Our team embody our vision and values and are some of the UK’s most respected subject matter experts in public sector leisure and active wellbeing. Politically astute, we are able to operate within complex environments as part of our clients’ extended teams.
Our skillset combines a deep understanding of the challenges faced by our clients, sector leading technical expertise and a passion for enabling fairer, more diverse and inclusive active communities. We bring a can-do attitude, momentum and energy to every project and programme we support.
This is why our clients see us as a critical friend and ask us to work alongside them time and time again.
Duncan Wood-Allum
Managing Director
What’s working with Duncan like?
“Duncan has a unique ability to understand highly complex, political challenges and work through them alongside his client, elected members and team. He ensures his client is fully supported and sighted on the key issues, risks and opportunities. He communicates effectively with senior politicians, executive directors and senior officers. His leadership, support and advice is highly valued.”
You can reach Duncan via email or telephone at 07930 549580.
Duncan is a leading strategic adviser to the public leisure, sport, physical activity and wellbeing sector. His 35-year career spans working in inner-city sport and leisure facilities, schools, developing and operating facilities and managing services in local government. In the last 22 years he has advised the public sector, working in niche and FTSE 100 blue-chip consultancies. At each stage along this journey he has delivered some exceptional outcomes for the organisations he works alongside – including major UK cities, Sport England and local authorities.
He has led some of the most complex leisure service transformation programmes and is comfortable working in extremely challenging and dynamic political environments, bringing focus, clarity and purpose to clients and teams he supports. Duncan’s educational background includes a BSc (Sports Science and Recreation Management) from Loughborough University and an MBA from Henley Management College, supplemented by international study tours. He is highly regarded within the sector and across local government as a thought leader and has written extensively in national publications and spoken at national conferences . Duncan is a former Executive Member of the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association (2012-2017) and was the tenth person to achieve Chartered Fellow status at the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).
He regularly contributes to national guidance and recently supported Sport England in developing the updated Strategic Outcomes Planning Guidance and led SLC in developing the Leisure Services Delivery Guidance (formerly the Sport England Procurement Toolkit).
His long career highlights include; successfully developing three innovative community leisure facilities in the 1990’s, developing Quest – the UK Quality scheme for Sport and Leisure into a nationally recognised award in the early 2000’s, supporting a range of Olympic Legacy projects and being lead adviser on the ground-breaking Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub in Warrington.
In his spare time Duncan is a Level 2 regional league hockey umpire, cycles as much as he can and mentors young people at his local secondary school, Oathall College.
Toby Kingsbury
Director
What’s working with Toby like?
“Toby brings a calm and considered approach to any project he leads. The relationships that he develops with clients are built on trust, high quality and consistency of delivery. He can cope with unexpected issues and challenges, smoothing the way for the project and managing risks proactively. An excellent listener and strategic thinker, he offers a unique blend of talent, rigour and balance. If you have a tough project to deliver, Toby’s a natural choice.”
You can reach Toby via email or telephone at 07876 033830.
Since joining SLC in 2015, Toby has firmly established himself as one of the leading strategic advisors within the physical activity, sport and wellbeing sector and is passionate about developing services and facilities that contribute to better health outcomes for local communities.
An MBA graduate with a strong background in operational management, facility development and local authority commissioning, Toby is a key part of the SLC team leading transformational change in the wake of Covid-19, providing expert guidance to local authorities on new strategic approaches to service delivery and facility development.
Toby has a reputation within the sector as an innovative, forward-thinker with an exceptional eye for detail and impeccable project management. He is highly skilled at managing senior stakeholders, building trust amongst officers and elected Members and his commitment to delivering high quality outputs results in consistently excellent feedback from our clients.
Toby has recently led on a series of high-profile projects and programmes ranging from sport and physical activity strategies, feasibility studies, parks and open spaces masterplanning, management options appraisals, leisure procurements and contract reviews. This breadth of understanding of the sector combined with highly developed consulting skills means that he adds significant value to any project he leads.
Outside work, Toby’s main interests involve spending time with his family and coaching and playing for Findon Cricket Club.
Anna Dalton
Director
What’s working with Anna like?
“Anna’s working style is understated and calm. She provides high-quality detailed analysis of complex issues and scenarios. Her ability to work effectively in a team ensures that our clients get the very best outcome. Anna has a sharp intellect with the ability to take a complex problem, break it down and simplify it. Her consulting skills are superb.”
You can reach Anna via email or telephone at 07419 588110.
Having joined SLC as a Research Consultant, Anna has progressed through the organisation to her current role of Director, accumulating broad consultancy experience across a wide range of projects and programmes. As a certified PRINCE2 practitioner, Anna leads SLC’s approach to project management and she has successfully delivered well over 150 projects for SLC. She has considerable experience in all of SLC’s core offer including; strategy and planning support, feasibility and masterplanning, management options appraisals, procurement and partnering.
