The town of Gainsborough will welcome a revolutionary skating facility later this year. The facility, which is called SK8Z, will be developed and operated by MDSC and be located off Heapham Road in the town. It is set to include a skating pad, cafe and car park and will provide public skating sessions and lessons.
The facility will utilise a type of skate called the “off-ice” skate which provides people with the ability to ice skate without the need for an ice rink and which initially attracted investment through the BBC’s Dragons’ Den . The skates have since gone on to be used by the stars of Dancing on Ice as well as former Olympic champions Torvill and Dean who most notably recreated their legendary Bolero routine in theatres and at the Royal Variety Performance. SK8Z is the brain child of Paralympian Matt Lloyd who said:
“It is a great honour to bring the first SK8Z facility to Gainsborough. The concept behind SK8Z is that we are able to provide the experience of ice skating without the need for an ice rink. This enables us to provide skating at a comparatively low cost compared to a traditional skating facility.”
“SK8Z will be open from 9am every day and will offer a fantastic variety of activities including skating lessons, discos, public skating, birthday parties, schools’ programmes and adult only activities. Because of the skates we are using anyone learning to skate at SK8Z will be able to skate on ice and the teaching system we are using, Skate Excellence , is exactly the same learn to skate programme that is used in over one third of the ice rinks across England.”
As well as providing Gainsborough and the surrounding areas with a new leisure activity, SK8Z will also create approximately 30 jobs and it is hoped that the facility in Gainsborough will become the Head Office for a chain of similar facilities throughout the UK.
The facility has already secured the necessary planning permission and has also received investment from the Gainsborough Growth Fund.
The Gainsborough Growth Fun was launched in 2014 to stimulate growth in local businesses and help create jobs. It gives businesses the initial boost they need to seek additional private sector funding.
Cllr Sheila Bibb, Chairman of the prosperous Communities Committee at the Council is delighted that the council is supporting the project. She said:
“We are delighted to be able to support this project through the Growth Fund. The facility will provide a much needed leisure facility for the town as well as creating up to 30 new jobs and investment. On behalf of the council I wish the venture well in its endeavour.”
Further information about SK8Z can be found at www.sk8z.co.uk as well as on Twitter and Facebook. The email address for SK8Z is [email protected].
To find out more about funding available from West Lindsey District Coucnil contact the growth team on 01427 676 635 or email [email protected].