Coronavirus (covid-19): update on sport facilities

Matt Hamnett
August 20, 2020

Check here for the latest updates on Sport and Physical Activity’s response to the coronavirus.

 

25 September 2020: Update on returning facilities and activities

We’ve been so happy to see so many of our customers returning to our campus and outdoor facilities in the past few weeks. If you’ve already returned, please take a few minutes to tell us about your experience by filling out our reopening survey.

As we continue our phased approach to reopening our facilities, we wanted to update on the latest information. Throughout reopening, we are putting the health and safety of our customers and staff first and ensuring a COVID-secure environment. As we are in a constantly evolving situation, we will continue to follow the latest guidance, and any changes to our service due to the latest advice from the relevant authorities will be available on our reopening page.

The Edge and Cromer Terrace

  • Full standard opening hours of The Edge will be in place from Monday 28th September, increasing the availability of our facilities and activities. All sessions will still need to be booked on our online booking site. As our opening times return to full hours, Edge Club and Premium membership time bandings will be reintroduced, when booking a gym or swim session, please only book a session within your time banding. When you arrive at the facilities our staff will greet you and check your booking, so please remember to bring your booking confirmation with you.  Edge Club members can access bookings weekdays 06:30am – 11:30am and weekends 07:30am – 21:00pm.
  • Unfreezing of memberships from the 28th September – From the 28th September, all memberships will unfreeze, unless you have already been in touch to request continued freezing. To find out more about continued freezing please visit our freeze form. For monthly members, your first monthly direct debit will be taken on the 1st October as normal. Staff paying via payroll will make this payment from their payslip at the end of October.
  • The return of squash and sports halls – From the 28th September, we will have squash available to book in The Edge. Bookings will be available on our online bookings system. Please note: When on the website, make sure to select ‘activities’ for squash. To book classes, gym and swim sessions select ‘classes’.
  • Cromer Terrace Studios – From the 28th September we will reopen Cromer Terrace Studios for classes, these will be advertised on the class timetable and on our online booking system.
  • Climbing Wall – We are working towards reopening the Climbing Wall on the 5th October and will confirm for customers nearer the time-specific details on our reopening webpage, including what sessions are available and how you can book.
  • Swimming Lessons – As part of our phased approach to reopening we plan to restart swimming lessons from the 2nd November, this includes one-to-one lessons. This phased approach is important to ensure that the safety of our users is maintained, and our priority is to protect the safety, health and wellbeing of our staff and customers. Our approach has been based on government and industry guidance and we aim to adopt best practice whilst considering operational implications to ensure the safe return of our swimming lesson programme. From the 12th October there will be limited bookings available in our sports halls, these can be made via the Edge Reception by phone 0113 343 5095 or by email edgereception@leeds.ac.uk.
  • Important information when visiting the gym and classes – We would like to remind customers of some important things when visiting us to access the gym or classes. Lockers and changing rooms, except for when using the swimming pool, are currently unavailable in line with government guidance. Members can bring a small drawstring bag with them when using the gym and classes, but please do not bring larger bags, such as rucksacks or holdalls as they present a health and safety risk. If attending a class, we are unable to lend mats to protect your health and safety, so if you require one please bring your own. Full details about your visit can be found at our reopening page FAQs section, please keep checking this page prior to your visit as we will upgrade in line with any new guidance.

 

Sports Park Weetwood and Bodington

  • We have started to gradually reopen on a phased approach, this is to ensure we safely reopen and manage capacity levels to keep our customers safe and enable them to adhere to social distancing guidelines. For existing bookings, we are in the process of contacting customers individually when we are able to reintroduce your booking, and we have started this process of communicating to customers, with some elite clubs and regular bookings already returning successfully to the facilities. If you would like to enquire about a new booking please get in touch by visiting our contact us page.
  • Bodington Cycle Circuit  – The cycle circuit at Bodington reopened on the 21st of September, from the 28th of September we are delighted that our pay and pedal sessions will return. To book please make a booking enquiry via our website. Alternatively, you can call reception on 0113 343 1222 or 0113 343 0631. These sessions are free to Edge members.

