Life Leisure Stockport shortlisted for two national awards

Stockport Sports Village (SSV) at Woodley, a Life Leisure Stockport sports and fitness facility, has been shortlisted in the 2018 UKActive Active Uprising Awards.

SSV is one of the finalists for ‘Regional and National Centre of the Year’, while Life Leisure’s CEO Malcolm McPhail is also on a shortlist of eight for ‘Outstanding Leader of the Year’. 

The UKActive Active Uprising Awards, formally known as the UKActive Flame Awards are the pinnacle of recognition for the UK fitness industry.  

Last year another Life Leisure facility, Houldsworth Village, was named UK Leisure Centre of the Year, in recognition of the development and investment provided by the company, which manages 12 sports and leisure facilities in and around Stockport.

SSV has been nominated in recognition of its development in Life Leisure’s hands. It is the ‘go-to’ facility in the Stockport and the surrounding area, and a unique leisure trust offering a wide range of facilities over its 23-acre site. They include a 5,000 sq ft Gym, aerobics, HIIT and dance studios, free crèche for members, 3G football pitches, tennis courts, and new this year, an outdoor training facility for obstacle course races (OCRs) and an outdoor Laser Combat course. 

SSV is also home to Stockport Town FC of the North West Counties Football League and to The Tough Tribe Obstacle Course Race. The inaugural race was held in 2017 with 700 racers competing on the 10k course. 

Life Leisure CEO Malcolm McPhail has spent his career making a positive impact to people’s lives.  A former PE teacher, he has always believed a stronger focus on physical activity has the power to make a great difference to people’s lives and local communities. 

Holding a number of high profile roles within the UK health and fitness industry – including the position of Sports Director for Next Generation for six years – the former British Counties Athletics Champion and Scottish 400m record holder is passionate about making sport and activity accessible and affordable to people from all backgrounds. 

During his time at Life Leisure, 40% of the company’s total income has come from increasing membership and casual visitor numbers to its gyms. Life Leisure has grown turnover from £8 million to £11.6 million in the last five years – despite a significant drop in grants and other funding. 

Michaela Pennington, Assistant Operations Manager at Life Leisure said:

“The UKActive Active Uprising Awards are the awards that every sports and leisure facility wants to win. This is the third year that we’ve reached the final and it is a testament to our success in encouraging people to become more active and our commitment to developing community facilities. Malcolm’s nomination underlines our passion to ensuring a healthy, fitter future for all.”

The awards are judged through independent member surveys, ‘mystery shopping’ to spot-check staff knowledge and performance, and a rigorous assessment by an independent panel of industry experts, ensuring they are a true reflection of member experiences.  

The Active Uprising Awards are on June 21 in Manchester as part of the Active Uprising conference.