Anna specialises in providing focused support within complex projects, particularly those involving the development of insight and market assessment, business planning, financial modelling and analysis. She has led on the development of complex portfolio-wide business cases for two core cities and played a leading role in developing SLC’s approach to providing Covid-19 lockdown and recovery support.
Anna is responsible for SLC’s ISO 9001:2015 quality management certification and overseeing all quality processes in the company. SLC are proud of this certification, as it ensures all company processes meet very high standards and sets us apart from other consultancies.
In her spare time Anna is a keen cyclist, cycling in the UK and across Europe.
David Rushton
Associate Director
What’s working with David like?
“Working with David provides clients with total confidence and assurance that they’re in the right hands. His methodical approach to planning complex management options appraisals, leisure operational partnerships and procurements, taking clients on every step of the journey, is unrivalled. His relationships with, and knowledge of, the leisure operator market is unrivalled. He is accessible and happy to walk through any aspect of the project with clients, which provides them with real comfort.”
You can reach David via email or telephone at 07752 104906.
David has over 25 years of experience in the sport, leisure and culture sector. He has particular expertise in delivering sustainable sport, physical activity and wellbeing services further enhanced by being the lead researcher and author of Sport England’s Leisure Services Delivery Guidance, which will replace and enhance the Procurement Toolkit in 2021. The new guidance covers all aspects of commissioning from strategy, options appraisal and strategic delivery including through procurement, in-house, Local Authority Trading Companies and local trust management models.
David has led on a number of SLC’s transformation and procurement projects delivering millions in savings for local authorities, schools and third sector organisations.
David has 10 years of management experience with two of the UK’s leading leisure operators in group management and business development roles. He also spent 10 years at the Audit Commission, inspecting leisure and cultural services in over 60 local authorities. This provides our clients with unrivalled expertise on commissioning sport, physical activity and wellbeing services.
David brings this unique experience on commissioning projects and has led to much better contracts and partnerships for over 50 local authorities , significantly improving financial and non-financial outcomes for our clients whatever their chosen management model.
He has a great sense of humour and works brilliantly with elected members and senior stakeholders.
David holds a Masters in Recreation Management from Loughborough University.
David’s spare time is focused on hockey, tennis and swimming, whether coaching hockey or supporting his children’s sporting interests. He has been a club volunteer for over 30 years.
Chetan Ladwa
Principal Consultant
What’s working with Chetan like?
“His ability to integrate into the team is excellent. Working closely with clients and stakeholders to ensure projects are focused and deliver the right outcomes is at the core of his consulting style.”
You can reach Chetan via email or telephone at 07585 953162.
A graduate with legal training, Chetan moved into corporate finance in 2010, working with a range of finance and corporate services products, with long stints in New York and Hong Kong. Chetan ultimately progressed to board level, before moving into business consultancy in 2018, working independently with several clients across a variety of sectors.
Chetan is currently supporting a number of SLC projects linked to our strategic planning, service delivery and advisory work.
Chetan has a keen eye for detail orientated research and reporting, and deep experience in consulting methodologies. Chetan will be bringing this broad experience to bolster the senior team and provide a fresh perspective for our major programmes and projects. Chetan is currently undertaking formal PRINCE2 qualifications, and in his free time enjoys walking across the South Downs and Ashdown Forest.
Dom Hudson
Principal Consultant
What’s working with Dom like?
“Working with Dom is a collaborative and insightful experience, where he uses data-driven insights to tackle complex challenges and inform decision making. His analytical approach, attention to detail and clear communication ensure that projects stay aligned with objectives and deliver high-quality outcomes.”
You can reach Dom via email or telephone at 07884 385757.
Dom has joined SLC from a background in management consulting, with a proven track record in delivering impactful solutions within the public, private and third sectors.
With extensive experience in project and programme management, change management and data analysis, Dom has supported a wide range of clients in navigating multifaceted challenges. Dom’s expertise lies in using an analytical, evidence-based approach to drive strategy development, project delivery and continuous improvement. His passion for sport, social impact and public initiatives fuels his commitment to making a meaningful difference through his work.
Outside work, Dom enjoys working towards an endurance challenge, with some examples being Ironman triathlons, running the Vanguard Way and a Backyard Ultra.
Freddie Dean
Consultant
What’s working with Freddie like?
“Freddie is keen to understand the background and context of a project to enable him to provide optimal support to the team. He is calm, considered and diligent in his work. A real team player.”
You can reach Freddie via email or telephone at 07407 806458.
