In the start of a new series showcasing best practice in health club design and architecture, we take a look around the world and spotlight four of our top picks
ONE IN THE BANK Goodlife Fitness – Stephen Avenue, Calgary, Canada Created within the former Bank of Montreal, this 20,000sq ft club is set amid the limestone and Corinthian columns of the historic building. GoodLife Fitness worked with Square Feet Design Group and Trigon Construction Management for over a year, restoring the historic building’s mezzanine, main floor and basement. Great care was taken to protect the unique decorative features, including 35-foot ceilings embellished with rosettes and 917 ounces of gold leaf, marble floors, decorative mouldings and original chandeliers.
“We developed brand new approaches to meet infrastructure requirements and ensure the heritage elements of the building would be conserved,” says Lori Ireland of Square Feet Design. “GoodLife took great care to rebuild many of the interior historic features and uncovered beautiful decorative elements in the process. One of the washrooms is actually built inside an old bank vault. It was well worth the extra effort.”
The gym interior retains the bank’s Corinthian columns
LOW COST, HIGH SPEC JD gyms – Liverpool, UK Built within Liverpool’s Grade II listed State Insurance Building – previously a dance hall and nightclub, but empty for the last eight years – JD Gyms worked with Design Business Interiors to bring the 26,000sq ft space to life as a low-cost (£19.99 a month) but hi-spec gym.
“The building was so architecturally spectacular that we wanted to ensure our design was sympathetic to this, while at the same time working within the DNA of the JD Gyms brand,” says JD Gyms MD Alun Peacock. “We’ve highlighted original features such as sash windows, ironwork and columns, and we’ve used a lot of glass and stainless steel, but this has been complemented by an injection of JD Gyms’ fun and colour.
“While this building has less of the urban materials we’ve used previously, in fact some of the design features – such as the neon ‘fitness just got serious’ signs – have worked so well we’ll be incorporating these into future clubs.”
The ‘Fitness just got serious’ neon signs inject vibrancy into
the gym’s design
The gym has revived the Grade II listed building
There’s a lot of glass and steel, but historic features are also preserved
EN VOGUE Hard Candy Fitness – Toronto, Canada Part of the chain created by Madonna in partnership with New Evolution Ventures (NeV), this 42,000sq ft club is Hard Candy Fitness’ largest in North America, featuring 19ft floor-to-ceiling windows around the entire club, a rooftop terrace, and what’s said to be the largest cycling studio in Toronto.
Working with architects Tanaka Riley and Anderson Architects, Hard Candy Fitness Toronto picks up on the chain’s Warhol-esque décor, using Madonna imagery and inspiration throughout to create a colourful, light space designed to motivate every type of member to be active.
The Toronto club is Hard Candy’s largest site in North America and features the chain’s familiar Warhol-esque interior decor
The Toronto club is Hard Candy’s largest site in North America and features the chain’s familiar Warhol-esque interior decor
The Toronto club is Hard Candy’s largest site in North America and features the chain’s familiar Warhol-esque interior decor
The gym features 19ft floor-to-ceiling windows
TOP OF THE CLASS Les Mills – Britomart Place, Auckland, New Zealand Targeting 18- to 39-year-olds, this purpose-built 21,500sq ft club in Auckland’s central business district (CBD) operates at the premium end of the market, with membership costing NZ$21.50 a week.
Working with Warren and Mahoney architects, the design brief focused on the use of high-end, natural materials – such as timber and concrete – with clean lines and moments of intensity in colour and materials.
Practising what is so often preached by Les Mills CEO Phillip Mills, the group exercise studios are particularly good examples of these moments of intensity. Bright colours and graphics ensure the studios give off a sense of energy that’s far removed from the sterile, mirrored boxes Mills decries.
Bright colours convey a sense of energy in the studio
The facility in Auckland’s CBD targets 18- to 39-year-olds with its offering and vibrant interiors
NOMINATE YOUR CLUB
Think your club is worthy of inclusion in our series? Drop us an email with a few photos: [email protected]
CoverMe, the global leader in fitness workforce management, today launches CoverMe PT, an
on-demand personal training platform that connects the right personal trainer to the right
client in under 10 seconds. [more...]
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing
disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support
its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
In the start of a new series showcasing best practice in health club design and architecture, we take a look around the world and spotlight four of our top picks
ONE IN THE BANK Goodlife Fitness – Stephen Avenue, Calgary, Canada Created within the former Bank of Montreal, this 20,000sq ft club is set amid the limestone and Corinthian columns of the historic building. GoodLife Fitness worked with Square Feet Design Group and Trigon Construction Management for over a year, restoring the historic building’s mezzanine, main floor and basement. Great care was taken to protect the unique decorative features, including 35-foot ceilings embellished with rosettes and 917 ounces of gold leaf, marble floors, decorative mouldings and original chandeliers.
