Porirua gym's demise 'inevitable'

BY KRIS DANDO - KAPI-MANA NEWS

Accusations of a "very uneven playing field" have been levelled against Porirua City Council in the wake of the demise of the Bodyworks gym in Porirua.

Bodyworks closed its doors on November 30 and surprised members were turned away the next morning. A thousand members have been offered transfers to new owners Cityfitness and six staff moved across, but 15 Bodyworks staff have been made redundant.

Cityfitness chief operating officer Dominic Rogerson said the acquisition of the Bodyworks Group, which has a gym in Thorndon and two in Christchurch, was of "great strategic importance". He insisted that despite negative press over the swift closing of the Porirua gym, they had had "positive feedback" from the majority of Bodyworks members and were doing their best to assist everyone affected.

He confirmed anyone who did not want to transfer their membership to Cityfitness would be paid out in full.
Mr Rogerson accepted responsibility for the speed in which they acted but said informing Bodyworks' staff of the takeover lay with that company's managers.

"A lot of people have been made redundant in our community and it's a horrible thing, but we are doing our best to accommodate as many as possible. We're working hard behind the scenes."

His bigger beef, however, is with the council, saying the opening of the Te Rauparaha Arena gym  Arena Fitness last year saw council enter "an already saturated market".

Mr Rogerson has been outspoken against the Arena gym since before it opened, believing a ratepayer-funded gym was unfair. While admitting there were fundamental problems with Bodyworks, Arena Fitness contributed "indirectly" to the closure, he said.

Mr Rogerson said he did not want to enter into a "slagging match" but there were many questions going unanswered.

"[It's] made it a very uneven playing field for private operators. In the end something had to give and unfortunately that means the loss of [Bodyworks]. Of course, it's not fully council's fault but they added to it."

The Arena's recreation manager Willie Taurima described the Bodyworks closure as a "PR disaster" and said they were getting many enquiries from that gym's former members. Any suggestion Arena Fitness contributed to Bodyworks demise was "ridiculous", he said.

Mr Rogerson said Cityfitness had recently adopted an international fitness programme after the local alternative, Les Mills, became too expensive. He "noted with interest" that Arena Fitness was able to purchase the programme.

Mr Taurima confirmed they were using the Les Mills programmes but said recent figures showed Arena was "more than paying for itself"'.

In September Kapi-Mana News reported of Titahi Bay resident John Watson's request to the Ombudsman to bring Arena Fitness' operating costs to light. He was frustrated after being told the information could not be released because of commercial sensitivity.

Te Rauparaha Arena's income and staff costs are a matter of public record  they were covered at a committee meeting on November 26. But separate figures on Cityfitness' performance were only discussed behind closed doors as making the information public "would likely unreasonably prejudice the commercial position" of the subject.

Mr Rogerson said they would be leasing out the Bodyworks premises as soon as possible. Cityfitness recently underwent a $1 million upgrade so moving to the Bodyworks site was not considered.