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- Virgin Active South Africa is investing millions to improve its facilities and expand work spaces for its members.
- The investment will also improve load shedding solutions for clubs.
- Virgin Active is also making a big push into the new popular racquet sport, padel.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
Virgin Active is investing millions to turn parts of their gyms into workspaces, which will include offices and meeting rooms.
The work-from-home shift in recent years has changed how people view gyms, the company found.
As they were not going into the office, people were looking for a different "second space" away from their homes between 08:00 to 20:00, says Virgin South Africa CEO Dean Kowarski.
"That is a space where you can work out, have a coffee, and meet people. People are no longer going into the office, and they want flexibility in a space where they can do everything," he said. An increasing number of members started to do work from the gym as well, which is why the company is directing part of a new R403 million investment into its gyms towards expanding office space and meeting rooms.
To ensure that members can work and gym throughout load shedding, the group is also equipping gyms with inverters, generators and upgrading lights to reduce electricity consumption by 2 million KWh. To date, 100 out of 129 clubs have been fitted with alternative power solutions, while the rest will be equipped in the next six months.
Some of the new investment will be used to equip gyms with dedicated yoga, pilates, and boxing studios.
The gym group also plans to extend its Virgin Active Padel facilities from 15 courts in Cape Town and Johannesburg to 100 courts at the end of 2024. Padel is currently a popular racquet sport – basically a mixture between tennis and squash.
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While Virgin Active has recruited 40 000 new members in South Africa between October 2022 and March this year, its revenue across the group has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Virgin Active has gyms in six countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Italy, the UK and South Africa. Recent financial results from its parent company, Brait, showed that Virgin Active in South Africa now has 611 000 members.
Kowarski says the group has seen South African members switching to cheaper contracts due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. The group is concerned about high attrition rates and members falling behind on fees.
However, the trend towards a healthier lifestyle continues to lead to membership growth. "As this cost of living crisis continues, people have reallocated their disposable income. [Some] people are reallocating what they would have spent on toxic habits, including drinking, to wellness and looking after themselves," he said.
The article and headline have been updated to reflect that Virgin Active is expanding working spaces, and to amend the planned number of padel courts to 100.
