COUNCILS
Southwark Council chose Fresh Air Fitness to install an innovative, multi-user outdoor gym facility at their Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park which is situated in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum.
Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park is a public park in Kennington, South London. The park, which specialises in outdoor activities, has extensive sports and recreation facilities including five-a-side football pitches and netball, basketball, and tennis courts. In addition, they had an existing outdoor gym area that, while it had been well used, now had tired, end of life equipment in place. The facility was not being fully utilised as a result.
Southwark Council identified the opportunity to improve the outdoor gym and through a competitive tender, Fresh Air Fitness was selected to provide an innovative and cost-effective solution, to not only replace the existing equipment but to rejuvenate and modernise the facility.
This project was part of a Council Plan to promote regular exercise by improving park physical activity opportunities, including renovating outdoor gyms across the borough.
The new outdoor gym needed to provide a compact solution due to the available space which had limited scope for extension or development. The solution needed to maximise the number of people who could use the facility at any given time.
The outdoor gym needed to provide easy to use, safe and engaging outdoor exercise equipment for members of the community. The aim was to enhance the park’s already amazing outdoor sport and health offerings with a state-of-the-art outdoor gym.
The equipment had to have clear, hard-wearing signage with instructions and workout suggestions to inspire all fitness levels and abilities, including low level fitness.
Most importantly, the Fresh Air Fitness outdoor gym facility needed to be robust, sustainable, environmentally friendly and offer a full range of whole-body exercise options.
Rather than just replace the existing equipment, Fresh Air Fitness proposed an installation centred around its award winning 16-user Big Rig, a compact rig with multiple pull up bars and workout stations including:
• Lat Pull Down
• Chest Press
• Hip Twister
• Sit Up Bench
• Leg Lift
• Leg Press
• Dorsal Raise
• Step Up
The Big Rig provides unlimited opportunities to challenge everyone, from complete beginners to advanced gym goers, age 11+ and upwards, so it was perfect for a community park installation.
A wheelchair Accessible Arm and Pedal Bike and Elliptical Cross Trainer were added to the Big Rig, making the new outdoor gym fully inclusive and offering cardio fitness options. Finally, the area was finished with a rubber mulch surfacing, completing the facility.
With a focus on outdoor exercise for health and wellbeing, the installation of outdoor gym equipment gave the local community a new modern and engaging facility to enjoy all the benefits of exercise whilst being outdoors in the fresh air and natural daylight.
Since installing the Fresh Air Fitness equipment, the facility has seen a substantial increase in utilisation and has attracted lots of positive comments from the community.
Our team of experts can provide you with everything you need to know about funding for your outdoor gym equipment. We also provide a FREE downloadable guide on Funding.
Fresh Air Fitness is a leading provider of award-winning outdoor gym equipment in the UK. Since 2007, we have installed over 4,000 outdoor gyms. A Fresh Air Fitness outdoor gym is robust, sustainable and environmentally friendly. We also have one of the widest ranges of outdoor gym equipment in the UK, which you can buy as a set package or cherry pick your favourites.
If you would like more information, one of the Fresh Air Fitness team would be delighted to assist with your enquiry on 01483 357289 (South) or 0151 3293550 (North).
“The new solution has transformed a tired and worn outdoor gym area into an attractive, engaging and exciting gym fitness zone. The exercise equipment is available for all the local community to use for free, helping to make Southwark a great place to live a happy and healthy life.”
MANAGING DIRECTOR, TIM WILLOCK
