Urban Gym Group enters Dubai through joint venture with Stewart Miller and Arkhe
Announcement | September 01, 2026 | 3 minutesWellness performance club in Dubai Marina takes the group into another major international city. Full club experience opens 1 September.
AMSTERDAM / DUBAI, 1 September 2026 - Urban Gym Group (UGG) and fitness and wellness entrepreneur Stewart Miller have formed a joint venture opening a new concept, Arkhe; the new wellness performance club in Dubai Marina. With it, UGG adds Dubai to a portfolio that already spans London, Dublin, Amsterdam, and multiple larger cities in its founding country, the Netherlands.ARKHE has soft-opened its performance gym floor to founding members at Silverene Tower. The full club experience follows on 1 September: performance training facilities including an outdoor hybrid training area, a recovery suite including both traditional and infrared saunas, Ice bath, a hyperbaric chamber, compression boots, and red light therapy in every membership. On top it offers longevity diagnostics with LONGEVITY-UK, a PILAT3S Dynamic Reformer studio, and a café overlooking the Dubai marina. Fourth country for UGGWith Amsterdam, London, Dublin and now Dubai, UGG has shown its ability to operate across multiple major cities and countries successfully- integrating acquisitions of all sizes as well as being able to open new sites organically. “Its been great to join forces with Stewart", says Neil Randall, CEO of Urban Gym Group. "We are now able increase our scope and ability to deliver on improving health, longevity and premium experience in one location and with one membership. Arkhe is going to be an exciting new launch and something we are proud to be a part of”.“Our industry is in an interesting place,” says Jordy Kool, chair of the board at Urban Gym Group. “What members ask of a club has broadened. Training is still the core, but recovery, and understanding your own health, and having somewhere you actually want to spend time have become part of the same conversation. It is a good thing for the industry, and ARKHE is a strong example of what it can look like when it is done well. Dubai also enables us to offer innovative services we have not been able to before in our other markets".Miller is the founder of ARKHE and continues to lead the club and the joint venture on the ground. With more than 25 years in the industry, including advising operators and hospitality groups across four continents, he brings the local market knowledge and concept thinking behind ARKHE. UGG contributes group scale: innovation, operational expertise, commercial and technology infrastructure, and capital for growth.“ARKHE is built to be the last membership you need,” says Stewart Miller, founder of ARKHE. “A performance floor with best-in-class equipment, a full recovery suite included rather than sold as an upgrade, real diagnostics so members actually know what is happening in their body, Reformer, classes, and a café you want to work from. Everything is designed to work together, and from 1 September it is all live under one roof in Dubai Marina.”.Open for conversationsUGG is inviting operators and investors to make contact directly, chains, single-site club owners and studio operators considering a partnership, acquisition or joint venture, as well as investors interested in the group’s international growth.Kool: “My family office deliberately moved to Dubai to invest in the region. After acquiring the franchise rights of PILAT3S and TRIB3 and doing extensive research in the fitness, health and wellness space, we decided not to delay our roll out anymore and partner with an experienced local entrepreneur like Stewart Miller. We have a pipeline of acquisitions and we have decided to focus on growth. We are approachable, we can move fast, and we are open to building business and partnerships. We know what it takes to build a club, and we know that handing over part of something you built is a personal decision, not just a financial one".About Urban Gym GroupUrban Gym Group is a multi-brand fitness group operating more than 60 clubs across the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland and UAE. Its portfolio spans full-service clubs, boutique studios and recovery concepts, including TrainMore, known for its credit-back principle, where members earn a euro or pound back for every workout they complete, alongside Gymbox, ClubSportive, The CLB, RUSH, PILAT3S, TRIB3 and Arkhe. For more information, visit www.urbangymgroup.com.Media Contact: Mirjam Roos Chief of Staff, Urban Gym Group Mirjam.roos@urbangymgroup.com +31-653328124