 

The return to playing sport for University of Leeds students

  • We are supporting the return to playing sport across our facilities and continue to follow the latest guidance from the government and national governing bodies.  Together with LUU, we will offer a wide range of internal recreational and semi-competitive sporting opportunities.  This includes increased club training time, a new intra-university competitive programme, and more physical activity and wellbeing programmes. We will be providing more information about this in the coming week on our website: sport.leeds.ac.uk.

 

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7 September 2020: Update on the reopening of our Sport & Physical Activity facilities

We’re delighted to update further on the reopening of Sport Park Weetwood, Bodington and The Edge. On the 21st August we emailed to inform you about how reopening will look and the steps we’re taking to keep our customers safe. Below we outline reopening dates for three of our Sport & Physical Activity facilities and information on how you can book different activities.

Reopening Dates

The Edge – We’re delighted to now be welcoming our members back to The Edge, which has reopened on the 7th September with a phased approach which includes reduced opening hours. From the 28th September we will revert to our full standard opening hours. From the 7th September members will be able to initially book swimming, the gym and classes, followed from the 28th September by Sports Halls and Squash. Swimming Lessons will return on the 2nd November, and we will update as soon as possible on the return of the Climbing Wall. More information about The Edge reopening and bookings is available below.

Sports Park Weetwood and Bodington Playing Fields have now started to gradually reopen on a phased approach, this is to ensure we safely reopen and manage capacity levels to keep our customers safe and enable to adhere to social distancing guidelines. We are working to guidance from the University, the government and the national governing bodies for the return of each respective sport. For existing bookings, we will be contacting customers individually when we are able to reintroduce your booking, and we have started this process of communicating to customers, with some elite clubs returning successfully already to the facilities. If you would like to enquire about a new booking please get in touch by visiting our contact us page.

Bodington Cycle Circuit is due to reopen on the 14th September. We will update with further information nearer the reopening. We will provide further details of how to book a visit to the cycle circuit, and we are taking steps to make this as easy as possible for our customers.

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2 September 2020: Bookings at The Edge

As we get ready to welcome back our members to The Edge on the 7th September, we wanted to let you know about how you can book your visit and remind you about some key reopening information.

On the 21st August, we updated you about our plans for reopening, including what we will be doing to make sure our facilities are COVID-secure, what we need our customers to do to keep everyone safe and what our facilities will look like on our return. All this information is available at sport.leeds.ac.uk/reopening. This new webpage will host the latest updates and information about reopening and it’s important to keep checking this before your visit. In a fast-moving situation, we want to make it easy for you to get the latest advice and guidance ahead of your visit. For specific advice about what you need to know about your booking, check out our FAQs.

Keeping you safe and active

Your safety is our priority, and in our latest update, we told you more about what we will be doing to keep you safe and active, and what you will be able to do to help keep everyone safe, which includes the implementation of facility bookings, one-way systems, comprehensive social distancing measures, new cleaning protocols, new sanitising stations, the introduction of personal protective equipment. Click here to find out more.

Booking will now apply to all activities at The Edge

When we reopen from the 7th September you will need to book your visit to The Edge, you won’t be able to attend without a booking. Booking will open from 6am on the 5th of September. Pay-as-you-go is unavailable at the present time, however, we are currently looking at ways we can safely manage booking for pay-as-you-go customers we will confirm when bookings will be available. This also includes customers with a pay-as-you-go book of swim tickets.

Opening Hours at The Edge

We will have reduced hours from the 7th – 27th September, which will revert to our full standard opening hours from the 28th September. During reduced opening hours, Edge Club members will be able to use the facilities at any time of day, subject to booking. Our reduced opening hours (7th – 27th September) are Monday, Wednesday and Friday – 06:30-15:00, Tuesdays and Thursdays – 14:30 – 22:30, Saturday and Sunday – 08:30 – 17:00 .

