PUBLIC swimming lessons will be offered in the newly-renovated leisure centre at Schull Harbour Hotel.
Called Deep Blue, it has just opened after significant investment, and will be open to both hotel guests and the community.
The Kinsale-based Blue Haven Collection took over the three-star hotel, which had been closed since the start of the year, in April.
Director Ciarán Fitzgerald said their approach had always been to develop each area at a time.
‘Our strategy with the hotel from day one has been to take each area one piece at a time, understand it fully, make whatever changes we believe necessary and get it where we want to and then move onto the next area.
‘We are taking a long term approach and all decisions made and upgrades are done with that in mind. We are in this for the long haul and want to establish ourselves over time as a trusted anchor in Schull and West Cork. This is no different with the leisure centre. We don’t want to rush things for the sake of impact and hopefully the consumer will see over time the constant approach to improvement and change that we have as a business.’
The local community, he said, is really important to them.
‘And we will have dedicated times and days for swimming lessons and community use which we are working through at present and will be meeting all the swimming instructors to agree what works for them in terms of times and days.Finding the balance between the needs of our leisure guests in the hotel, our members and the local community will be a balancing act but we will work through it and get it right in time.’
He said they had done a lot of work in the leisure centre behind the scenes.
‘Pump rooms and other systems have all been upgraded and then there will be some aesthetic things people will see. We have upgraded the gym flooring, serviced absolutely everything in the pool and leisure centre so that we hit the ground running when we open,’ he said.
Rising energy costs have been a challenge, as they have been for all businesses.
‘Thankfully, we have a solar system in the hotel that drives some of the power for the pool and we have had this fully serviced to maximise its output.
‘All we need now is some sun! The energy costs, while a real problem for businesses, will force us to look at how we do things a little bit better for the environment and for future generations.
‘What hurts the bank account sometimes can be a motivator for change even though as a business we feel a moral obligation to do things in a greener and more efficient way,’ he added.
The centre has a partnership with Irish leisure clothing brand Gym+Coffee.
So far, the season, has been busier than expected, said Ciaran.
‘We have a long way to go but we are getting there step by step. We will open the leisure centre next as planned and the our attention will turn to the restaurant.’
