Life Leisure Cheadle has received a prestigious award from Sport England’s National Benchmarking Service (NBS), a scheme which enables sports and leisure centre operators to see how well their facilities compare with similar ones around the country.

The family-focused centre offers facilities including a swimming pool, aerobics studio, fitness suite and a dedicated group cycling centre, and delivers a wide range of group sessions, from mums and tots activities to over-60s exercise classes.

The centre is one of just four top-scoring facilities to receive an award in the Efficiency category at this year’s NBS Awards, presented at the Quest & NBS Conference in Loughborough.

Factors assessed in this category include utilisation – for example how many people visit the facility on a weekly basis and what percentage of the local population use the centre – and financial performance, from income to energy efficiency.

Chris Scott, Senior Business Manager at Life Leisure Cheadle, said: “To be recognised as a top-scoring centre in the efficiency category of NBS is fantastic and testament to the hard work and dedication of our team. Four other Life Leisure facilities also scored very well, which goes to show that our focus on making sport and fitness accessible to all ages and abilities is really working.”

Mike Hill, NBS director, said: “Life Leisure Cheadle has demonstrated that it is one of the best performers in the country, based on our independent analysis and benchmarking. It has shown excellent performance can be achieved in tough financial times.”

Life Leisure is a charitable trust and not for profit social enterprise company. It manages 13 sports and leisure facilities in and around Stockport, and also delivers a broad range of sports and physical activity programmes in neighbourhoods across the area.

Professional athletes from a range of sports train at its centres, including Olympic medallists and hopefuls in sports such as swimming and athletics.

Life Leisure’s fitness clubs, sports centres and programmes are developed to be high quality, affordable and accessible and aim to improve people’s lives.

With over 500 staff across its sites, Life Leisure is a significant North West employer. Its focus on people has helped increase turnover by 45% in 5 years.

Photo, from left to right: Dave Lornie, Leigh Grice, Mel Huddleston, Chris Scott and Mike Norman