Outdoor sports find a home in East Anglia
Niche sports bouldering and parkour are opening centres in East Anglia this year, and both with a little help from Fenn Wright.
2018 is set to be an exciting year for those in Essex and Suffolk who enjoy extreme sports with the region’s first dedicated climbing and bouldering centre and East Anglia’s first indoor Parkour Centre opening their doors.
Usually associated with the outdoors, both of these sports are being brought into warmer, safer spaces for those looking to learn the ropes or hone their skills in a more controlled learning environment, before letting loose outside. Fenn Wright has played an important role in identifying and securing the right premises for each of these adrenalin-fuelled sports.
Alistair Mitchell, Commercial Partner for Fenn Wright, comments: “Identifying the right premises for these exciting sports required the market intelligence and expertise of our commercial teams in Essex and Suffolk. In both cases, properties had been found by the clients but had fallen through for one reason or another, and it was our commercial experts who identified and secured better suited, alternative premises. We spent a great deal of time discussing the clients’ business objectives and property criteria before going into the market and securing premises which met their requirements in terms of location, accessibility, floor space and configuration and are delighted to have played our small part in the introduction of both of these exciting sports to the area.”
Lindsay Barker, Director of Avid Climbing Ltd, which is set to open soon said: “We are very excited about this new venture and finding the right premises was a really important part of getting things in place. We were originally looking for a site that was closer to Ipswich town centre but we weren’t able to secure one, which is why working with Fenn Wright has been so helpful. The Fenn Wright team was able to deliver a very efficient, timely and professional service. They were also able to secure our premises on the best terms possible.”
Brad Wendes, Elected Director of Parkour UK and Company Director of Team Kinetix who are behind the new Parkour centre, is equally confident. The Kinetix Academy opened in April and is based at the Freebourne Estate on Moss Road in Witham, Essex.
Brad said: “Essex has one of the biggest Parkour communities in the UK and we’ve been looking to have a dedicated centre here for some time. Without Fenn Wright’s help though, we genuinely wouldn’t have been able to get the premises we needed. Other commercial agents had simply put us on a list and sent over details that were often totally inappropriate. Fenn Wright showed a genuine interest from the start and were closely involved in convincing our landlord and the council that Parkour should be a sport to be encouraged in Essex. We had 350 unique sign-ups for the new centre soon after announcing our plans through social media so we have high hopes for the future.”