Oakwood Updates

On Thursday the 21st of September 2023, we were told that access to the gymnasium at Oakwood Sports Centre in Horley has unfortunately been suspended with immediate effect while investigations are carried out for urgent repair works potentially needed. 

We apologise for the disruption caused and thank you for your patience and understanding while we work with Oakwood School to manage the ongoing situation.

We will post updates as we are told them on this page in the pink section below.

We are regularly told this is a priority for Surrey CC to fix as it is a School learning space too, affecting Oakwood students who need the space to do PE and that if they give the building the ‘all clear’ we will be invited back in a week or two. If repair works need to be carried out, we will find out the scope of these and a timeframe for when we can return. 

All Classes Have been TEMPORARILY Relocated to Reigate School & Hazelwick School in Crawley:

For Wednesday, Friday & Saturday class members:

For Monday, Thursday & Sunday class members:

What happened?

The gymnasium we run classes in was immediately closed on the afternoon of Thursday the 21st of September after a loose ceiling tile was discovered following the storm on Wednesday night. There was concern this posed a potential safety risk to users of the hall and may need to be repaired before the hall can be reopened.

Some people were originally concerned about the presence of the widely reported “RAAC” concrete or asbestos in the ceiling, however, expert contractors confirmed on Monday the 25th of September that there was no RAAC or exposed asbestos present.

What is being done?

The project is in the hands of Surrey County Council (the owners of the school building) who will arrange for repair works to be carried out as soon as possible.

This has been labelled a priority repair as the gymnasium is a learning space for Oakwood school students too, who need the hall for PE activities.

The School Governors, Business Manager, Caretaker and Manager of the Sports Centre are communicating with Surrey CC on a regular basis to ensure the space can be made available as soon as possible. Springfit are also being updated with news as we use the hall six days a week.

What is the expected timeframe for returning to Oakwood?

We were initially told that the situation would be remedied within 2-4 weeks due to the priority nature of the works, though there are several parties involved in the process and various factors to be considered so this is subject to change.

We are regularly told that if they give the building the ‘all clear’ we could be invited back in a week or two. If repair works need to be carried out, we will find out the scope of these and a timeframe for when we can return. 

We will update the pink section at the top of this page as soon as we find out any further news or updates. 

What will happen with our classes?

We have been able to relocate all our classes to Reigate School and Hazelwick School as a temporary solution. All members of these classes were emailed on September 28th about this.

Our Monday, Thursday and Sunday classes are all temporarily relocated to Hazelwick School in Crawley. Our Wednesday, Friday and Saturday classes are all temporarily relocated to Reigate School. All members of these classes were emailed on September 25th and 26th about this. 

If you would like to move to an alternative session at any of our local venues for the duration of the disruption, please get in touch and we would be happy to check availability for you. For a full class schedule please see springfit.org/classes.

What are you doing about our payments?

Please be reassured that we are noting credits for all classes we have been forced to cancel and will be in touch again once we know when we can return to Oakwood with details of how we will reimburse you for any cancelled dates. With everyone being on various payment dates it will take some logistics, so we appreciate your understanding while we work with Oakwood to find out the scope of the disruption period. We will be sure to offer appropriate options to reimburse any missed classes when we return. Our priority is to ensure the continuity of classes with minimal disruption for our Oakwood members and Coaches!

We will offer FREE catch-up classes, discounted school holiday camps, a dedicated Christmas session or some kind of other suitable arrangement at rates better than your subscription cost for classes, to apologise for the inconvenience caused to your schedule. We hope it will only be a short period of time and we will be back at Oakwood soon where we can celebrate by doing more activities with you!

There are several solutions we have come up with for, including offering the opportunity to move to an alternative class or suspending places if you cannot make the alternative arrangements we put in place. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your own situation and we would be happy to help where we can!

Thank you again to all of our lovely members for your messages of support and your cooperation during this frustrating time for us all.