Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres is an international benchmarking project operated in Australia by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) in partnership with the New Zealand Recreation Association, and endorsed by Aquatics and Recreation Victoria.

Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres is a valuable tool which allows benchmarking over time with other facilities. Collecting information about facilities is crucial to enable effective pool management. Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres is a business improvement initiative developed by the pools and leisure centre industry, for the industry. It collects and compares information on the provision of services, cost of provision, revenue, usage, staff resources, programs and marketing, asset management, planning and policy information.

It is a reflection of the growing maturity and complexity of the aquatic and leisure centre industry that managers and Councils utilise a wide variety of management information for the effective running of facilities. Obtaining relevant and useful data is essential and Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres has been designed to provide the range of information you require.

Use Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres data for:
• Operational and financial reviews
• Pool development & design planning
• Performance measurement
• Direct pool to pool comparison
• Staff resource & pay reviews
• Industry analysis

Using a question workbook, information is gathered from each facility and collated into an annual Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres Report. All responses are audited on site by independent auditors, ensuring robust and reliable data is provided. The pools and corresponding information contained in the Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres Report is also openly reported, allowing direct comparison with pools of a similar type and/or size.

An article in the February/March 2007 issue of the Public Works Engineering journal by Chris Rutherford, provides a comprehensive review of the Yardstick project including Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres.

To join Yardstick Pools and Leisure Centres, act NOW by completing the form (on the mebership page) or for more information contact Aquatics and Recreation Victoria on (03) 8843 2000 or email info@aquarecvic.org.au.

Individual analysis reports are available upon request. They are intended to provide a more in depth look at how your organisation is tracking against the other members of the project (total sample) and also a selected group of similar sized or neighbouring organisations (demographic group).

The content of these reports include:
• Methodology.
• The strengths and weaknesses of you organisation compared to other organisations.
• Recommended courses of action for each weakness identified.
• Detailed analysis of your organisations results compared to both the demographic group and total sample.

The information contained in the individual Yardstick analysis report is suitable for inclusion in asset and activity management plans, and is particularly useful for driving an improvement programme.

For further information contact brian@yardstickglobal.org.