The brief

Fareham Borough Council lies at the foot of the Meon Valley set in the Hampshire countryside, and adjacent to The Solent. The Borough covers almost 30 square miles of southern Hampshire and is positioned midway between Portsmouth and Southampton.

Fareham Borough Council provides a high quality and wide ranging Leisure Service primarily through the Fareham Leisure Centre. The leisure centre is the borough’s main venue for indoor sport, is viewed as the ‘flagship’ indoor sports facility in the borough.

As a result of an options appraisal, the Council decided to develop a partnership for the management, operation and development of the Fareham Leisure Centre The Council identified in their Best Value review process definitive objectives swimming services. Of paramount importance was the need for a significant transfer of risk, revenue reductions and investment in the facility..

Our Approach

Strategic Leisure managed the procurement process attracting significant interest from the wider leisure management market including the private sector operators and established Trusts. In keeping with the principles of Best Value, Strategic Leisure’s advice was for the Council to adopt a modern partnership approach based upon shared vision and objectives. The Council embraced this strategy and modern partnership principles were used to develop the partnership documentation.

Project Outcomes

The procurement process and subsequent evaluation identified a preferred partner SLM Ltd who met the Council’s financial and service objectives. This partner was identified following a robust evaluation based upon the Economy, Effectiveness and Efficiency of each submission. The result has realised significant benefits for the Council, in summary these are;