Sport Wales, the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales, is the latest partner to join the DataHub.

A key part of the collaboration will be the DataHub powering Sport Wales’ national facility audit, so that the database, which contains location and specification details of all indoor facilities, will remain up to date. This will enable key intelligence to be built to better inform investment decisions and strategic priorities in the Welsh sport and fitness industries.

Developed by 4 global in 2013, the DataHub is a virtual hub for sports and leisure data, which currently holds information from more than 157 operators, who between them run over 1,100 sites.

The DataHub enables every member organisation to make use of intelligence from its central repository, which now holds data from more than 270 million individual facility visits. This data can tell an organisation everything from what ‘good’ looks like in their area to what classes are popular locally, at what time, with which members. Inevitably this boosts an organisation’s ability to coordinate its investment and means a more relevant offer, which meets the community’s needs and therefore creates more demand.

Sport Wales also joins the DataHub Steering Group, which consists of ukactive, CLOA, Sporta, CSPN, the ASA, Badminton England, England Squash, Places for People, GLL, Xn Leisure and Gladstone. The Group meets quarterly to provide project governance.

Graham Williams, Deputy Director of Community Sport at Sport Wales, says:
“As an organsiation, we strive to develop an active, healthy nation through sport. The existence and development of facilities that enable people to get active and stay active is a big part of achieving that vision. The DataHub allows us to present information around current facilities in Wales so that we can collaborate with the sector to strategically plan and improve sites, making them fit for the future and the needs of the communities they serve.”

“It’s refreshing to see a national sport agency adopt a progressive and collaborative approach to a traditional facility audit,” says 4 global Director, Alex Burrows. “Embedding the Sport Wales national database within such a significant ‘data community’ will provide direct benefits to all the organisations involved. The DataHub’s overarching aim is to get the nation more active by sharing up-to-date intelligence and this partnership is another step towards helping us work collectively to make more informed decisions about physical activity investment.”

Leisure-net Solutions, a leading customer insight and surveying organisation, is supporting 4 global with the audit consultation element of this contract to ensure every facility operator in Wales is fully engaged.

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NOTES TO EDITORS
About The DataHub
The collaborative DataHub project was launched in 2013 as an automated and secure way for all facilities across the health and fitness industry to bring their data together on a daily basis, align it with data standards and then access and share consistent business intelligence and best practice. All DataHub Club members (facility operators, NGBs and delivery partners) now have accurate reporting information, relative benchmarks and actionable operational solutions, based on a central and growing shared repository of 250+ million facility visits (1,100+ UK facilities).

The DataHub provides an eco-system, allowing partner suppliers (marketing, health and safety, customer insight, social return etc.) to leverage the centralised intelligence within their own specialist modules and services, creating a one-stop-shop that delivers simple, coordinated and enhanced customer, programme and facility outcomes. Never before have so many sector organisations been united under one umbrella with such a fundamental mandate, and with the technology to deliver this much-needed step change in how the industry uses data.

About 4 global
An international sports management and major event consultant, 4 global provides expert support in four areas. As a major sporting event consultancy, it works to assist clients with everything from bidding and planning to legacy. Using bespoke online platforms and aggregated data, it provides unrivalled sports intelligence. Sports Investment works closely with sports governing bodies to understand the future of the sector and how data and partners can achieve commercial and social returns. And finally, the team offers evidence and research-based sports planning consultancy to local authorities, specifically on indoor facility and playing pitch strategies.