coming out as follows:
To restore and re-open Pool 1 of Moseley Road baths, plus various safety works, plus mechanical and electrical works to the building - £9million
Sparkhill baths: Option 1 - replacement of baths on present site; pool dimensions 25m by 13.5m (6 lanes); learner pool; 60 station gym; sauna; dance studio - £13.1million; annual running costs £184,000
Sparkhill baths: Option 2 - replacement of baths on present site; pool dimensions 25m by 8.5m (4 lanes); learner pool; 30 station gym; sauna; dance studio - £10.9million; annual running costs £334,000
Sparkhill baths: Option 3 - replacement of baths on Moseley School site as part of larger sports complex; entrance off Springfield Road; pool dimensions 25m by 13.5m (6 lanes) with movable floor; 80 station gym; sauna; dance studio; sports complex would include sports hall and floodlight five-a-side pitches - £3million; annual running costs £228,000
From an overall strategic objective, it would be irresponsible not to explore Option 3. This gives us the opportunity to provide swimming provision in Sparkhill/Springfield AND restore Moseley Road baths.
Once we have a final offer on Option 3, we will do a public consultation exercise.martin_mullaney
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I was wondering if Martin could clarify the options he has outlined for Sparkhill Baths-
Firstly, they do not compare like for like. It is easy to say option 3 is low cost- because it is a significant reduction in amenities.
Moseley school already has a gym, a dance studio and has astro turf/playing fields that can be hired. These were built very recently. I presume these will form a majority of the new sports complex (unless you are really aiming to throw away public money and destroy the current facility).
So option 3 is basically a pool and a sauna- which for 3 million pounds and 228, 000/year running costs for thirty years is starting to sound like not such a good deal.
In addition, a learner pool, a gym and a promised dance studio will be lost.
Secondly, I still don't understand the huge disparity in running costs between option 1 and 2. Two extra lanes in a swimming pool (which we know are loss makers) and an extra 30 stations in a gym are going to make a saving of £150,000/year. Why not build option 1 with a larger gym to increase revenue?
In addition to this, does anyone use the gym at Moseley school? I live a short distance from the gym- but it simply isn't open during off peak times. You can't use Be Active there at all if you are a man. You can only use it for 8 hours/week (out of a potential 40) if you are a women. People from the area around Moseley gym would use Sparkhill gym as it was open to the public and free. As private companies are basically motivated by profit, we have no assurance that this will improve in the new private facility. As for using swimming facilities during school hours- this used to be possible in Sparkhill. Schools predominantly used the learner pool and the bottom quarter of the 30m pool. I could swim lengths at any time during the day. This isn't possible in smaller pools.
This is starting to sound like a bad deal..........
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