Adidas community gym scheme launched across England

By Joe Lepper Friday, 12 June 2009

A London partnership between the government and sportswear giant Adidas to create gyms in the community is to be rolled out across England.

Boy on Adizone equipment in Newham. Credit: Andrew Baker

The so-called adizones are already in place in the five Olympic London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Hackney and Newham, and provide outdoor gym equipment free of charge in open spaces.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has announced that nine more adizones will be built across England.

The move will be funded jointly by Adidas and the government, which is to plough £3m into the project as part of its £200m schools co-location fund.

A total of 101 projects, which aim to create better links between schools and communities, are being supported through the fund.

A DCSF spokesman said that a decision on which nine areas will receive an adizone has yet to be taken. He added that as in the five London boroughs they will be based in open spaces and parks, and will be free for local school children, as well as the local community to use.

Other projects to benefit from the co-location fund include plans to transform Whitehawk Primary School in Brighton into a community hub, offering health and social care services on site. The plans have been awarded £5.3m through the fund.