A disused commercial building in Lower Gornal has been redeveloped into a specialist Pilates studio following a \u00a3750,000 private investment.<\/p>\n
The project, led by entrepreneur Lauren Sankey, has seen a former office property on Zoar Street converted into a fitness and wellbeing facility. The site now includes a 10-bed reformer studio, dedicated training spaces and additional wellness amenities.<\/p>\n
Since opening, the business has attracted more than 700 clients and created several part-time roles, with further recruitment planned. The model also includes an on-site creche aimed at increasing accessibility for parents.<\/p>\n
Lauren Sankey said: \u201cI\u2019ve been absolutely blown away by the response since we officially opened our doors, after a near eight-month transformation project.<\/p>\n
\u201cPilates is a real passion of mine, and I wanted to bring the experience to as many people as possible, regardless of age, ability or experience. Once I passed my mat, pre and post-natal Pilates, small equipment and reforming qualifications, I knew it was the right time to make the dream become a reality and launch my own studio.\u201d<\/p>\n
The property was acquired at auction and underwent a full redevelopment, with construction delivered by S&R Construction.<\/p>\n
The business is now planning further expansion, including the addition of an on-site caf\u00e9 offering food and drink aligned to the studio\u2019s fitness focus.<\/p>\n
Sankey said: \u201cThere\u2019s a real community feel here, and that\u2019s something I want to build on. The caf\u00e9 should be open in a few months, and we\u2019ll be looking for a chef to come in and run it in partnership with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can do it, then anyone can. If you\u2019re passionate about something and people want to buy it our use the service, then go for it! There\u2019s a lot of learning on the job and still is, yet all the things I\u2019ve done previously – such as event management and marketing – I\u2019m now using every day in helping me manage classes and building the brand through the power of social media. All of this and I still get to do the school runs and am there for the children\u2019s big life moments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The site now includes a 10-bed reformer studio, dedicated training spaces and additional wellness amenities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266702,"featured_media":2109612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"coauthors":[127717],"class_list":["post-2109611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-black-country","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"\n