Aura Leisure | About Us

COMMUNITY

We operate as an integral part of the local community. We meaningfully contribute, engage and participate in the local community. We also operate like a family and have a very strong sense of internal community as an organisation.

QUALITY

We are consistent in the quality of our customer service, people, products, services and promotion. You can also see the quality of maintenance, safety & cleanliness in our centres throughout the country.

PASSION

We are passionate about our customers achieving their goals, our communities, our people, the standards in our centres and the health & well-being of Ireland.

Our Values

We OWN our goals and deliver on them

We are Proud of our shared success

We believe that SMALL CHANGES can make a difference

We genuinely CARE about our customers and each other

We are determined to be the BEST we can be

We are in this TOGETHER

It’s not just a job – it’s a WAY OF LIFE

We keep it REAL

Our Purpose

Our enduring purpose is to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities through exercise, sport and active lifestyles.

Educate

Motivate

Support

CREATING A HEALTHIER HAPPIER IRELAND

Aura’s mission is to ‘To Improve the Health and Wellbeing of Our Communities Through Exercise, Sport and Active Lifestyles’ and our vision is to create ‘A Healthier and Happier Ireland’. We  educate, motivate and support our members and our communities to reach their health and fitness goals. Key to our success has been the partnership approach we have adopted with Local Authorities, County Councils and our clients across the country to deliver on shared objectives.

Aura is an Irish owned company and each one of our leisure centres is available to the entire community on a pay as you go or membership basis. Our highly qualified fitness teams help support our members to achieve their fitness goals from beginners to experienced gym users. Our unique fitness programmes Fit for Life and Lean3 are available to all members and do deliver real and sustainable results!

The hugely successful Aura Swim Academy is a market leader in providing swimming lessons for children and adults with an average of 11,000 children attending our lessons each week. We are also committed to encouraging and enabling our staff and the members of our local communities to achieve high quality learning opportunities through our fully certified training courses which are delivered by the Aura Training Academy.

As an officially certified ‘Great Place to Work’ in Ireland, we are extremely proud of our people who help us maintain the highest standards of customer care and safety at each of our facilities. We assess employment candidates based on their fit with our values and their competencies. Aura has a comprehensive talent development programme that ensures that we support our employees to grow and develop in the business and support them to perform to their best.

At Aura, we have achieved many national awards over the years including awards for Disability Inclusion, Health and Safety, Environmental Management, Quality Systems and Training.

OUR NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL AWARDS & ACCREDITATIONS

National Irish Safety Organisation

The Aura Group are members of NISO (National Irish Safety Organisation). In 2023, Aura achieved two awards at the National Irish Safety Awards, winning the Exceptional High Achiever Award, which is only given to 17 companies across the country, and the Distinction Level Award. It was the tenth year in a row that Aura Holohan Group has received the Distinction Level Award, and the first time the organisation has won the Exceptional High Achiever Award. The awards recognise the high standards maintained by the entire organisation and many thanks must go to our health and safety management team, safety committees and staff for the positive attitude and determination that is applied to Health and Safety management on a daily basis. Health and safety is a core value for Aura and the safety of our people and our customers remains a top priority.

National Quality Standard

Each year we renew our membership of Ireland Active and take part in the National Quality Standard Awards. We have achieved the Outstanding Gold Standard every year from 2014 to 2023. All of our leisure centres have secured ‘NQS Gold standard’ within 12 months of opening.

IQLUK Approved Training Centre

All Aura leisure centres are approved training centres with IQLUK. IQL UK is the trading subsidiary of The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), the drowning prevention charity and are the leading governing body in relation to pool lifeguarding. In addition, on an annual basis, we get IQL to conduct on-site independent audits of our lifeguarding standards and procedures in our leisure centres. This ensures that we are always at the forefront of ”best practice” in lifeguarding.

Investors in Diversity Accreditation

In 2023 The Aura Holohan Group were awarded ‘Investors in Diversity’ accreditation by the Irish Centre for Diversity. Investors in Diversity is Ireland’s premier D&I performance accreditation, and it supports the journey of continuous improvement by providing a structured framework to transform practices and culture.

At the Aura Holohan Group, inclusion is systemic. Our approach to diversity and inclusion goes beyond compliance and adhering to legislative requirements, it’s about incorporating diversity and inclusion considerations within recruitment, retention and promotion policies, training and development programmes and our Social Corporate Responsibility Policy.

Officially Certified as one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces

We have, once again, been officially certified as a Great Place to Work 2023-24, after a thorough and independent analysis conducted by Great Place to Work® Institute Ireland. The accreditation process is based on direct feedback from employees, provided as part of an extensive and anonymous survey about the workplace experience.

As well as that we have been recognised as one of the top 35 Best Workplaces for Women in 2024 by Great Place to Work® Institute Ireland, in what is another step toward building the best work environment we can.

Our people engagement programmes set us apart in the sports and leisure industry as it places our people firmly at the heart of what we do. We regularly seek feedback from our teams through these programmes and we have implemented a wide range of initiatives that help to motivate and engage our teams to deliver their best for the business. Achieving this independent certification from Great Place to Work® Institute Ireland demonstrates to us that our people endorse and support our culture, values and mission.

Health and Safety Award