The Royal Opening of Egham Orbit
On Tuesday 12th February, we welcomed our members, local residents and nominated primary school student ambassadors to celebrate the opening of Egham Orbit, our brand new state-of-the-art leisure facility. Orbit will provide a range of activities for the local community including a large fitness gym, four group exercise studios, soft play, sports arena and the Otium Spa. Egham Orbit is home to a 25m x 17m main pool, 10m x 10m smaller pool and kids splash zone.
Hazel Aitken, CEO of Achieve Lifestyle, says “The building design has been considered with flexibility in mind, including being fully accessible for people with disabilities, especially with the movable floors in both pools.” Achieve Lifestyle are proud to be able to provide an inclusive leisure environment for the local community and have been working alongside Runnymede Access Liaison Group (RALG) to make the new swimming pools at Egham Orbit as accessible as possible. Achieve Lifestyle have also partnered with Egham Constellations (previously Runnymede Disabled Swimmers) to offer Runnymede residents with restricted mobility the opportunity to swim in a safe and friendly environment.
We send our thanks to everyone who was involved in this process, from day one to the Open Day itself. Thank you to the excellent Pellikaan team, the lead architect Rima Yousif who designed the facility, Runnymede Borough Council and Jez Taylor the Chair Trustee of Achieve Lifestyle. We would also like to thank Radio Wey for hosting our Open Day, our primary school student ambassadors and the Mayor for coming along to cut the ribbon.
The new centre has been designed and built with future-proofing in mind. It has the ability to adapt to the future as trends change, and as a result it deserved an iconic name, and one that evolves as the building develops over time. Group Operations Manager says “Egham Orbit has been designed for the long-term, both in terms of the provisions for the local community, as well as with the aim to make our facility as sustainable as possible.”
One of the main ways Achieve Lifestyle are aiming to become greener is through the installation of 73 solar panels at Egham Orbit which provide a total instantaneous output of over 20kW – enough electricity to individually power 8 treadmills, with a predicted saving of 8.4% of CO2 emissions which equates to the annual emissions from 50 typical family cars.
Achieve Lifestyle were also delighted to welcome a royal visit from HRH the Duke of Kent KG on 5th March 2019 who announced the £20m flagship facility Egham Orbit, as officially open. The royal opening marked the milestone of a completed and now fully operational community hub for sports, health and wellbeing; both well-deserved and well-received by the local community. Speaking at the official launch event, the Duke of Kent said: “I have never seen such a centre, it is very grand. It is a wonderful place and I am sure it is going to be a success.”
Formed in April 2011, Achieve Lifestyle is a community leisure trust with charitable status, who manage Egham Orbit under lease from Runnymede Borough Council. Hazel Aitken Chief Executive of Achieve Lifestyle added: “The leisure trust’s key aim is to seek to improve community wellbeing, and by the opening of this new centre, there is much more access and opportunity available for the wider community, particularly for swimming and wellbeing activities. Achieve Lifestyle are very proud of their association to this great venture and are looking forward to the evolving future of Egham Orbit”.
