Budget health club operator The Gym Group (TGG), which offers a flat membership rate of £14.99 per month and no contracts, has announced plans to open three more gyms this year and another ten in 2009.

TGG opened its first 'no-frills', 24-hour access club in the Blenheim Centre, Hounslow, West London, last month.

Services at the 15,000 sq ft facility include 160-station gym supplied by Cybex, spinning classes, a VR circuit as well as an online exercise programme. The club is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

Subsequent clubs in the pipeline will range in size from 12,000 to 20,000sq ft at prominent locations across the UK.

TGG has appointed Colliers CRE as the consultants for the company's expansion. Toby Hall, director of leisure at Colliers CRE, said: " Only 11 per cent of adults in the UK are members of a private gym and a further 18 per cent pay to use a public facility. The price point of the Gym Group will encourage a greater crossover between the two. In the Hounslow unit one-third of The Gym members are new to the private health club market."

TGG is headed by John Treharne - former boss of Dragons Health Clubs - and is supported by Bridges Community Ventures (BCV) which has invested £1m in the project. The online membership sales are managed by Harlands Group's through its 'Snap' direct debit system.

BVC, a venture capital company, invested in The Gym as part of its social mission to support facilities in under privileged areas in the UK and to enable large portions of the local community to enjoy the benefits of a low cost gym membership.