Founded by Managing Director Phil Pickersgill in 2000, the company was born from his experience in the leisure industry in Europe and the desire to develop a new niche in the market. The initial objective for the company was to introduce unique family-focused adventure products which started with climbing walls.
Today, Innovative Leisure’s portfolio consists of hundreds of successful installations and an ever-evolving product range. We are constantly researching and evaluating new ideas in order to introduce, as our name suggests, the most innovative attractions.
The addition of the Sky Trail range of high ropes courses, and the partnership with our US based manufacturer RCI Adventure Products since 2010 has fuelled significant growth for the company and our team.
Who We Work With
The diversity of our product catalogue means that we supply attractions to fit many sectors of the leisure industry. Our clients include theme parks, visitor attractions, zoos, safari parks, activity and outdoor centres, holiday parks, farm parks, indoor play centres, scout groups, local authorities, emergency services, the Army, RAF and The Royal Marines, schools, colleges and independent operators.
What We Offer
Consultation and Design
Over 300 installations in the past decade has taught us which of our products works well in almost any location. This enables us to advise you on what will work best to achieve your aims.
From the initial point of contact to the first day you operate your Innovative Leisure equipment and beyond, our unrivalled support and consultation will be there.
We will visit your site and draw up plans based on your available area and budget. We can tailor products to your exact specification and carry out installations as efficiently as possible once we have seen your site for ourselves.
Innovative Leisure can also assist with design and planning applications. With this, we can all be confident that your equipment is going to work for you. If funds are not yet in place we can advise on possible sources of funding.
Whether you have experience with leisure equipment or not, Innovative Leisure will train you and your staff and advise on the most efficient way to operate our products.
Safety
At Innovative Leisure, we are immensely proud of our impeccable safety record. When supplying thrilling and adventurous attractions, the aim is to create a perceived sense of danger when in reality you couldn’t be in safer hands.
We take every measure to ensure our products are safe for both participants and operators. This is paramount when developing and supplying equipment.
Every product supplied by Innovative Leisure has a current UK NAFLIC Design Review in place. This is conducted by an independent inspector under UK – HSG 175 and a copy of this is provided to each customer.
In the UK, where applicable Innovative Leisure products are subject to an independent ADIPS (Amusement Device Inspection Procedures Scheme) assessment to ensure each product delivered and installed meets and exceeds the highest safety standards for equipment of this type.
In addition to this, we include specialist training as standard (where applicable) with our products to ensure your staff are suitable and capable of operating the equipment in line with the operating practices set out in the manufacturer’s manual and design review.
Servicing
Our engineers are highly skilled and have a comprehensive understanding of all of our products.
We know that with the heavy use our products get, things may need repairing or replacing from time to time. No one likes it when this happens but our aim is to ensure it occurs as rarely as possible and when it does we’ll have you back up and running as soon as we can.
We always have the customer in mind. For products which require annual servicing, we will remind you in good time so you can arrange your service work with us. Arranging in advance ensures our engineers can get to you as close to your service date as possible, allowing you to continue using your Innovative Leisure product with complete peace of mind.
For those with mobile equipment, service work can be conducted in-house at our premises. This makes it possible for simple service work or annual services to be completed in just a few hours so we can arrange to do the work whilst you wait. We’ll even throw in a cup of tea.
With static installations or for those that prefer, we have a dedicated service vehicle allowing us to come to you and complete work at your site.
If it’s just a certain part you need, we keep a large selection in stock at our premises. This means we often ship spares or consumables with next day delivery in the UK and within three days across Europe.
Meet the team
Phil
Emma
Keith
Dave
Paul
Pete
External
Phil Pickersgill
Managing Director
Phil has over 30 years’ experience in the attractions industry and started out as a Director of Laser Quest in 1989.
With a background in engineering coupled with his in-depth knowledge of the industry, he founded Innovative Leisure with a vision to introduce new, adventure related products, from around the world to the UK and European markets.
Today, Phil is highly respected within the business and plays an active role in a number of the trade associations that steer the leisure industry.
Never out of arms reach of his mobile, except when he’s cycling to and from the office, it is his drive, enthusiasm and hard work which have continued to push Innovative Leisure forward and maintain its position at the forefront of the interactive family attractions market.
Keith Finnegan
UK Sales Manager
Keith brings with him over 20 years’ operations experience in the leisure attractions industry. As the owner/operator of the highly successful Laser Quest & Rock attraction at Manchester’s Trafford Centre, he first encountered Innovative Leisure as a customer in 2002.
