This area of the Help for Clubs website is still being developed and new resource material is being commissioned. We will be publishing more guidance and advice here shortly. This will include case studies of how a range of local sports clubs have successfully developed their facilities.
Establishing a base
Many clubs seek an ideal solution of owning and running their own facilities - whether this be club house, activity centre, sports ground or whatever. Often this is the most expensive solution as you will probably need to secure substantial funding in order to develop your own facilities. You will also need to seek planning consent and meet the on-going costs associated with owning any premises.
If you are intent on this route, you would be well-advised to study the Running Sport: Laying the Foundations booklet which explores all the common issues in starting a building project for any sports activity. sportscotland have also published a comprehensive Guide to Project Development which will take you through all the steps of planning, designing and build a new facility in detail. The Facility Quality Management System provides a framework for managing your sport and leisure facility once it is up-and-running. It covers operations, customer relations, staffing and service development. All three publications can be downloaded from the Resources side-panel.
The separate section of Resourcing your Club provides more information on the various sources of funding currently available to sports organisations.
Facility Leasing
Many local authorities will enter into agreements with sports clubs to lease premises or facilities to reputable organisations on a range of terms. These may include the long-term leasing of existing premises on an exclusive basis, to the shorter-term letting of facilities for specific days or times on a regular basis.
To enquire further, you should make contact with your Local Sports Council or with appropriate sports centres and facilities in your area.
Using public and private centres
If you require access to facilities for a relatively short period of time (e.g. a couple of hours in a weekday evening, or one evening through a term), you should approach your local sports centre or facility to enquire about bookings. Virtually all school-owned, local authority-run and commercial sports centres are organised to accept regular and one-off bookings from sports clubs. In busy centres, the pressure on space may be such that you have to accept a booking time which is not your first choice, or you may need to wait for the start of a new booking period to be accommodated.
