That’s The Point: Virgin Active South Africa Launches Social Wellness Club in Cape Town
Virgin Active South Africa has launched its first Collection Country Club at the site of its Point club in Green Point Cape Town. The new-look club sees Virgin Active introduce a new category concept that brings together fitness, recovery, wellness, nutrition, co-working, and community through a holistic approach to preventative and restorative health.
While a staple of the Atlantic Seaboard, the original Point club closed mid-2025 as the business made the strategic decision to overhaul the area’s offering in line with industry best practice, and the ever-changing global wellness landscape.
More than just a gym, the offering is positioned as a social wellness club. The business has invested more than R100 million in the 5,500 m² Collection Country Club, which opened its doors to the public on 19 February 2026.
“Our social wellness clubs have been reimagined as stunning spaces with exceptional hospitality. A place where training, recovery, wellness and social connection are given equal importance. It’s filled with spaces where people can be mentally, physically, socially and emotionally well. It’s a holistic preventative wellness solution under one roof, designed to integrate into modern lifestyles,” says Virgin Active Global CEO, Dean Kowarski.
“South Africa has played a huge role in Virgin Active’s story ever since Nelson Mandela called me to ask whether we could help rescue the Health & Racquet Club more than 20 years ago,” says Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group. “What the team has created at the Point Collection Country Club is a brilliant example of how Virgin Active continues to evolve and reimagine wellbeing for the future. It’s a club where people can workout, unwind, work remotely, meet new friends and enjoy life, and that’s what wellness is all about.”
Redefining a holistic approach to wellness
The new concept and elevated offering is a 360-degree approach to wellness, and includes the following amenities:
- Performance and fitness: Expanded, fully functional gym floor, cardio zone, and a new Lift Club, fitness class supported by the latest equipment, as well as dedicated strength and conditioning areas and personal training services.
- Group exercise: Five studios offering Reformer Pilates, hot yoga, boxing, high-intensity training, performance and simulation cycling and meditative sound bath classes.
- Swimming: A 25m training pool, which is home to the Chad Le Clos Swim Academy, with programmes supported by qualified swim coaches delivering structured training for beginner, recreational, fitness-focused and competitive swimmers.
- Recovery and relaxation: A spa area offering hot and cold contrast therapy, including a sauna, steam room, spa pool and cold plunge. Additional recovery facilities include Hydromassage and Cryolounge beds, compression boots and Hyperice massage guns.
- Outdoor and indoor play: padel, pickleball, tennis courts, outdoor swimming pool, and following Virgin Active’s recent exercise and training partner status with HYROX, the club also features an outdoor functional HYROX training area.
- Thrive and health support: Health and medical suites, biokineticists, physiotherapists, sports scientists, longevity suites, dieticians, and body composition support (body scanners), as well as an infra-red and red light longevity cabin, spa and hydrotherapy facilities.
- Nutrition, connect and work: Social wellness events, NÜ Health Food Café nutritional offering, co-working spaces, boardrooms, and dedicated indoor and outdoor social spaces for community building.
The “second space”
Virgin Active has operated in South Africa for more than 30 years, initially focused on physical fitness, conditioning and performance through its network of gyms. It has now evolved this traditional gym offering. In addition to physical fitness, conditioning and performance the business provides a much more rounded and holistic wellness offering — it has become more than a gym, it has evolved globally into a social wellness club.
“Wellness isn’t about chasing intensity or ticking off short-term goals. It’s about balance and sustainability — the kind that comes from consistency, care, and commitment over time. It’s about building habits, spaces and communities that support a full, healthy life. The Point Collection Country Club is the clearest expression of that philosophy,” says Kowarski.
“What you have here is what I call a ‘second space’. It’s not home, and it’s not the office. It’s that intentional space in between, where a lifestyle, all inclusive of training, recovery, focus, work connection, nutrition, restoration and community, is designed to coexist.
Together, these ideas shape a broader ambition for what Virgin Active believes wellness should look like in practice at our social wellness clubs and Point Collection Country Club, and this ethos is built into the architecture of this space.”
“The difference between preventative wellness and health is of paramount importance to the role we aim to play in the lives of not just our members, but for all South Africans,” says Kowarski. “Health is a state of being at a point in time. It’s an outcome, not an action. It’s reactive, whereas wellness is proactive, and a lifelong journey to pursue a better self and a positive state of being. It is impacted by lifestyle, habits, attitude, and ultimately plays a role in one’s happiness and longevity.”
Understanding social wellness
The concept of social wellness responds directly to a growing consumer shift and the need to balance work, life and wellbeing through spaces that serve more than one function. It creates a second space where members can train, recover, disconnect, connect, co-work, access health services and engage in restorative wellness, all within a single environment designed for everyday living.
This shift is reflected in research such as the Global Wellness Institute’s recent Initiative Micro-Trends report, which recognises physical movement as a key driver of brain health and psychological wellbeing, helping to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression while supporting overall mental wellness.
Looking ahead
According to Virgin Active, The Point Collection Country Club forms part of a broader national development programme, with multiple Virgin Active clubs already upgraded and further developments planned across South Africa in 2026.
For more information on the Virgin Active Collection Country Club, or to speak to a Virgin Active representative visit www.virginactive.co.za/.