Activities at The Edge

From the 7th September you will be able to book the following on our website:

  • 60-minute lane swimming session
  • 90-minute gym session
  • An exercise class

From the 28th September, you will then be able to book squash and there will be limited bookings available in our sports halls. Swimming Lessons will return from the 2nd November, and we will update you on the climbing wall reopening as soon as we are able.

Edge Membership

In our last update, we also told members what would happen to their membership. We wanted to remind you that if you haven’t already, make sure you fill in our freeze form to tell us if you’d like to opt to unfreeze from the 7th September or continue to freeze from the 28th September. This includes members whose annual membership was due to expire during the closure. If you don’t contact us your membership will automatically unfreeze from the 28th September. More information about what will happen to memberships on reopening is available on our reopening page.

How to make a booking

Booking a session in the pool, gym or a class can be done online in the same way as you would usually book a class. We will also soon be launching a new app which will make booking even easier – the app will also have lots of great virtual workouts, including live-streamed classes, and the ability to track your workouts. We will let members know as soon as this is available to use. Bookings will reopen on the 5th September at 6am. From that point forward members can book up to 2 days in advance, bookings open from 6am in the morning.

  1. Visit: https://sportsbookings.leeds.ac.uk/onlinebookings
  2. Log in. Students and Staff will use their University email and password, public members will need to register if you’ve not used the system before. This article also explains how to register.
  3. Click ‘classes’ in the search box.
  4. Select the activity from the drop-down list, for swimming select ‘Lane Swim’, for the fitness suite select ‘Gym Space COVID’ or find the relevant class you’d like to book.
  5. Select the dates and times you would like to book for and then click ‘Search‘. Members can book up to 2 days in advance, bookings open from 6am in the morning.
  6. Add it to your basket and confirm that you accept the Terms and Conditions by ticking the box and click ‘Checkout‘.
  7. Finally, you will see a summary of the booking you have selected. To confirm the booking is made you must click on the ‘Confirm Bookings‘ link. You will receive a confirmation email of your booking, please bring this with you on your visit along with your student or membership card and remember to check out our reopening page for the latest information about your visit. The FAQs at the bottom of the page has specific information about each activity.

We will provide further information ahead of the 28th September with how you can book other activities such as the sports halls and squash. We look forward to seeing you back at The Edge soon!

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20 August 2020: Reopening plans for Sport & Physical Activity

We hope that you are keeping well.  

We would like to update you on the latest information about the reopening of our Sport & Physical Activity facilities. We have been working hard to ensure that we can welcome our community back to doing what they love, whether that is playing sport or keeping fit and healthy with us. 

To make it easy for you to keep up-to-date with the latest information about all our facilities we have now launched a new webpage: sport.leeds.ac.uk/reopening, this includes a list of frequently asked questions which we will continue to update. As this a fast-moving situation please regularly check this webpage before each visit. Below we have provided you with the key updates regarding our reopening plans. 

The Edge – We’re delighted to confirm our plans to reopen The Edge on the 7th September, and we have now provided more information below on our reopening plans for The Edge and the steps we are taking to provide a COVID-secure environment and to give the best possible experience.  

Sports Park Weetwood and Bodington – Whilst we are unable to confirm a specific date for reopening for these facilities, we are working hard to safely reopen prior to the 7th September as part of the wider University reopening and we will continue to provide updates on our website. We are working to guidance from the University, the government and the national governing bodies for each respective sport and will ensure we safely bring back each activity to these facilities.  