More recently he furthered his operations knowledge in the industry whilst running a busy children`s indoor play centre in Cheshire. With customer satisfaction, always at the forefront of his mind, Keith has led teams to awards such as ‘Best Family Friendly Venue’, ‘Best Leisure Attraction’ and ‘Best Family Friendly Place to Eat’.
Now Keith has joined the “dark side” of the industry as a supplier, he intends to contribute his knowledge and experience, to ensure that Innovative Leisure sales continue to grow and we remain leaders in our field.
Simon Cockerill
UK Sales
Later to join and lead expeditions around the world, he then utilised this experience facilitating team building and outdoor management development courses in the UK, New Zealand and Ireland. Prior to joining Innovative Leisure, Simon was the manager at The Snowdome in Tamworth. His love of skiing and snowboarding took a back seat to make way for the joys of operations. Simon is always happy to help with valuable advice, so long as you buy something from him.
Emma Booth
European Sales
With a background in inflatables before joining Innovative Leisure in 2007, Emma has been an ever-present face of the amusement industry.
Emma’s role is that of European Sales and she can often be heard conversing with customers fluently in French, German and Spanish as well as in her native English. She’s constantly forging relationships and working with contacts on the continent to spread Innovative Leisure products across Europe.
Dave Page
Engineer
Dave is an integral part of the Innovative Leisure team and no one knows more about how our products work than he does.
During the lead up to the busy summer season, Dave is rarely seen in the office as he’s out on the road working tirelessly to complete annual services to ensure every customer is ready for the start of the main operating period!
When he is in the office he’s usually in the warehouse setting up new products ready for delivery or taking care of anything around the office that requires the use of power tools as he doesn’t trust the rest of us with anything more dangerous than a blunt pencil.
Dave is always happy to offer guidance and advice to customers on the phone who may be experiencing technical issues and to chat whilst he’s on site to help out with questions and queries you may have.
Rich Morris
Customer Support & Training
Friendly and enthusiastic with customer satisfaction at the forefront of everything Rich does. With his meticulous attention to detail whether it be installing, servicing or training.
As a successful Sky Trail manager in a former role Rich is happy to help new facilities and teams to give them the best possible start.
In his spare time, he enjoys dabbling in adventure sports including climbing.
John Blackman
Customer Support And Training
John joins us as our national training manager to increase training capacity for our customers, align all our training needs and develop our training program.
In his spare time John would consider himself to be Mr Outdoors: he loves to be out in nature whether this is snow holing in Norway, Kayaking in Wales or mountain hiking in Europe. If he isn’t found getting his adrenalin fix in the countryside you will find him at his rugby club either playing or cheering on his club.
John joins us with over 3 years experience as a manager of one of our sites where he managed a two level Sky Trail high ropes course, 10m static climbing wall, as well as Segways and a mini golf course. John has also overseen children’s activities across 6 leisure facilities for this international leisure operating company.
Before his time in the leisure industry John has managed an outdoor equipment shop and comes to us with significant knowledge and experience of adventurous activities.”
Pete Toogood
Service Engineer
We are pleased to welcome Pete on board as a full time member of the team, in the role as service engineer.
With a background in bicycle manufacturing and having worked in locations around the world, Pete is perfectly equipped to assist our customers both in the UK and Europe with their servicing requirements.
Andy Cumbley
Service and Installation Engineer
Andy is carpenter by trade and the man behind our UK built Wooden Water Wars. He’s worked with us as part of the installation and servicing team for a number of years and now a full time member of the team.
Outside of work he’s a man of hidden talents – TV presenter, film star, chief engineer for a historic motor racing team and overall legend.
Jacqui Tildesley
Office Administrator
Jacqui has a degree in engineering and NEBOSH diploma in health and safety. She helps bring projects to life and keeps all our office wheels turning efficiently.
In her spare time, she is a keen white water kayaker and Girl Guide leader so has a great perspective on how our products are used in outdoor adventure.
External Contractors and Regular Contributors
In addition to our in-house team, Innovative Leisure uses a regular specialist team of external contractors. These include our key staff working for our specialist suppliers, product design engineers, installation engineers, and independent safety inspectors.
This extended team, who we have worked with for over ten years in many cases, play a significant role in the company’s ability to deliver unique projects and to our continued growth.
Paul Atkinson
Customer Support Administrator
Paul is the newest member of our team and responsible for taking care of existing customers to keep their products operating safely and smoothly.
In his spare time he’s a keen runner, cyclist and wildlife enthusiast. You can find him on a Saturday morning a run director for his local parkrun.
As a former Venture Scouts leader he knows first hand how engaging adventure activities can be.