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Virgin Active is a chain of health clubs in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
,
Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
,
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.


History

Virgin Active was founded in 1999. Their first club opened in
Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...
that year. Initially headquartered in
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
, in 2013 headquarters were moved to the
Barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
leaving a small call centre in Milton Keynes which closed in 2018. In South Africa the company bought the assets of the 'Health and Racquet Club' chain after the latter's parent company, Leisurenet, had been placed in liquidation in October 2000 for 319.6 million
South African Rand The South African rand, or simply the rand, ( sign: R; code: ZAR) is the official currency of the Southern African Common Monetary Area: South Africa, Namibia (alongside the Namibian dollar), Lesotho (alongside the Lesotho loti) and Eswatini ...
(approximately £24.5m as at November 2011). The South African company also runs
Virgin Life Care Virgin Life Care is a fitness group in South Africa owned by Virgin Group. It has a head office in Claremont, Cape Town, and is part of the Virgin Active Virgin Active is a chain of health clubs in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Italy, Au ...
. In 2002, by which point the company had 350,000 members, Branson sold 55 percent of the company to
Bridgepoint Capital Bridgepoint Group plc is a British private investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Bridgepoint was founded as NatWest Equity Partners, a private equity firm part of NatWest. ...
for £40 million. In 2005, Branson bought out Bridgepoint's stake in the business for £134.5 million. It subsequently expanded its operations in 2004 to Italy. By 2005 the company had 25 clubs in the UK, 77 clubs in South Africa and 12 clubs in Continental Europe. It opened its first Australian club in Sydney in late 2008, with further clubs launch in Singapore and Thailand in 2014. On 1 November 2006 it took over the UK-based operation of the more prestigious Holmes Place chain, thus increasing its UK chain of clubs from 24 to 72 overnight. On 26 April 2011 it announced the takeover of UK gym operator Esporta's 55 clubs increasing the UK business to 124 clubs. In 2013, Virgin Active expanded into the South East Asian market, first opening a club in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
at the heart of the CBD. Located on Level 6, Tower 2,
One Raffles Place One Raffles Place, formerly Overseas Union Bank Centre or OUB Centre is a skyscraper in Downtown Core, Singapore. With a height of , it was formerly the joint tallest building in the city together with the UOB Plaza and Republic Plaza, until t ...
. Playing a significant role in opening the first club in South East Asia was Christian Mason, the newly appointed 'Managing Director South East Asia'. Christian Mason then went on to opening 13 more clubs in both
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
and
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. The current Group CEO is founder Matthew Bucknall. In 2014 Virgin Active launched a new low-cost gym called Virgin Active RED. The RED gyms focuses on first timers who may be intimidated by training by strategically placing exercise equipment in different stages around the gym and further having touch screen computers and other technologies placed in these predefined area's teaching the user how to do the exercise correctly. On 16 April 2015, it was reported that
Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...
and their private equity backers had sold 80% of Virgin Active to the South African investment firm Brait, owned by the billionaire
Christo Wiese Christoffel F. Hendrik Wiese (born 10 September 1941) is a South African businessman and former billionaire. His source of wealth is consumer retail.
. The sale price was £682 million for an 80% stake, valuing the business at £1.3 billion, including debt, and the transaction was completed in July 2015. The company will continue to operate under the Virgin Active brand. In 2016 they began the sale of 35 clubs to
Nuffield Health Nuffield Health is the United Kingdom's largest healthcare charity. Established in 1957 the charity operates 31 Nuffield Health Hospitals and 114 Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing Centres. It is independent of the National Health Service and ...
In 2017 they completed a sale of 15 clubs to
David Lloyd Leisure David Lloyd Leisure is Europe's largest health, fitness and leisure business by revenue, operating 130 clubs across nine countries. History David Lloyd established David Lloyd Leisure in 1982 and opened the first club, aimed at providing a fa ...
Facing the impacts of Covid-19 and the closure of clubs in all territories during the government mandated lockdowns, in 2020 Virgin Active's revenue dropped to £224.7 million. The company began working with
Allen & Overy Allen & Overy LLP (informally A&O) is an international law firm. The firm has 580 partners and over 5,600 people worldwide.  In 2022 A&O reported an increase in revenue to GBP1.96 billion and is the second largest law firm headquartered in t ...
as legal counsel and
Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...
as restructuring advisors, plus their lenders began working with
Hogan Lovells Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. It employs about 2,400 lawyers acr ...
and Alvarez & Marsal to help them through the restructuring process.


Controversy

In December 2015, the South Africa
Competition Tribunal
announced that it is investigating Virgin Active's South African operations and the Discovery Group for contravening the Competition Act. The investigation continues.


Accidents and deaths

In March 2003, 32 year old City banker Katarzyna Woja stepped out of the lift at the Virgin Active (then Holmes Place) Broadgate Health Club in central London, when its cable snapped and the hydraulic cabin plunged downwards. Woja became trapped between the cabin's mantel and the lift shaft and was dragged downwards, suffering horrific injuries. She died soon after. Although she was with seven other people in the lift, she was the only one injured in the accident, as she was the last one to step out of the lift. Following a lengthy investigation by health and safety experts Holmes Place (bought by Virgin Active) was charged with six breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act while the lift manufacturer
ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...
was charged with four breaches. In December 2011 Virgin's flagship club in High Street
Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
was accused of covering up the death of model and city worker Elsa Carneau, who drowned in the swimming pool at the west London club. A fire crew and paramedics tried to revive the Imperial College graduate for almost an hour before she was taken to
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is a 430-bed teaching hospital located in Chelsea, London. Although the hospital has been at its present site since only 1993, the hospital has a rich history in that it serves as the new site for the Westminst ...
, where she was pronounced dead. Westminster coroner's court heard that staff at the club administered
CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...
incorrectly and falsified paperwork relating to CCTV checks to pretend that they had been monitoring the pool in a “distasteful” attempt to cover their tracks. Firemen also described how a man, who said he was a member of staff, had stood by filming efforts to resuscitate Carneau on his mobile telephone. Pierre Carneau, the victim's father criticised Virgin active for not apologising for the accident. He stated "It was an accident waiting to happen. If things had been done properly, I think there’s a chance our daughter may still be alive.” Virgin Active admitted health and safety breaches and was fined £100,000 at Southwark Crown Court in December 2013. An investigation found “serious shortcomings in the management of risks connected with swimming activity at the club” going back to 2009. In April 2014, three gym goers were injured when a suspended ceiling collapsed on to a line of rowing machines at the Virgin Active on
Chiswick High Road Chiswick High Road is the principal shopping and dining street of Chiswick, a district in the west of London. It was part of the main Roman road running west out of London, and remained the main road until the 1950s when the A4 was built acro ...
, in
West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...
.


References

{{Virgin Group Health clubs in the United Kingdom A Health care companies established in 1998