Keeping you safe and active – Across all of our facilities we can now provide some more detailed information about what we will be doing to keep you safe and active, and what you will be able to do to help keep everyone safe: 

  • Facility and activity bookings – To help us safely manage capacities and following government guidelines, we will require a booking for all activities, including the fitness suite and the swimming pool at The Edge. Due to this, we will be asking customers not to visit our facilities without a booking to help keep everyone safe. We will provide further details of how to book online for The Edge, and we are taking steps to make this as easy as possible. All activity at Sports Park Weetwood and Bodington will require bookings as normal, this now also applies to the pay and pedal sessions on the cycle circuit. Bookings for Sports Park Weetwood and Bodington can be made via the usual channels on our contact us page. 
  • One-way systems and social distancing – To help keep customers a safe distance from others there will be one-way systems in place, and signage to indicate the direction of travel. We will also be reducing occupancy levels in line with guidance within each area of our facility.
  • New cleaning protocols – We have enhanced cleaning protocols which follow the latest advice from the relevant authorities. This includes increased frequencies, scheduled cleans after each activity where required and the purchasing of new equipment. Additionally, designated cleaning stations will allow you to clean down equipment after use where required, ready for the next user. 
  • Sanitising stations – Hand sanitising stations and equipment cleaning stations for customers will be available to use throughout the facilities.  
  • Changing rooms and toilets – We will follow the latest guidance on the opening of our changing rooms when we reopen each facility. On the reopening of all facilities toilets and sinks will be available for use, however, in the first phase of opening, there will be no changing facilities or access to showers. However, if using the swimming pool at The Edge you will be allocated a cubicle and locker prior to entering the pool, which will then be cleaned after each use. 
  • Protective Equipment – On receptions, we will have protective screens, and staff will be issued with protective equipment where required. We are following the University guidance on face coverings, which must be worn in all indoor communal areas on campus, for example, main public corridors and communal toilets. Face coverings can be removed once in the area for your pre-booked activity, for example, once you have entered the fitness suite, exercise studio or when leaving your cubicle ahead of entering the swimming pool area.
  • Further support – On your visit our colleagues will be on hand throughout the building if you have any questions or need any support.  

There will also be things you will need do to help keep everyone safe, including staying at home if you have any symptoms of Coronavirus, washing your hands regularly, wiping down equipment after use where applicable and arriving in your kit ready to work out where possible. Leaving the facilities as soon as you are able to after your session will help us maintain capacities and prepare for our next customers. Ahead of your visit to The Edge please make sure you have read our FAQs at sport.leeds.ac.uk/reopening. Information about your booking at Sports Park Weetwood and Bodington will be sent to you prior to your visit.

We would like to offer our most heartfelt gratitude for your continued support and understanding in such uncertain times and to thank our colleagues who are working hard to ensure you get the support that is needed throughout this period. 

Updates from the University of Leeds will continue to be published through coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk and to keep up-to-date with the latest information from us visit sport.leeds.ac.uk/reopening  

We look forward to welcoming you back soon. 

With kind regards, 

University of Leeds, Sport & Physical Activity Team 

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20 August 2020: Update for Edge members

We hope that you are keeping well. We’re delighted to confirm our plans to reopen The Edge on the 7th September, and we want to update you on the steps we are taking to provide a COVID-secure environment in accordance with the latest guidance and what this means for you.  

Firstly, we would like to thank you for your understanding and patience since the closure in March. We can’t wait to welcome you back to The Edge soon. 

Below we have updated you on the latest information about our reopening, and in the coming weeks, we will share further information and guidance with you. 

Keeping you safe and active  

On our latest update about the reopening of the facilities, we’ve outlined the steps we’re taking to keep you safe and active, and what you will need to do to help keep everyone safe. These are also outlined in our FAQ section at sport.leeds.ac.uk/reopening.  

Opening Hours

To support the smooth reopening of the facilities, we will initially open on reduced hours. From the 28th September, we will revert to our standard opening hours.  From the 7th September our opening hours will be 06:30-15:00 Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday, 14:30 – 22:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays and 08:30 – 17:00 at the weekend. 

What will you be able to do at The Edge?

When we reopen, we want to provide you with the best possible experience, and we are lucky to have such a variety of activities for our customers to use. In the initial phase of reopening we are planning for the following activities to be available to book:  Fitness Suite, Swimming Pool (lane swimming only will be available. The sauna and steam room will be closed), Exercise Classes. From the 28th September, we will then reopen Sports Halls, Squash Courts and our Outdoor 3G pitch.

