Everlast Gyms rolling out lighting schemes to modernize the workout
The rate at which people stop going to gyms is staggeringly high. Somewhere around 80% of them stay away soon after joining, according to a quick search on the internet.
Whatever the number is, maybe imaginative lighting schemes would help lower it, and might even attract more new members in the first place.
Cue up Everlast Gyms in the UK, which is outfitting its 69 properties with LED luminaires from a Belgian architectural lighting firm and from Holland’s Signify to deliver varying lighting scenarios controlled across the chain via central Signify “multisite management” technology.
Starting with three locations in the north of the country, Everlast has tapped the “Flat moon” suspended luminaire from Roeselare, Belgium–based Modular Lighting Instruments. Modular typically supplies Flat moon to restaurants, bars, hotels, retail spaces, and offices.
A Signify press release describes the Modular luminaire as emitting “a soft yet functional light” supporting “minimalist design principles that add to the visual appeal of the space.”
For its part, Signify is providing its Philips brand KeyLine range of suspended linear luminaires to embolden the environment with geometric shapes such as chevrons, lines, and squares that help distinguish different areas which Everlast refers to as “innovative zones.”
Everlast has now switched on the new schemes in Preston, Denton, and Shirebrook, all either near or within an hour or two of the Shirebrook headquarters of Everlast owner Frasers Group. Next up is the Everlast gym in Nottingham, about 30 miles from Frasers. The lighting push is part of a modernization effort across Frasers Group, which also includes fitness apparel and equipment, and which Frasers refers to as its “elevation strategy.”
“The first of our elevated sites in Denton, Preston, and Shirebrook reflect our ambitions for Everlast Gyms and perfectly demonstrate the gym experience we aim to bring to all of our members throughout the UK,” said Everlast Gyms managing director Daniel Summerson. “We needed to make sure that the lighting added to the look and feel of the club, while also keeping the facility environmentally friendly.”
The gym chain is controlling each location from a central dashboard using Signify’s Interact networked control system.
“Agreed scenes and schedules ensure a consistent look and feel, as well as providing increased visibility, flexibility, and control of the lights,” a Signify spokesperson said. “The cloud-based platform collects data from all light points via a connected lighting infrastructure and is displayed on a centralized dashboard. This enables better comparison, monitoring, and management of lighting across multiple locations for improved efficiency.”
The controls and the energy efficient LEDs all contribute to lower electricity consumption. Signify said the single dashboard will serve as the control center for all the 69 properties, which will also reduce operational costs.
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In another eco-friendly aspect to the installation, Signify said Everlast is making use of pendant and projector lights customized for individual sites and made via 3D printing techniques.
“These fixtures are made of 100% recyclable polycarbonate material, which is also lightweight and therefore cheaper to transport,” the spokesperson said. “The luminaires are serviceable and offer the ability to prolong the technical and economic lifetime of the product after it has been put into service.”
Many of the Everlast Gyms were previously called DW Fitness, Sports Direct Fitness, or LA Fitness. They have all been rebranded as Everlast after a series of acquisitions, sell-offs, and name changes by Frasers.
MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).
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Mark Halper | Contributing Editor, LEDs Magazine, and Business/Energy/Technology Journalist
Mark Halper is a freelance business, technology, and science journalist who covers everything from media moguls to subatomic particles. Halper has written from locations around the world for TIME Magazine, Fortune, Forbes, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Guardian, CBS, Wired, and many others. A US citizen living in Britain, he cut his journalism teeth cutting and pasting copy for an English-language daily newspaper in Mexico City. Halper has a BA in history from Cornell University.
