Management company Parkwood Leisure has named Andy Farr as its new business development director.

Farr will be tasked with growing Parkwood’s core business, exploring opportunities to work with local authorities and identifying key growth strategies – with a focus on both new markets and maximising local benefits from existing partnerships.

He will join Parkwood’s senior management team on 1 May from specialist management consulting firm FMG Consulting, where he was founder director.

Farr has a distinguished career in leisure, having overseen a number of high-profile procurement and delivery projects in the sector – including British Cycling’s National Facilities Strategy, Stoke Mandeville Stadium National Disability Sports Centre operator procurement and the National Football Facilities Strategy for the FA, Premier League and Sport England.

He was also the lead author of the Leisure Procurement Toolkit on behalf of Sport England.

Peter Fitzboydon, managing director of Parkwood Leisure, said: “High-quality staff are crucial to the success of our business, and our growth plan for the coming years highlighted the need for additional expertise in this area.

“With almost two decades of high-level business development experience in the sports and leisure sector, Andy will be a huge asset to our team.”

Farr added: “I’m looking forward to helping the business grow further through a focused and collaborative approach, working with key partners to maximise the local impact of our services in keeping people active.”

Parkwood Leisure currently operates over 85 leisure facilities on behalf of 25 local authority clients across England and Wales. The company has a turnover of over £85m and employs over 4,500 staff.