New club openings as Virgin Group looks to expand across Australia's wellness sector

Sir Richard Branson has announced the opening of two new Virgin Active Health Clubs in Australia.

The first club, set to open in early 2014, will be located in a new 'urban marketplace' development in the inner Sydney suburb of Zetland. The second will open in 2015 at 567 Collins Street in the heart of Melbourne's CBD.

Announcing the openings, Sir Richard explained "I'm delighted that we are expanding Virgin Active in Australia with these two new sites. The business has been incredibly well received by Australians who love our approach to health and fitness and we look forward to opening many more clubs across the country.

"This is an exciting time for our business, with growth in both Australia and Asia. We look forward to soon being able to announce more Australian clubs across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth."

Earlier this month, the first Virgin Active Health Club launched in Singapore with the Group having plans to open clubs in other South-east Asian countries, including Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand.

The expansion of the Virgin Active Health Club brand in Australia and Asia is part of a Group strategy to expand it global wellness operations.

Virgin quietly entered the British health market two years ago with the purchase of the healthcare division of medical services group Assura and now runs more than 100 National Health Service facilities including GP, radiology and community health services as well as and children's social care centres.

Group Global Chief Executive Josh Bayliss recently told The Australian that it was looking at opportunities in Australia, where total public and private expenditure on healthcare was about 10% of GDP.

Bayliss told The Australian "we think health and wellness is an industry we can do well in. Our model is about prevention and flicking it around to make the focus wellness rather than illness.

"(Healthcare) is one line we think we can take in Australia. To get involved in that part of the proposition, we would look to partner with people that have the right expertise in this part of the world but also transfer some of the models we have developed in the UK to this part of the world."

Virgin is also planning to bring its Virgin Health Miles business to Australia, providing employee engagement software and solutions that help companies improve the wellbeing, motivation and productivity of their employees.

Bayliss added "the buyer of the product is the big employers who in the US want to know their medical insurance bills are going to be manageable.

"So they want a healthy and active workforce who are more productive. That is what we facilitate. That is something we are looking at doing (in Australia).

"We look at what is happening to the Australia population with demographic trends and we think there is an opportunity to focus on good nutrition, weight loss and wellness."

There are currently three Virgin Active Health Clubs in Sydney and one in Melbourne.

27th July 2011 - VIRGIN ACTIVE PLANS AUSTRALIAN EXPANSION