Workshop Gymnasium founder Lee Mullins plans to focus growth of his studios within the Bulgari Hotel brand, with the training concept due to open in Dubai and Shanghai.

The boutique gym will open at Bulgari's Dubai property before the end of the year and its Shanghai hotel in 2018. It is also likely to be rolled out in Moscow when Bulgari opens a hotel in the Russian capital in 2019.

In an exclusive interview with Health Club Management, Mullins said that he could open standalone sites but that there was “plenty of scope for growth” within Bulgari.

“I’m very happy that growth of Workshop will be in line with Bulgari expansion, wherever that might be,” he said.

Workshop, which launched in Bulgari Hotel London in 2014, also has fitness and wellbeing studios at the hotel brand’s properties in Milan and Beijing.

With most of the hotels in cities, a large proportion of Workshop Gymnasium members are local residents. In London, for example, between 70 and 80 per cent of its 180 members live nearby, while the remainder are hotel guests and drop-in clients.

Mullins also offers long-distant support. “We have a client in Scotland, for example, who comes to London now and then for an assessment and a new programme. We then support him remotely between visits, with bespoke nutritional and training advice. I think we’ll see more of that in all locations,” he said.

Mullins, who is likely to relocate to Shanghai for a period of time when the Workshop studio opens in the Chinese city, pointed out that consistency was a key element to the gym’s success so far.

“What we want to do is deliver consistency in our coaching and in the whole feel of Workshop, to the point that someone can walk in an immediately trust us wherever in the world they happen to find us.”

For the full interview click here.

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