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This week, we launched a new workplace gym at Nineteen Wells Street in London, continuing our partnership with GPE to manage and develop workplace fitness and wellbeing across its portfolio.
The space is a great example of what can be achieved within an office building without needing an enormous footprint.
What was previously a fairly tired meeting-room space has been transformed into a bright, welcoming gym where people in the building can train.
From underused space to somewhere to train
The new gym includes a mixture of free weights and cardio equipment alongside plenty of open floor space for stretching, mobility work, Pilates and potentially corporate fitness classes in the future. An adjacent room has also been fitted with custom storage containing kettlebells, slam balls, resistance bands and other training accessories.
It is a smaller footprint than some of the workplace gyms we manage, but that's part of what makes the project interesting. For employers and property owners, sometimes making much better use of space that already exists.
A workplace fitness space doesn't need to compete with a large commercial gym. It needs to give people convenient access to the right equipment, in an environment they feel comfortable using, and make it as easy as possible to incorporate exercise into their working week.
A gym only works if people feel confident using it
One of the most important parts of this week's launch was our programme of gym inductions. We welcomed people from across the building into the new space, showed them how to use the equipment safely and gave them the opportunity to ask questions about their own training.
For existing gym users, an induction can simply help them familiarise themselves with a new environment. However, for somebody who hasn't trained in a gym before, it can be much more significant.
Walking into a gym for the first time can be intimidating. You might not know how a piece of equipment works, how much weight to use, what exercises to choose or even where to start. Without support, that uncertainty can be enough to stop somebody using the facility at all.
We want to change that.
A big part of our mission at That Day is to increase the number of people who feel confident exercising and strength training. Workplace gyms present a huge opportunity to do this because they put fitness directly into people's everyday environment.
Personal training built into the workplace
People using the Nineteen Wells Street gym will also be able to book personal training through our bespoke That Day booking platform. Rather than simply providing a generic PT service, users will be able to browse trainer profiles and choose the coach they feel would be the best fit for them.
That might be someone looking for guidance as they begin strength training, an experienced gym user wanting to improve their performance, or somebody who simply wants the accountability that comes from working with a coach.
Providing corporate personal fitness and training within the workplace makes that support significantly easier to access. There is no separate gym to travel to and no need to build another appointment into an already busy day.
Managing the space after launch
A successful workplace gym isn't a fit-out project that ends when the equipment arrives, we will continue to manage Nineteen Wells Street as part of our ongoing partnership with GPE.
That includes maintaining and servicing equipment, making sure the gym remains in excellent working condition, responding to member enquiries and, importantly, helping drive engagement with the space over time. Because ultimately the measure of a gym isn't how good it looks on opening day. It's whether people are still using it months and years later.
That is why our approach to workplace fitness combines the physical space with the services around it: inductions, PT , corporate fitness programs, classes, challenges and other activities that can help people build movement into their lives.
Fitness as part of a healthier workplace
We see workplace gyms as more than an employee perk.
Done well, they can become the foundation for a much broader approach to workplace health and wellbeing.
Fitness might begin with someone completing their first gym induction or joining a lunchtime class. From there, workplaces can build an ecosystem that includes personal training, coaching, therapy, mindfulness, wellbeing activations and wider training and development.
Not everyone will use every service.
That's the point.
People need different types of support at different times, and our aim is to make more of that support accessible through the places where they already spend a significant part of their week.
We're really pleased to see Nineteen Wells Street open and to welcome its first users into the gym.
