Jasper McIntosh , Chief Information Officer at The Gym Group , met John Treharne , the founder of the company , in 2011 when he was running a boutique technology company . Treharne set up The Gym three years earlier with a vision to be genuinely disruptive - to create a chain of low cost , no contract gyms open 24 hours a day , making them more accessible to the many people who needed early or late opening hours .

" John had taken some existing technology , like building access control systems and online subscription models , and applied them to the gym business " McIntosh says . " By looking at overseas models he saw that he could reduce running costs by using technology to support the sales process and enable the business to keep the doors open 24-7 . This technology enabled low cost model means that more

than a decade later membership fees are still on average less than £ 20 a month ." When McIntosh joined the company there were 15 sites . Today , there are more than 180 across the UK . " The model had been proven , so we took the idea and scaled it out across the country " he says .

Up until March 2020 the company had been steadily growing . Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived , but McIntosh explains that its challenges have led to a lot of innovation . One example of this is their partnership with fitness app Fiit , which McIntosh says , " is really enabling us to expand our health and fitness experience outside of the four walls of the gym ."

Additionally , some sites have been trialling dedicated Fiit areas . " These are custombuilt Fiit ' pods ' where people can experience

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Technology Magazine March 2021 | Page 223

Jasper McIntosh , Chief Information Officer at The Gym Group , tells us how technology is enabling the business to successfully adapt to customers ' needs in the new post-Covid world