We understand that at this time it may be more difficult to fit in a workout, which is why we will continue to provide virtual workouts and live classes with our Edge instructor on a new app which is coming soon, exclusive to all members for free. You can watch and take part in these classes on a mobile or tablet, and you’ll also be able to cast to a TV.  

We will keep customers updated as new activities and facilities become available, and the best place to find the most up-to-date information is sport.leeds.ac.uk/reopening.  Currently, we are not able to confirm the car parking situation on campus for our members, but we will update as soon as we are able. 

Membership Update and Pay as You Go access 

  • Monthly Members  For our monthly members, your memberships have remained frozen since the 1st of April 2020. We will automatically unfreeze all current memberships from 28th September once we revert to full opening hours. However, you can request to unfreeze from the 7th September when we reopen with reduced opening hours by filling out this form Your first monthly direct debit will be taken on the 1st October as normal. Staff paying via payroll will make this payment from their payslip at the end of October.  If you are unable to make use of your membership, for example, you are not back on campus yet, we are continuing to offer the option to freeze your membership. To do this you just need to complete the freeze request form before the 7th September to stop your October payment being taken.  
  • Annual Members – Your membership will be extended by 6 months and automatically restarted on the 28th September once we revert to full opening hours. However, you can request to unfreeze from the 7th September when we reopen with reduced opening hours by filling out this form.  If your membership was due to expire since we closed in March, your membership will automatically be extended by 6 months from your original end date and it will be reactivated from the 7th September, however, it will be frozen from the 7th – 28th September unless we hear from you. If you are unable to make use of your membership, for example, you are not back on campus yet, we are continuing to offer the option to freeze your membership. To do this you just need to complete the freeze request form. This will then freeze and extend your membership, in addition to the 6 months extension from the close period.  If you have any questions regarding membership, please do get in touch with us at edgemembershipservices@leeds.ac.uk. 
  • Pay as you go access – We are currently looking at ways we can safely manage booking for pay as you go members and we will confirm when pay as you go bookings will be available.

We look forward to welcoming you back soon. 

With kind regards, 

The Edge  

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22 July 2020: Important Coronavirus update – Facility reopening

We hope that you are keeping well and active at this time.

Following the recent government announcement, we wanted to confirm that our Sport and Physical Activity facilities will remain closed at the present time, however, we are aiming to reopen The Edge on the 7th September.

We continue to work hard to ensure that the transition towards reopening our facilities, as part of the wider University reopening, goes smoothly and that the safety of our users is maintained. We will reopen in accordance with government and University guidelines to provide a safe and planned COVID-secure environment, with staff trained to give the best possible experience.

We are very excited to be making plans for our reopening and to welcome you back as we strongly believe that sport and physical activity plays a vital part in looking after our wellbeing.  We can’t wait to welcome you back to our wide range of health, fitness and sporting facilities and to help you get back to keeping fit and healthy with us.

In June we updated you on the steps we are taking to prepare for reopening our facilities, you can view this update below.  We will continue to update you here with the latest information about reopening our facilities when possible.

For those with an Edge membership, all membership fees will remain frozen until a time when facilities are accessible again and annual memberships will be extended for the time that we have remained closed. We will continue to get in touch with you with any new updates regarding memberships closer to reopening. In the meantime, to support our members to stay active and healthy during the closure, we are continuing to produce lots of home workouts, health and wellbeing resources and diet and nutrition advice on our  Your Home, Your Move hub.

We would like to offer our most heartfelt gratitude to all our customers for your continued support and understanding in such uncertain times and to thank our colleagues who are working hard to ensure our customers get the support that is needed throughout this period.

Updates from the University of Leeds will continue to be published through coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk and our specific messages on sport.leeds.ac.uk.

We look forward to welcoming you back in the near future.

With kind regards,

University of Leeds, Sport & Physical Activity Team

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15 June 2020: Important Coronavirus update

We hope that you are keeping well and active at this time.

