As SLC reflects on the last 12 months, we are delighted with the success of in the last twelve months and are looking forward to continuing to support our existing client base and forging some new partnerships in 2018 and beyond. SLC has successfully delivered over 50 projects for clients in local government, education, the third sector and private sector in the last 12 months.

Highlights include:

Leisure Procurements

SLC is now the UK’s leading advisor on leisure procurement. We supported North Kesteven District Council in their leisure procurement secure savings of c. £7.5M over 10 years including facility investment and an enhanced outreach service. We also supported Watford Borough Council achieve significant revenue savings, an enhanced outreach programme and free swimming / Gym Active sessions at selected times.  Finally, we secured significant savings over 15 years for West Lindsey District Council and Barrow Borough Council in their leisure procurements including investment into their facilities and the introduction of an outreach service for residents.

Advisor to Sport England

Sport England has recently appointed The Sport Leisure and Culture Consultancy (SLC) to lead the review and update of the Procurement Toolkit suite. This toolkit is for use by the sector and by organisations with close relationships with Sport England including Local Authorities, commercial operators, Leisure trusts, Legal professionals, leisure  consultants, and sector bodies.

Following sector feedback, the emphasis of the updated Toolkit will be to provide more support for Councils with their in-house operations, trust operations and outsourced operations, linked to commissioning support, strategic planning advice and procurement. It will feature further step by step guidance, case studies, best practice tips and templates to reduce time and cost of all partners involved.

The Toolkit will continue to be seeking to bring the latest innovations in service specifications, standard industry positions on risk, performance management and governance. It will further encourage partnerships which can deliver increases in participation, enhanced customer experience and financially sustainable leisure provision, regardless of the management model being used by a local authority.

Capital investment and Revenue Savings

At SLC, nothing makes us happier than to see facilities delivered, services improved, and cashable savings unlocked for Councils.  SLC has helped to achieve £25 million in revenue savings for clients in 2017/18 through its procurement / transformation projects.

Additionally, SLC has been involved in £170 million worth of capital investment projects which have been or are being constructed over the past 6 years. £84m of capital investment projects that SLC has been involved with will open 2018/2019.

Duncan Wood-Allum, Managing Director of SLC said, “We are very proud of the impact we are having on the sector in enabling our clients to deliver sustainable infrastructure, improve services and making significant savings.”

Other news

SLC has entered into strategic partnership to provide our clients with a broader range of complimentary services. SLC have partnered with Southern Green who provide landscape architect services in masterplanning projects, supporting clients such as Watford Borough Council and Barnet Council.

We are delighted to have welcomed Toby Wingtens as Senior Consultant and Moira Welch as Office Manager to the growing SLC team.

SLC is also pleased to announce that Anna Dalton has been promoted to Principal Consultant and Business Manager. Anna joined SLC on an Internship in October 2012 and has risen up the ranks. As a certified PRINCE2 practitioner, Anna leads SLC’s approach to project management and is responsible for SLC’s ISO 9001:2015 quality management certification. Anna has played a key role in the development of SLC’s Insight Research Toolkit and GIS tools, supporting SLC’s robust supply and demand audits, market research and demographic profiling. Congratulations Anna!

Think Tank Seminars

SLC has also hosted three facilitated Think Tank events this year which have provided over 35 Councils with examples of best practice on Leisure Procurement and provided an opportunity for delegates to discuss their issues and challenges with peers and our expert team.

We are looking forward to building upon the success of previous Think Tanks, providing more events on sustainable leisure and cultural services linked to leisure procurement this coming Autumn. (British Library, London – 3 October). Further details can be found here.

Client Feedback

Getting outstanding results for our clients is what gives us the greatest satisfaction. We review all completed projects with our clients and they score us on a number of factors from 0-4. Our

combined client scores for projects in the last 12 months is currently at 95%. Some examples of written feedback include:

SLC’s industry experience enabled them to engage effectively with all stakeholders involved in our project, building relationships with providers and facilitating effective working partnerships for us to develop further in the future.

‘Their communication skills and how they worked alongside us throughout the project was outstanding.’

‘We were extremely pleased with the high level of service and hope to have the opportunity to work with SLC again in the future. We would recommend SLC unreservedly.’

‘Their professionalism and quality of their work is remarkable, and we would not hesitate to work with them again in the future.’