Second spa school offers hands-on training

A TRAINING academy for people wanting to work in the spa industry is to open a second Scottish centre as luxury resorts across the globe demand more skilled workers.

Mary Reid International Spa Academy has been based in Edinburgh since 1954 and changed hands in 2009. Now the owner is looking to open a Glasgow operation.

Director Brian Hunter said people skilled in manicures, pedicures, rubs and wraps were in demand across the world as new luxury hotels looked to include beauty therapy in the range of services they offered.

Hunter, the former manager of One Spa in Edinburgh's Sheraton hotel, invested more than 1.5 million in the training centre when he bought it less than two years ago with ambitions to grow the brand.

The private academy, which is recognised by the international spa therapy qualifications body Cidesco, caters for up to 80 full-time students a year, and is eyeing expansion to a number of other UK cities, starting with Glasgow.

Hunter has not revealed an exact location but said he hoped the new academy would be open for the September intake of students. He said: "Greater Glasgow has more than double the population of Edinburgh and it doesn't have a Cidesco spa academy, so we realised there was an opportunity."

The expansion plans follow a successful year for the spa and "wellness" sector - the industry is estimated to be worth 155 billion globally.

Hunter said his students were aged between 16 and 62, ranging from school leavers to women going back to work after raising a family and people seeking a career change. "It's a real mixture of people, and it's not just girls, there are guys on the courses as well," he said.