The Gym Group has confirmed plans to roll out a new small box format in the UK over the next 12 months.

The format is a scaled-down version of The Gym concept and has been designed to open up opportunities to enter new markets.

The first small box site opened in Newark, Nottinghamshire on 11 November 2019.

The low-cost chain has set itself a target of opening between five and eight small box gyms during 2020.

Describing the new format in August 2019, Richard Darwin, CEO, said: "The concept is pretty much a slimmed-down version of what we already do.

"Our traditional gyms are, on average, around 15,500sq ft in size. The small box sites will be between 5,000sq ft and 9,000sq ft.

"What it does is offer us the opportunity to go into towns that wouldn't previously have been on our target list, because they wouldn't have been big enough – towns where the overall population is between 25,000 and 60,000.

"While we don't have an exact target number of sites for the small box model yet, we did a study with PwC which showed that there could potentially be an additional 300 small box sites across the UK. So the volume is there."

The new small box openings will be in addition to the continued expansion of the company's standard format estate, which will continue to be rolled out at a rate of 15-20 new sites per year.