FAQ

From 4th November 2021, studios were no longer represented as a single facility type within Active Places. 

Studios are now be represented by two subtypes: 

Fitness Studio: A purpose-built studio where classes are held for one or more activities such as group exercise classes, martial arts, yoga etc. Usually has a sprung floor, mirrors and air conditioning. The room may have a partition (a removable, dividing wall) to cater for additional classes or extra space. 

Cycle Studio: A purpose-built studio where spinning classes are held. These studios have stationary exercise bikes within them and normally have mirrored walls, television/projection screens and air conditioning. Cycle Studios are permanently set up as a cycle/spin studio. Does not include static bikes that are in a general gym area. Cycle studios may also have tiered flooring so class members can see teachers/screens more easily. 

To enable this SDM change, all existing studios, within Active Places, were recategorised as a “Fitness Studio”. This change was deemed appropriate as studios recorded within Active Places tended to align with this category, that is, Active Places contained a low number of dedicated cycle studios. Where an existing studio was dedicated to cycling or has changed to this function since the last date of site update/audit a misclassification may occur. This impact is thought minimal and will be resolved as part of continued site updates/audits. 

Fitness Studios 

A new attribute “partitionable spaces” was added to fitness studios as part of the November 2021 SDM update. This information was not held for existing studios and will be populated as part of continued site updates/audits. This is to reflect that Fitness Studios are often designed to include purpose-built partitions, which can be used to subdivide the Fitness Studio to give greater flexibility of the studio and to create smaller studio spaces for varying sized classes/sessions. This new attribute will help to improve data quality by removing ambiguity with the count of studios, and studio spaces.  This new attribute will count the number of separate activity spaces that could be created. For example, a Fitness Studio with purpose-built partition that divide the studio into two separate spaces should be recorded as ‘Partitionable Spaces =2’.                     

 Cycle Studios 

The Active Places Power team are working with facility providers to identify sites which contain dedicated cycle studios. These are studio spaces that are permanently setup as dedicated cycle/spin studios. This new subtype is not intended to include static bikes that are in a general gym area.  Facilities will be added as data is received and/or cycle studios identified as part of continued site updates/audits. 

Users should note that the introduction of a second facility type could result in the original number of studio (now termed fitness studios) decreasing. This could be a result of data being recategorised and may not represent the closure or loss of facilities.