Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre in Bedfordshire has become the first local authority site to install an eco-friendly line of equipment that harnesses human energy and feeds it directly into the facility’s power grid system.

As part of a £2m refurbishment, the Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) operated leisure centre has opted for a wall-to-wall installation of Technogym’s ARTIS Line with its Renew energy harvesting technology.

The council is investing heavily in its entire leisure provision, which includes six leisure centres. As part of its leisure strategy, it has allocated more than £6m to enhance leisure offerings for residents.

“We’re proud to be the first local authority in the country (and third site in the world) to install this industry-leading range of fitness equipment in our leisure centre,” said councillor Brian Spurr, CBC executive member for sustainable communities and services.

“This proves that local authority gyms can indeed stand among the best in the UK in terms of quality, value and the user experience.”

Technogym’s ARTIS range is a collection of 30 fully-integrated cardio, strength and functional

equipment. Its cardio equipment contain patent-pending technology that utilises energy to significantly lower the cost and environmental impact of running a fitness centre as gym members work to power the centre.

Through UNITY, Technogym’s swipe-screen cardio console, users can track the energy value they generate as they work out on the ARTIS line. The console records and displays the wattage produced and shows a household appliance (such as a kettle or light bulb) that uses the equivalent power value, motivating them to work out more to power larger appliances. UNITY also displays how much of their carbon footprint each user has offset based on their exercise session.

ARTIS also reduces energy consumption – a new brushless motor in the ARTIS Run treadmill reduces energy usage by 30 per cent against similar treadmills and recycles energy, with users powering their own display console and TV during their workout.

“ARTIS is very much in line with our commitment to sustainability," councillor Spurr added. “With growing pressures on our budgets, this provides a real spend-to-save opportunity. Not only will our residents be more active, which is a really key priority for us, they’ll also be helping to cut the centre’s running costs and reduce our carbon footprint.”