Gyms, studios and boxes
A recovery room for a boutique gym with twelve square metres to spare
A recovery room does not need a spa wing. It needs ten to twenty square metres, a floor drain and a willingness to run the sauna as a timetable. This is how gyms and studios fit one in, what a landlord will ask and how a timetable keeps it in use.
Sections on this page
- What fits in twelve square metres
- The floor, the drain and the landlord
- Members, slots and the clipboard
- What the fitness market says about the room
- Where use goes wrong, and how we draw against it
- Cost to run, and how to work it out for yourself
- Wet feet on a gym floor
- A leased unit: what moves and what stays
- Noise and the class next door
- Cleaning between classes: three minutes
- Equipment list for a twelve-square-metre room
What fits in twelve square metres
| Floor area | What goes in | Indicative range |
|---|---|---|
| About 8 m² | a two-seat glass cabin and a free-standing ice bath on the landing | €13,600–19,500 |
| About 12 m² | a four-seat glass cabin and a round plunge pool | €18,100–29,000 |
| About 20 m² | an eight-seat cabin, two plunge pools and a small plant room | €35,300–56,000 |
Ranges are indicative and exclude groundworks and local electrics. The middle row is the typical studio: one cabin, one pool, a bench to sit on, a hook for a towel and a clock on the wall.
The floor, the drain and the landlord
Gyms are often in leased units with concrete slabs and little else. Three questions decide the scheme. Can the floor take the weight of a cabin and a plunge pool, and who signs that off? Is there a drain close enough, or can one be added? And does the lease allow works that cannot be removed? If you rent, take the free-standing route: a made-to-measure cabin and a free-standing ice bath leave when you do. If you own, build the plunge pool into the floor.
Members, slots and the clipboard
A recovery room fails when it becomes a queue or an unmonitored corner. Give each member a fifteen-minute slot, put a timer on the wall, fit a glass front so the coach can see in, and write the rule on one sheet. Sign-up can be a clipboard or an app; the cabin does not mind. What matters is that somebody owns the key for closing time.
What the fitness market says about the room
EuropeActive and Deloitte count 75.5 million members of health and fitness clubs in Europe at the end of 2025, up 5.8% on 2024, in 67,515 clubs, with revenue of €39.1 billion (European Health & Fitness Market Report, April 2026). Spain accounts for 7.1 million of those members. A boutique studio is a small piece of that market. The figures describe the audience a recovery room is offered to; they are not an estimate of what it earns.
Where use goes wrong, and how we draw against it
- Leaving the door open: a self-closing hinge and a glass door that shows when it is ajar.
- Dripping on the bench: a mat at the door and a towel hook that is not the bench.
- Staying in too long: a clock where it can be seen from the bench, and a rule on the sheet.
- Switching things off: the controls are at the door, behind a cover, with an instruction in plain words.
Cost to run, and how to work it out for yourself
We do not quote revenue per member, because we have no source worth printing. What you can calculate is the energy. A 6 kW heater draws its rated power while the cabin heats and in use; assume about 1.5 hours of full-power equivalent per session block and multiply by your own tariff. The chiller cycles on and off; the layout lists the loads so your electrician can do the rest. Glass sauna insulation and energy has the worked example.
Wet feet on a gym floor
Rubber flooring, kettlebells and barefoot members mean the floor around a plunge pool must grip and drain. We draw a non-slip finish on coping, steps and the path to the changing rooms, a drain under the cabin door, a shower between the pool and the gym floor, and a mat plan that keeps wet feet off the lifting platform.
A leased unit: what moves and what stays
| Item | If you rent | If you own |
|---|---|---|
| Cabin | a made-to-measure cabin can be unscrewed and taken to the next unit | fixed, with the benefit of the layout |
| Pool | a free-standing ice bath leaves with you | a built-in plunge pool becomes part of the floor |
| Drain | ask the landlord; a floor drain is a works permission | yours to decide |
| Plant | a cupboard with air, removable | a small plant room |
Noise and the class next door
A chiller's compressor and a circulation pump are heard in a quiet room, and a yoga class on the other side of a partition will notice a hum. Place the plant away from the rooms that need silence, on rubber feet, and ask us for the sound level of the unit you will get. A pump on correctly sized pipework runs more quietly than one forced through narrow pipes, and we draw the pipework to the size the flow needs.
Cleaning between classes: three minutes
- Wipe the benches and the door glass with the cloth by the door.
- Empty the bucket and put the ladle back.
- Check the pool cover is off, the water is clear and the display shows the setpoint.
- Wipe the coping and the path to the changing room.
A room that takes more than three minutes to reset will not be reset.
Equipment list for a twelve-square-metre room
Padel clubs and boutique gyms: recovery rooms members use covers the rota in detail.
Cabin and pool prices for a small room are in the price list; the kit builder shows what a four-seat cabin and one pool come to.
Do members need to book the sauna?
Not necessarily. A studio can run it first-come with a timer; a busier gym can book fifteen-minute slots. The cabin and the layout work for both.
Can a cold pool go in a first-floor gym?
Sometimes. Water is heavy: a 1,100-litre pool is a tonne and more. A structural engineer should confirm the slab before anything is ordered.
What does the room need besides power and a drain?
Ventilation for the cabin, air for the chiller and a way to keep the corridor dry. We draw all three.
Other readers
Who else builds this way
Boutique hotels and their courtyards
Courtyard saunas and shared cold pools for hotels of 12 to 60 rooms, with a plant that stays out of sight.
Read on
Villas let by the week
A sauna and a warm-and-cold pair for villas that change guests weekly: covers, wipeable surfaces, simple plant.
Read on
Padel and racquet clubs, court to clubhouse
A glass sauna for four to eight and shared cold pools, sized by the match and placed between courts and clubhouse.
Read on