As part of our Gallagher ‘Marine Matters’ monthly articles, the marine team got to meet MDL Marinas Managing Director, Mike Glanville.

MDL are hugely respected in their sector and we were keen to learn more about their business, #greenermarinas brand, their South Coast Boat Show & Green Tech Boat Show ambitions and more.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I’m married to Karen who’s a teacher and we have two children, Benjaman 10 and Oliver 14.  I enjoy music and sport and whilst a keen drummer, I don’t get to play in bands much these days. I am a keen cyclist and love my Peloton bike and enjoy Solent and West Country sailing as a family.

Originally, I am from Bradford Upon Avon, a town just outside Bath and I got into boating when my parents bought a small motorboat, I was probably about 12 at the time, my love of sailing came later, cruising the West Country in our family boat.

I studied my management degree in Southampton and upon graduating started my first job at the Yacht Haven Group in Plymouth,  I’ve worked in the marine sector ever since, across a variety of operators.

Tell us about MDL Marinas and your role

I joined MDL Marinas 18 years ago and have had many different roles within the business, including Marina Manager, Central Services Project Manager, Head of Group Ops, Ops Director and now Managing Director. I have been in the role some time now and report to the Chairman of the company.

We’re lucky to have such supportive, long term visionary owner shareholders who allow us the autonomy to run our great business. We are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Yattendon Group which operates in a range of sectors, including marine leisure, property and local media, a Brewery and has operations in the UK, Europe, Canada and North America. We’re the largest business within the group.

In 2021 I was awarded as one the Top 50 LDC / Times Newspaper’s most ambitious leader awards, an accolade I am proud of.

Marinas are diverse and multi-faceted businesses, we’re operating 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, aiming to provide the best in service to a range of customer types from berth holders, where we look after their valuable assets, to tenant businesses who, at times depend on our performance for their business success.  It’s great to see non boaters enjoying the services of our restaurants, holiday parks and the Gym.

MDL have 18 marinas, with premium berthing and boatyard services in some of the best locations across the UK, we also have a marina in Spain between Barcelona and Valencia. We’re not just a marina company, we are also a property  business and have multiple commercial property tenants, with a mixed array of tenants, from legal services to boat builders.

Internally, one of our team mantra’s is ‘the customer is at the centre of everything that we do’: from decision making at the Board table, to collecting a customer’s lines when they arrive at the marina. That is always our aspiration and inspiration.

Tell us about the South Coast & Green Tech Boat Show

We host and run the South Coast & Green Tech Boat Show, which will be in its 5^th year in 2025. The focus is to get real buyers in front of premium boat dealers.  The show focuses on providing a sales platform for MDL’s tenant boat dealers and it is known for good quality sales. It’s a free to enter boat show and attracts a wide mix of visitors, as well as a vast array of exhibitors.  In 2025 our ambition is to make the boat show even bigger and better.

At the boat show this year we supported Tracey Edwards and her all-female crew from her award winning ‘around the world’ race yacht, Maiden.  We had Maiden sail in at the start of the show and we even had the Duchess of York, Fergie come and visit her and her crew.  We hosted a party for them in the evening.

The Green Tech Boat Show is linked to our #greenermarinas brand and is focused on green and sustainable projects in the sector such as sustainable boat cleaning products, hybrid boats, hydrogen engine systems and electric outboards and engines.  The show was initially running in Plymouth, but we have now amalgamated it with the South Coast Boat Show in Southampton.

Can you expand on your #greenermarinas brand?

Our aim is to be the most sustainable marina operator in the market, developing a culture of environmental awareness and care amongst our customers and teams.

We are continually investing in the expansion of solar panels on our buildings (generating 120,345kwh of electricity each year), we have a couple of electric work boats, and there will be investment in a couple more this year, we have 40 electric car charging points and our electricity is from 100% renewable sources.

We invest in sustainability as that helps to ensure that our customers get the best eco-friendly experience possible and can enjoy the related benefits, such as clean waters and a much better environment.

Post covid we launched a green gym brand called MDL Fitness. The reason it’s green is that the equipment that it uses produces energy which is used to return to the local grid.

This gym is in Plymouth and we have a second one opening this year in Hampshire.  It’s very interactive and you can go on the screen to see the KwH contribution you are making to the local grid as well as the number of trees being saved.

It makes our product quite unique and it’s all an enhancement to the customer experience that we offer.  Our blue-sky thinking is that ultimately customers could own one of these treadmills or bikes and compete against gym users and each other in their energy generation.

What’s next?

Our ambitions are always to expand our number of sites, we’re constantly evaluating opportunities and looking for new opportunities. We’ve recently purchased an industrial site next to our existing Shamrock Quay.  This has been very positively received and it’s a very good acquisition, allowing us to expand our marine and boatyard services, also adding new offices and warehousing to the portfolio.   Shamrock Quay is a great marina.

Each year we invest between £6m and £7m in maintaining and upgrading our marinas; building new pontoons, new dredging, quay walls and buildings.  The investment is consistent year on year. In addition we invest in expanding our services such as investment on our holiday parks, expanding the number of berths in our marinas, building new commercial property and starting new products such as the Gyms.

We have 2 holiday parks: Mercury Marina in the Hamble and one in Ipswich. We’re looking to expand both of those parks in the next few years. Customers can book our holiday lodges by going to www.mdlholidays.co.uk

As a leisure business the entire focus is on providing a holiday experience to all our different customer types, it’s about making memories…no matter whether  you are in lodge, on your boat or just visiting for a drink or overnight stay, it’s about making great memories!

To find out more about MDL Marinas, visit www.mdlmarinas.co.uk/marinas/

To find out more about Gallagher, visit https://www.ajg.com/uk/marine/