TV Sports Presenter Opens New Sports and Education Facility
15 July 2011
Veteran TV presenter and football legend Bob Wilson officially reopened a University of Derby building on July 15, following a £3.3m refit which has given it one of the county's most advanced gyms.
The original single-storey 1960s-built Kirtley Building at the University's Kedleston Road site, in Derby, has been extended and another two storeys added to it. The project, by contractor OPL, was entirely funded from University budgets.
Bob, a Derby University Honorary, was a Scotland and Arsenal goalkeeper who became a key BBC and ITV sports presenter. He has recently completed a 500-mile bike ride around every Premier League football ground to raise £250,000 for the Willow Foundation; the charity set up in honour of his late daughter, Anna.
Most of the building's ground floor is taken up by a new gym which rivals the best in the county and is being run for the University by Nuffield Health. It replaces the University's former Fizeek gym. The new gym includes a fully air conditioned 44 exercise station fitness suite with the latest Technogym equipment, a free weights area, changing rooms and TV monitors.
Gym members can use a 'virtual' personal trainer, a USB stick or computer data storage device, which plugs into each machine and tells them what they've done on their personal fitness programme and what they should be doing.
