Planning & Concept
A fitness room is not yet a corporate fitness concept.
Companies create fitness and movement spaces for many different reasons. Some want to offer employees an attractive additional benefit. Others want to integrate movement and prevention more effectively into everyday working life or make better use of existing space.
The first question is often: Which equipment do we need? From our experience, that is rarely the right starting point.
Before discussing treadmills, strength machines, free weights or functional training equipment, we first need to understand who will use the space, what the organisation wants to achieve and how the facility will operate in everyday life. That is where the site assessment begins.
01 · Site Assessment
Understand the starting point.
Every location is different. A company with 80 employees requires a different solution from an international headquarters with several hundred or several thousand people. An existing fitness room also requires a different approach from a space that still needs to be converted.
A professional assessment therefore considers more than square metres. Relevant factors include:
- available floor area and room geometry
- existing infrastructure
- access and possible opening hours
- employee numbers and user structure
- existing health and movement programmes
- current utilisation of an existing fitness area
- training needs and target groups
- safety and operational requirements
- budget
- possibilities for professional support and classes
- future development
The objective is not to fit as much equipment as possible into a room. The objective is to understand what the space needs to achieve for the organisation.
02 · Usage
Usage before equipment.
One of the most common planning mistakes is to define a fitness room through equipment. A supplier proposes ten or twenty machines, places them into a floor plan and that becomes the supposed concept.
At PGHM, we reverse that process. We first define how the space should be used.
Independent Training
Which forms of self-directed training should be possible?
Professional Support
Should employees receive support from trainers or other professionals?
Group Formats
Are small-group sessions, classes or guided training formats planned?
User Groups
Does the room need to work for beginners as well as experienced users?
Once these questions have been answered, equipment selection becomes much more precise. This helps prevent poor investment decisions and ensures the available space is used efficiently.
03 · User Groups
One company contains different user groups.
An experienced employee may have very different requirements from someone returning to regular exercise after several years. Different work profiles, physical conditions and personal goals also need to be considered.
A strong corporate fitness concept therefore creates different entry points: for beginners, regular exercisers, employees with a prevention focus and people receiving professional support.
04 · Zoning
Analysis becomes zoning.
Once the assessment is complete, the actual concept work begins. The space is not simply filled with equipment. It is divided into functional areas.
Depending on the location, these zones may include:
- cardio
- strength training
- free weights
- functional training
- mobility and stretching
- classes or small-group areas
- recovery
- consultation and professional support
What matters is not only what is placed inside each zone. Freedom of movement, accessibility, circulation, safety and future support all need to work together.
Good zoning combines training, safety, user experience and operations.
05 · Equipment
Equipment comes afterwards.
Only after the usage concept and zoning have been defined should the equipment plan be developed. PGHM plans independently of equipment brands.
A corporate fitness concept should not be dictated by one manufacturer's product catalogue. Equipment should be selected based on the actual requirements of the organisation.
- function
- space requirements
- usability
- training options
- quality
- service and maintenance
- accessibility for different performance levels
- investment cost
- long-term use
More equipment does not automatically create a better fitness space. Sometimes additional free training space creates more value than another strength machine.
06 · Operations
Planning must include future operations.
What happens after opening? Who supports employees? Who manages the area? How are new employees introduced? Who organises trainers or classes? How are faults reported? And how does the company know which services are actually being used?
This is why PGHM considers future operations during the planning stage. Our Health Spaces expertise and Corporate Health Operations are closely connected.
Health Spaces defines the infrastructure. Corporate Health Operations ensures that this infrastructure can later be organised, supported and continuously developed.
07 · Decision Framework
From floor plan to a robust decision-making framework.
At the end of the concept phase, the company should have much more than a list of machines. A professional concept connects usage, zoning, equipment, operational considerations and future development.
Usage Concept
Who will use the space and for what purpose?
Zoning
How will strength, cardio, functional training and open movement areas be distributed?
Equipment Concept
Which machines and training tools are genuinely required?
Operating Model
How will access, support, communication, quality and future development work?
Conclusion
Good planning means making decisions before investing.
The purpose of a strong concept is not to create as many ideas as possible. It is to make the right decisions early enough.
Once construction is complete, flooring has been installed and equipment has been ordered, changes become expensive. A professional site assessment therefore creates clarity: What do we really need? What fits our employees? Which space is available? What needs to work today, and what should be able to develop over the coming years?
That is how a corporate fitness area becomes more than a room that looks good on opening day. It becomes a health service that can work over the long term.
PGHM Health Spaces
From site assessment to future operations.
PG Health Management develops functional fitness, movement and health spaces for companies, hotels, clinics and other professional health environments.
We support projects from initial assessment and concept development through brand-independent planning and implementation and, if required, ongoing operations. Our work is not limited to Switzerland. Concepts and project support can also be delivered internationally and across multiple locations.
For us, Health. Coordinated. also means connecting space, usage and operations from the very beginning.
Next Article · Part 2
From completed fitness space to real employee engagement: Why the kick-off matters.
In the next article, we look at why opening a corporate fitness area is more than simply unlocking the door – and how kick-off, onboarding and professional support influence whether employees actually use the service.
Health Spaces
Are you planning a corporate fitness or health space?
Whether you already have a fitness room, are planning a new space or are still working with an initial idea, PGHM assesses your starting point and develops a functional usage concept.
Discuss your project