“We developed brand new approaches to meet infrastructure requirements and ensure the heritage elements of the building would be conserved,” says Lori Ireland of Square Feet Design. “GoodLife took great care to rebuild many of the interior historic features and uncovered beautiful decorative elements in the process. One of the washrooms is actually built inside an old bank vault. It was well worth the extra effort.”
The gym interior retains the bank’s Corinthian columns
LOW COST, HIGH SPEC JD gyms – Liverpool, UK Built within Liverpool’s Grade II listed State Insurance Building – previously a dance hall and nightclub, but empty for the last eight years – JD Gyms worked with Design Business Interiors to bring the 26,000sq ft space to life as a low-cost (£19.99 a month) but hi-spec gym.
“The building was so architecturally spectacular that we wanted to ensure our design was sympathetic to this, while at the same time working within the DNA of the JD Gyms brand,” says JD Gyms MD Alun Peacock. “We’ve highlighted original features such as sash windows, ironwork and columns, and we’ve used a lot of glass and stainless steel, but this has been complemented by an injection of JD Gyms’ fun and colour.
“While this building has less of the urban materials we’ve used previously, in fact some of the design features – such as the neon ‘fitness just got serious’ signs – have worked so well we’ll be incorporating these into future clubs.”
The ‘Fitness just got serious’ neon signs inject vibrancy into
the gym’s design
The gym has revived the Grade II listed building
There’s a lot of glass and steel, but historic features are also preserved
EN VOGUE Hard Candy Fitness – Toronto, Canada Part of the chain created by Madonna in partnership with New Evolution Ventures (NeV), this 42,000sq ft club is Hard Candy Fitness’ largest in North America, featuring 19ft floor-to-ceiling windows around the entire club, a rooftop terrace, and what’s said to be the largest cycling studio in Toronto.
Working with architects Tanaka Riley and Anderson Architects, Hard Candy Fitness Toronto picks up on the chain’s Warhol-esque décor, using Madonna imagery and inspiration throughout to create a colourful, light space designed to motivate every type of member to be active.
The Toronto club is Hard Candy’s largest site in North America and features the chain’s familiar Warhol-esque interior decor
The Toronto club is Hard Candy’s largest site in North America and features the chain’s familiar Warhol-esque interior decor
The Toronto club is Hard Candy’s largest site in North America and features the chain’s familiar Warhol-esque interior decor
The gym features 19ft floor-to-ceiling windows
TOP OF THE CLASS Les Mills – Britomart Place, Auckland, New Zealand Targeting 18- to 39-year-olds, this purpose-built 21,500sq ft club in Auckland’s central business district (CBD) operates at the premium end of the market, with membership costing NZ$21.50 a week.
Working with Warren and Mahoney architects, the design brief focused on the use of high-end, natural materials – such as timber and concrete – with clean lines and moments of intensity in colour and materials.
Practising what is so often preached by Les Mills CEO Phillip Mills, the group exercise studios are particularly good examples of these moments of intensity. Bright colours and graphics ensure the studios give off a sense of energy that’s far removed from the sterile, mirrored boxes Mills decries.
Bright colours convey a sense of energy in the studio
The facility in Auckland’s CBD targets 18- to 39-year-olds with its offering and vibrant interiors
NOMINATE YOUR CLUB
Think your club is worthy of inclusion in our series? Drop us an email with a few photos: [email protected]
The UK's four Chief Medical Officers have published a refreshed edition of Physical activity
guidelines: UK Chief Medical Officers' report, updating the evidence that underpins the nation's
physical activity recommendations and placing greater emphasis on strength, balance, reducing
sedentary behaviour and, for the first time, supporting people taking weight loss medications.
Places Leisure has exchanged contracts to build and operate a flagship £60m water and leisure
destination on behalf of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
The Republic of Ireland will become the latest market in PureGym’s expanding international
portfolio, with the first launch planned for Dublin in 2027.
Anytime Fitness opened more than one club a day in 2025 and is on track to maintain this rate
of growth this year, as parent company Purpose Brands targets further international expansion.
The £33.9 million Leighton Leisure and Community Centre has opened in Leighton Buzzard, UK,
creating a next-generation public leisure, health and wellbeing hub for the local community.
Walnuts Leisure Centre in Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley, has reopened following
a £17m transformation designed to secure the long-term future of the public leisure asset and
reposition it as a community wellbeing hub.
The Gym Group, has announced that it's sustained positive trading momentum has continued
through the first half of 2026 and the company remains confident about the outlook.
Luxury boutique Pilates and wellness studio, X-Club, officially launches a
4,000sq ft flagship at
Marylebone on 16 July Built around X-Club’s four pillars of wellness – mind,
movement,
nutrition and therapy – the facility features two group exercise studi
CoverMe, the global leader in fitness workforce management, today launches CoverMe PT, an
on-demand personal training platform that connects the right personal trainer to the right
client in under 10 seconds. [more...]
Active Blackpool is deploying Cornerstone Connect, a new digital interface allowing
disparate information from multiple systems to be aggregated into one dataset, to support
its focus on reducing health inequalities and improving healthy life expectancy. [more...]
