Virgin Active has relaunched its Mayfair, London W1 club as its first UK Social Wellness Club, moving away from the traditional gym model towards a club designed around how members live their day. Premier Construction News reports on the project.

The investment behind it

Virgin Active operates 224 clubs across nine countries, 31 of them in the UK. The company has invested £12.2million in upgrading its UK portfolio and plans to invest a further £55.6million. Elena Chambers, Country Director at Virgin Active UK, described the new Mayfair club as "a complete reimagining of what wellness can look like".

Atelierdb Architects, a RIBA Chartered Practice focused on residential, leisure and hospitality projects, was lead consultant and principal designer, with the aim of creating a high-end health club.

What members get

  • A refurbished reception with a concierge team.
  • Replanned changing rooms with coordinating lockers and showers.
  • Five dedicated studios for classes including Combat, Lift Club, Mind & Body, Reformer and Tower Pilates.
  • Co-working lounges, private meeting spaces and call booths.
  • Kauai Café, which offers a protein-rich menu.
  • A contrast spa with a Finnish sauna, infrared sauna, cold pool and vitality pool, plus a 20m indoor pool.
  • A recovery zone with heated hydromassage beds and Hyperice technology.
  • Longevity treatment rooms with on-site physiotherapists, osteopaths and performance specialists.

The idea

The design team said each element was meant to work together so members can spend the whole day at the club, combining training, recovery, nutrition, work and community.

Camilla Castle, Head of Property Projects at Virgin Active, said feedback had been "overwhelmingly positive, especially around the changing areas". A spokesperson for Atelierdb Architects, which has worked with Virgin Active since 2004, said the firm hoped member expectations had been met and exceeded.

Photo: Ewan Munro from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.