Scottish Indoor Snow Centre Closes For Good

Braehead Leisure Partnership, the owner of XSite, announces the permanent closure of the ski slope at Braehead on financial viability, safety, and environmental grounds, while it finalises plans for a new destination and use at the site.

Readers with time on their hands might wish to explore the operator's complex financial arrangements here with some highlights here.

Since the closure of Snow Factor, Braehead Leisure Partnership and its advisors have been working with a team of experts to tackle a series of complex challenges and situations, which were discovered after the former operator entered liquidation and when the slope was returned to the owner.

During the initial investigations, concerns were raised by HSE Scotland regarding the operation of the ski slope, leading to the appointment of the Glasgow office of Arup – a global engineering and sustainability consultancy – to provide advice to the building owner.

Extensive tests concluded that, due to the age and composition of the ski slope, it has been deemed unviable and it is necessary to remove all of the existing snow and ice as soon as possible. This complicated work has required a lot of planning and will start in the late Autumn of 2023, taking around three months to complete. Braehead Leisure Partnership regard safety as its number one priority and will now progress forward as quickly and safely as possible having now liaised with all the relevant authorities.

The viability considerations also include the exceptionally high energy consumption required to maintain the snow within the ski slope. The energy consumed (on average 5,900 kwh per day) is equivalent to the electricity that 800 two-bedroom houses will consume in a day (based on Ofgem data). The cost of meeting this energy requirement has increased by 500% since 2021.

The longer-term environmental impacts of a building consuming this much energy are also of considerable concern. For context, maintaining the temperature of the ski slope uses the same energy as over 6,000 fridge freezers per day (Ofgem) and produces over 500 tonnes of CO2e per annum using current Government figures.

The Braehead Leisure Partnership has concluded, after exhaustive research and investigation, that the slope - given its age and poor condition, mapped against its commercial opportunity and the capital needed to put it in to serviceable shape - is rendered unviable.

This complex technical task has required significant due diligence and planning, and it has been confirmed that the process of removing the ski slope will start in the late Autumn of 2023, taking around three months to complete. The rest of XSite will remain open throughout the process and trading will be unaffected.

XSite Braehead continues to offer an array of entertainment and fun experiences for people of all ages, including an Odeon cinema, Tenpin bowling, Climbzone, Gravity Active, Paradise Island Adventure Golf and Laser Tag, along with shopping and a range of food and drink options.

Matt Beddow, representing XSite Braehead said: “It has been a very difficult decision to make and the Braehead Leisure Partnership has concluded that the poor condition and age of the facility, combined with the dramatically increased running costs of this 17-year-old installation, make it unviable for us to support the slope as a commercial operation going forward. Moreover, the underlying environmental impact of keeping eight million litres of snow and ice - equivalent to three Olympic[1]sized swimming pools - at low temperatures is a significant sustainability concern for us all.

“We must now focus on the future. We are working on options to reopen this amazing space as a new and thrilling attraction with a broad appeal. In the meantime, we continue to attract loyal visitors from across the region and the site has enjoyed a record summer of footfall, with blockbuster movie releases and a host of family-friendly free events contributing to one of its busiest ever summers. I look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks and of course we will keep XSite’s visitors, and the local community fully updated on this journey.”