Leisure Centre Network Upgrade

“Since the upgrade was completed, the difference has been night and day. Performance across our connected gym equipment, business systems and Wi-Fi has improved significantly, and the additional resilience gives us confidence that we can continue providing a great service to our members.”

Will Thrower
Centre Manager, Bridport Leisure Centre

The Challenge

Bridport Leisure Centre was experiencing a number of issues:

• Smart fitness equipment and associated applications were slow to respond
• Internet performance was inconsistent during busy periods
• Business systems were competing for bandwidth with guest Wi-Fi and connected gym equipment
• Existing broadband services lacked the resilience required for a busy leisure facility
• The existing firewall was not capable of fully utilising faster broadband services
• Legacy switching infrastructure limited network performance

With members increasingly relying on connected fitness experiences, the centre required a solution that would improve performance while minimising the risk of service disruption.

The Solution

BCNS designed and implemented a complete connectivity and network refresh.

Internet Connectivity

The existing broadband services were replaced with:

• Dual 1Gb full fibre broadband connections
• Services provided by separate ISPs for greater resilience
• Automatic failover between connections
• 4G/5G backup connectivity for additional business continuity

This ensures that if one service experiences issues, the centre can continue operating using an alternative connection. For a busy leisure centre, that added resilience helps reduce the operational impact of a connectivity failure. 

Network Security

The existing firewall was replaced with a modern security gateway designed to:

• Handle multi-gigabit internet speeds
• Provide advanced security features
• Support multiple WAN connections and failover
• Improve visibility and monitoring

Switching Infrastructure

The legacy network switches were replaced with new switches featuring:

• High-performance switching capacity
• 10Gb uplinks between switches
• 10Gb connectivity to the firewall
• Improved scalability and reliability

This ensures the internal network can fully support the performance delivered by the new fibre connections.

Centralised Management

By selecting the same vendor for both switching and firewall infrastructure, BCNS created a single management platform for:

• Monitoring
• Reporting
• Performance analysis
• Fault identification
• Ongoing support

This provides a clear operational view of the entire network from a single dashboard. It also gives BCNS a simpler way to monitor performance, identify faults and provide ongoing IT support, helping the centre maintain the performance and resilience of its network. 

The Result

The impact of the project was immediate.

The combination of dual gigabit fibre connections, modern security infrastructure and upgraded switching has transformed the centre’s network performance.

Key Outcomes

• Significantly faster internet performance across the site
• Improved responsiveness of connected gym equipment and fitness applications
• Better performance of line-of-business systems
• Improved guest Wi-Fi experience
• Increased resilience through dual fibre connections and mobile backup
• Greater visibility and control over the network
• Infrastructure ready for future growth

Bridport Leisure Centre now has a modern, resilient network platform capable of supporting its operational requirements and the increasing demand for connected fitness services. The project also demonstrates how upgrading business connectivity and network infrastructure can improve reliability and user experience for a leisure organisation in Dorset.

Need more resilient connectivity for your business?

If your organisation needs faster, more reliable connectivity and a network that can keep pace with your requirements, talk to BCNS about building a resilient infrastructure that supports your business now and as it grows.