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Case Studies

Sport England

Business Planning


Context

Strategic Leisure Limited has been appointed to the Sport England framework for a number of years now, as business planning advisor.

Our role is essentially to research, scope, develop and deliver on a range of business planning (income and expenditure) projects, identified by Sport England.

The advice we provide is frequently published as national guidance, so it has to be accurate, appropriate, and independent. Where appropriate, it also needs to carry a series of caveats, to highlight the inclusions and exclusions in the figures presented, plus any assumptions, and the rationale for these.

Approach

Our approach to the projects listed below is always to be objective and realistic; this is guidance for the planning, development and delivery of a range of sports facilities across the UK, and every project has its unique factors and challenges. Whilst our advice cannot be guaranteed to solve everything, the assumptions made, and the explanations for these, plus the approach to developing long term income and expenditure estimates, should provide a direction of travel.

Our revenue estimates are developed on the basis of many years of experience, both strategic and practical, as consultants and operators, of both community and commercial sports facilities. We regularly review commercial operators’ revenue plans, and evaluate these, plus we have developed a database of examples over time, against which, we can compare and benchmark new estimates.

Whilst never an exact science, our revenue estimates, have, over the years, proved incredibly accurate. Our income and expenditure estimates are based on exemplar programming, real-life costs and assumptions, and include best and worst-case scenarios.

Outcomes

The projects undertaken on behalf of Sport England in the last three years have included:

  • Affordable Sports Centres – 50m Pool
  • Affordable Sports Centres refresh – 25m pools
  • Affordable Sports Halls refresh
  • Small Pools revision to revenue plans
  • Development of m2 income examples for a range of sports facilities