Building the Gym
In order to open Ministry of Fitness we had to have quite a long drawn out fight with the local Council who were adamant that the gym would not open (well one planning officer and her boss was, no one else objected.)
Therefore we had to go through several stages of representation and appeal before we were even allowed to start work.
Click image to enlarge
The Planning appeal was rejected and was referred to the Planning meeting. Despite an almost exactly the same proposal being granted in Yate (in the same Council district) the Planning Officer and her boss still didn’t want to grant it. The Planning officer told a fib in the meeting to sway the decision that ‘kingswood was not in decline (economically) and Yate was’ hence why the Yate proposal was granted and mine not.
However information obtained from the Council’s OWN WEBSITE showed that actually Kingswood was more in decline than Yate and had been for some time. NAUGHTY FIBBERS!
Therefore the proposal was rejected.
Click image to enlarge
Unrelenting in our quest to provide a top quality gym in Kingswood we then went to appeal. We recruited a Planning Consultant to assess and present our case.
We submitted the case in December and the evidence we presented was as thick as a large print bible with reams of evidence and photos showing the empty shops and premises in the surrounding areas as well as letters of support from local councillors, MPs, sports clubs and residents.
In fact NO ONE objected to the gym apart from:
- The planning officer and her boss
- Another local gym
The Planning officer did not even bother to submit a counter appeal to our evidence.
We were granted the appeal in January 2010 and the Inspector who assessed our case found that the council had acted unreasonably in determining our case and had not considered like cases in a similar manner (in reference to the Yate proposal)
We also won a case for costs against the council to the tune of £2500 because of the unreasonable behaviour.
Click image to enlarge
Work then began in earnest in May 2010. This was the building before we started any work at all. Click images to enlarge
Changing rooms taking shape
You can see the changing rooms had to be built from scratch from the bottom up.
Ladies changing and shower area
Thousands of litres of paint were used to paint the WHOLE building including the roof which required the hire of a scissor lift to reach the very top.
Over 140 heavy duty rubber mats were used to cover the floor area, each one weighed 50kg each.
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The Kit arrived while we
were laying the floor! |
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All the Dumbbells came
flat packed |
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6 hours after opening, no mirrors yet
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Playing with the multitude of cable attachments |
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View from the Front Door
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| 11th May 2010 |
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28th May 2010 |
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13th June 2010 |
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11th July 2010 |
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| 14th July 2010 |
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1st August 2010 |
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The Studio
Kettle bell/Ab area
Reception
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