Freddie graduated from Bournemouth University in 2023 having been awarded first-class honours in Sports Management (BSc Hons). During his graduation ceremony, he was recognised as a ‘Top Student’ by the Club Management Association of Europe (CMAE). This award celebrated the outstanding work he produced throughout his time at university.
His excellent achievement in his studies is exemplary of the acute attention to detail and strong determination to deliver exceptional results that he has demonstrated in his early client work.
To supplement his studies, he undertook a number of internships within the private sector of the sports industry. These experiences have enabled him to provide a new perspective to SLC’s project work.
In his spare time, Freddie doesn’t shy away from taking on a physical challenge, most notably running the Brighton Marathon in April 2022.
James Mazarelo
Research Consultant
What’s working with James like?
“James brings a detailed and thorough approach to every project he is involved with. He is very organised and his ability to work well in a team helps him form strong relationships with our clients.”
You can reach James via email or telephone at 01444 459927.
James joined SLC in October 2024 as a part-time Research Consultant after a month’s internship.
James recently completed a master’s degree (MSc in Sport Management, Politics and International Development) and achieved a distinction. He completed this alongside his international hockey goalkeeping commitments as a full-time member of the Great Britain Men’s senior team since 2022. He won a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, a silver medal at the 2023 EuroHockey championships and went to the Paris 2024 Olympics as a squad member.
James is also a member of the British Elite Athletes Association (BEAA) Athlete Advisory Forum which works with UK Sport, UK Anti-Doping and other national organisations to ensure the athlete voice is heard and influences decision making at senior management level. This has given him experience of working with influential stakeholders and trying to persuade them to consider different viewpoints.
James graduated from Loughborough University with first-class honours in 2022 with an undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Science (BSc Hons). In the first two years of his degree, he was awarded a scholarship for academic excellence, recognising the highest performing student in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences.
Our Strategic Partners
State 4 Life
Social value experts
State of Life are advisors to the HM Treasury Green Book on wellbeing. Together with academic partners, they have supported Sport England in shifting towards a model of health and wellbeing economics and social value reporting. This has helped Sport England estimate the annual social value of community sport and physical activity (wellbeing of those participating and the savings to the health and social care system) to be £107.2 billion.
SLC has been advocating a shift to health economics and the use of the WELLBY and QALY measures in physical activity. With State of Life we continue to support this ground breaking shift in standards of evidence and reporting. This will help everyone understand and value physical activity as the preventative health intervention we all know it is.
DB3
Architecture support
DB3 are an award-winning global practice for sustainable Architecture and Design who have had a specialist Sport and Leisure Architecture team for more than 35 years.
They have sat on British and European standards committee and have been Design Advisors and Design Assessors for Sport England since 1998. This has led to them co-authoring several Sport England design guidance documents and reviewing hundreds of leisure projects. Therefore, they have significant experience in planning, design and procurement of both public and private sector sports and leisure facilities.
4Global
Physical activity data specialists
4GLOBAL have created the largest repository of physical activity data across the UK and Europe. This allows them to provide sector-leading data analysis and insight within the sport and leisure industry.
SLC works with 4Global in a variety of ways, one of which is producing supply and demand analyses. It is vital to understand the leisure provision in an area, how this is performing for the community and what provision required in the future. This information is used to develop needs assessments which allow projects to have a more significant impact on the local area.
Our Associates
Paul Weston
Associate – Architect
Paul is one the most respected architects in the sport and leisure sector. He has more than 30 years’ specific experience of designing and delivering swimming pools and leisure centres, principally in the public sector, including liaison with public and private operators and trusts. He works closely with clients to guide and advise them from the feasibility stage through to procurement, design, project management and delivery. Paul ensures that his strong beliefs in innovation, collaborative working and delivering client satisfaction are communicated clearly to members of the design and construction team on all his projects.
Paul has been SLC’s lead architect since 2009 and has worked on a number of our projects, including Girvan Pool, Scaltback Community Hub, St Johns School, Maccabi London Brady, Chelmsford Riverside Centre, One NK at North Hykeham and Perdiswell Leisure Centre, Worcester (the latter two projects in collaboration with NORR Architects).
William Culver-Dodds
Associate – Culture
William Culver-Dodds is one of UK’s leading cultural consultants. He undertakes feasibility studies, demand analysis and options appraisals for cultural projects. William has developed successful income-generation strategies and fundraising for cultural projects and programmes. He also supports organisational development and governance in the cultural sector.
William has a highly regarded track record across a range of cultural projects and services and has been a longstanding Associate of SLC.
William has worked with SLC on the development of the Derby Silk Mill which has undergone a transformation and a number of cultural projects in North Kesteven.