Tees Active Limited has passed a tough assessment from Sport England's leading national quality scheme, Quest.

Quest is the most well known improvement programme within the leisure industry and its rigorous assessments challenge even the very best leisure centres in the UK.

In order to achieve Quest, each Tees Active venue had a one day assessment across all areas of operation, as well as a mystery visit. The venues assessed were Billingham Forum, Splash, Thornaby Pavilion, Thornaby Pool in Stockton-on-Tees, and the Swan Centre for Leisure in Berwick. All 5 venues did very well especially on their mystery visit and team efforts of the staff were highlighted and commended across all centres. Billingham Forum and the Swan Centre for Leisure did particularly well on cleanliness.

Roy Broadbent Centre Manager at Billingham Forum said "We are very proud that the Forum is the premier leisure destination in the region, It's important that our service matches the quality of our facilities. We will now be building upon this strong foundation to continue to deliver high customer service excellence at the centre in the future."

Emma Ibbertson, Facility Manager at Splash said: "This achievement is a real team effort and recognises all the hard work and effort that goes into ensuring a wonderful experience for all the family. Quest is not just a tick box exercise; it is a tool to use to ensure we continuously look to improve our facility & services for both staff and customers enjoyment."

Quest's operations director, Caroline Constantine, said: "By meeting Quest's high standards Tees Active has shown its commitment to providing quality facilities and service to its customers. The new Quest standards are more demanding and challenging for the management team and staff and it is now much more of an achievement to succeed in Quest at any level. In these tough economic times it is more important than ever that local leisure facilities can demonstrate their value, and the Quest process helps them do just that."

Olympic Gold and Silver medallist Darren Campbell, one of Britain's most successful and well-known male sprinters, is also the first Quest Ambassador. He said: "I would like to congratulate Tees Active on achieving Quest. I strongly believe that the whole community should have accessible, affordable and high quality sport and leisure facilities on their doorstep. In working hard to continuously improve their offering, Tees Active is doing their bit to encourage and inspire people to get more active."