Company Statement from Inverness Leisure - incident update
Following a meeting today with representatives from the Landlord, the insurers, Senior Management Representatives and the Company’s Project Manager, James Martin, General Manager of Inverness Leisure issued the following update.
He said, “We have had a very positive and productive meeting today and my team from Inverness Leisure are working very closely in partnership with our insurers representatives in order to get the facilities open as soon as possible.
“The effects of the fire which occurred in one of our plant rooms last weekend is becoming clearer on a day-by-day basis and as we have been speaking with contractors throughout the last few days, the complexity of the works required becomes more evident.
He continued, “One of the key outcomes we were looking for from today’s meeting was to obtain a clearer understanding of when we could expect the facilities to re-open to our customers, groups and organisations.
“I can now confirm that the Competition pool will not be open before the end of October. And in addition to this, regretfully it is now looking increasingly unlikely that the ‘fun’ leisure pools will be open again this side of the New Year.
Part of the reason for this is due to Centre Management’s desire to have their facilities returned to its usual high quality standards. And as a result a decision has been made that all the water from both the Leisure Pool and the Competition pool will be ‘dumped’ and filled with fresh new water for our customers returning.
The process of emptying the pools, refilling, heating and treating the water will take about a fortnight; and this process will only take place once the insurers and Inverness Leisure management are satisfied with the over clean-up job around the pool hall areas.
Speaking in relation to the many customers paying their High Life card subscriptions by Direct Debit, the General Manager continued, “We will shortly be communicating with our Inverness Leisure High Life card holders by letter. However, by way of recognising the inconvenience the closure may be causing some of our customers, I am pleased to say that in consultation with our insurer’s representatives, it has been agreed that customers paying their High Life Subscription by direct debit will be entitled to a reduced subscription.
“High Life Cardholders will have the opportunity to freeze their subscriptions and cease using the facilities, where no debits will be drawn from their accounts until the pool has fully re-opened or due to the fact that technically half the building is not open, then it seemed sensible to only charge half of the subscriptions from anyone who wishes to keep using the facilities.
He went on, “This now means that we will be charging the equivalent of £7.50 per month for an individual and £10.50 for a family – half the normal subscription charges. Anyone who does not already have a High Life card and joins the scheme whilst the pools are closed will also be charged at the same rate.
“And in order to help out the High Life cardholders I would confirm that all the administration for the alterations to the subscriptions will be undertaken in-house with our customers needing to do nothing at this moment in time.
“I would however remind Inverness Leisure card holders that as part of our contra-agreement with Highland Council, they can use their cards at any of the Council’s pools or sports facilities for general swimming amongst many other activities.
The dryside of the facilities, including the gym, climbing wall and sports halls has been completely unaffected by the fire and remains open for their normal advertised activities.
~ENDS~