We wanted to reassure you of the careful planning and preparation to ensure that when the time comes, our community can return to our campus and outdoor facilities with peace of mind.

Whilst we are unable to confirm when we will reopen our facilities, we are very excited to begin reviewing options to welcome you back and return to keeping you fit and healthy.

During this time, our priority is to protect the safety, health and wellbeing of our staff and customers. Caution will be essential to ensure that the transition toward reopening goes smoothly and that the safety of our users is maintained in accordance with government guidelines.

Below we have outlined the steps we are taking to prepare for reopening:

  • We are planning a safe approach to reopening our facilities, which includes a phased approach.
  • We continue to incorporate advice and guidance from the relevant authorities in our planning including the NHS and Public Health England, industry associations, such as UKActive, and national governing bodies, such as UK Sport.
  • We are revising our cleaning regime to ensure we are following the latest guidance and advice. This will include undertaking additional cleaning between sessions.
  • We are looking at how social distancing guidelines can be implemented in our facilities, this includes looking at how we can create one-way routes where needed and how we manage access.
  • We will provide training for our colleagues on our new way of operating.
  • We will look at the scheduling of activities and the relocation of some of these activities to ensure social distancing guidelines can be adhered to.
  • We will continue to update you with new information regarding our plans to reopen and we look forward to welcoming you back when it is safe to do so.

As a reminder, for those with an Edge membership, all membership fees are frozen until a time when facilities are accessible again and annual memberships will be extended for the time that we have remained closed. We will continue to get in touch with you with any new updates regarding memberships.

We would like to offer our most heartfelt gratitude to all our customers for your continued support and understanding in such uncertain times and to thank our colleagues who are working hard to ensure our customers get the support that is needed throughout this period.

In an effort to support our members to stay active and healthy during the closure, we have created our Your Home, Your Move hub. We have been delighted at how many of our community have benefitted from our home workouts, health and wellbeing resources and diet and nutrition advice. Our team are continuing to support you with new content coming out each week, so keep an eye on our Your Home, Your Move hub. In addition to this we recently conducted our Balancing Life survey to find out how the lockdown has impacted your activity levels and wellbeing so that we can plan how best to support you in the future.

In the meantime, if we can be of any assistance please do get in touch with us. For general enquiries about our campus and outdoor facilities, please email sport@leeds.ac.uk. If you have a membership-related enquiry, please email edgemembershipservices@leeds.ac.uk.

Updates from the University of Leeds will continue to be published through coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk and our specific messages on sport.leeds.ac.uk.

We look forward to welcoming you back in the future.

With kind regards,

University of Leeds, Sport & Physical Activity Team

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19 March 2020: Important Coronavirus update – Facility closure

In line with advice regarding the Coronavirus (covid-19) from the relevant authorities, including the NHS and Public Health England, the University of Leeds has taken the difficult decision to fully close our Sport & Physical Activity facilities from 5 pm on Friday 20th March until further notice to protect the health and wellbeing of our customers and staff, which is our number one priority.

University of Leeds Sport & Physical Activity facilities include: The Edge, Cromer Terrace, Gryphon Sports Centre, Sports Park Weetwood, Bodington Playing Fields (including the Brownlee Centre), Boat House, and Selside Outdoor Centre.

We will continue to update all our customers, and we will re-open at the earliest possible opportunity. We want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during this difficult period.

  • All Edge memberships fees/payments will be frozen until a time when facilities are accessible again.
  • You do not need to contact us to arrange freeze of payment, we will do this for you. Swim credits will carry over until re-opening. Block booking payments will not be taken during this time.

If in the meantime we can be of any assistance please do get in touch with us. For general enquiries, please email sport@leeds.ac.uk. If you have a membership-related enquiry please email edgemembershipservices@leeds.ac.uk.

Updates from the University of Leeds will continue to be published through coronavirus.leeds.ac.uk and our specific messages on sport.leeds.ac.uk.

We look forward to welcoming you back in the future.

With kind regards,
University of Leeds, Sport & Physical Activity Team

 

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