Sauna Dekor designs, manufactures and installs the recovery rooms in a commercial fitness facility — Finnish sauna, steam room, ice fountain, plunge pool and salt room — as a turnkey contractor for gym operators, hotel fitness floors, sports clubs and residential developments in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and across the GCC. We have manufactured in Istanbul since 1987, this is our 40th year, and our rooms are installed in more than 35 countries. This page is written for the operator rather than the member. A fitness and sports centre is a floor-area allocation problem before it is a design problem: every square metre given to recovery is a square metre taken from training floor, studio or retail, and the case for that trade has to be made in membership terms. What follows sets out how the recovery zone is sized, what each room demands from the building, and where the decisions have to be made in the programme.
01 01
Why the Sauna and the Plunge Pool Earn Their Floor Area
A gym recovery zone earns its floor area through retention and through the price point it supports, not through the equipment list. In practice the operators we work with allocate somewhere between 8 and 15 per cent of usable floor area to changing, wet and recovery space, and they defend that allocation with two arguments: a member who uses the heat and cold circuit visits more often than one who only uses the training floor, and a facility with a credible recovery offer can hold a premium tier above its base membership. As Sauna Dekor we deliver that zone as a package: layout and technical drawings, cabin and wet-room manufacture, heaters, steam generators and chillers, waterproofing, ventilation coordination, installation and commissioning, with a handover file covering equipment manuals, warranty documents and the operator's cleaning and service schedule. Scope is agreed per project — some clients take the full turnkey delivery, others take the package with installation supervision and use their own fit-out contractor.
02 02
Commercial-Duty Sauna and Steam Room: What Changes in a Gym
Materials in a gym wet area are chosen for duty cycle first. A hotel sauna serving a dozen guests a day and a 24-hour gym sauna serving two hundred members are the same room on a drawing and different products in reality: bench timber, floor finish, door hardware, heater duty rating and the cleaning access all change. We specify kiln-dried, low-resin timber for benches and backrests, non-slip and cleanable floor finishes through the wet zone, and hardware that can be replaced without dismantling the cabin. The second decision is the one most gym fit-outs get wrong: services. A steam room needs a generator location with descaling access, a drain, and dedicated extract; a sauna needs a three-phase supply, an isolator outside the cabin and a ventilation path in and out; a cold plunge needs a chiller, filtration, disinfection and a plant position that is not next to a quiet room. None of that can be added after the slab is poured and the risers are closed, which is why the recovery zone belongs in the concept drawings rather than in the fit-out package.
03 03
What We Supply in a Fitness Centre Recovery Zone
Rooms we manufacture and install
• Finnish sauna cabin with commercial-duty heater and control
• Bio sauna / sanarium
• Steam room with generator, tanked build-up and mosaic finish
• Ice fountain and shock bucket
• Cold plunge pool with chiller and filtration
• Salt room
• Experience and drench showers
• Relaxation benches, lighting and glazing
What comes with the package
• Room layout and technical drawings for the recovery zone
• Electrical and mechanical service schedule for the design team
• Waterproofing, drainage and ventilation detailing
• Manufacture in our own İstanbul facility
• Installation, commissioning and operator handover
• Spare parts and service schedule
Explore Related Wellness Solutions
Complete your fitness center with a premium sauna for post-workout recovery. Add a steam room, cold plunge pool, or swimming pool for a world-class facility.
Sizing the recovery zone against membership
The starting point is peak concurrent use, not total membership. Count the busiest hour, take the share of members who use recovery, and size the heat rooms so that share can be seated without queueing. A sauna bench seat is roughly 600 mm of bench length per person, a steam room seat about the same, and a cold plunge is used by one or two people at a time for one to three minutes — which means one plunge vessel serves a surprisingly large sauna, and a second sauna is usually a better investment than a second plunge.
| Room | Serves | Building requirement | Operator load |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finnish sauna | 6–20 seated, depending on bench run | Three-phase supply, isolator outside cabin, supply and extract ventilation | Daily wipe-down, stone check, annual heater service |
| Bio sauna | Longer, gentler sessions; mixed clientele | Combi heater with water feed, drain and descaling access | Descaling schedule, drying cycle after last session |
| Steam room | Medium sessions, high turnover | Generator room, drain, dedicated extract, full tanking | Descaling, daily clean, filter checks |
| Cold plunge | 1–2 people, 1–3 minutes | Chiller, filtration, disinfection, structural vessel | Daily water testing, filter and chiller service |
| Experience / drench shower | Bridges heat and cold | Flow, pressure and a gully that takes the full volume | Nozzle descaling, daily clean |
| Treatment room | Paid services, revenue per hour | Acoustic partitions, low-noise ventilation, wash point | Linen, scheduling, therapist rota |
Where the recovery zone sits on the plan
The circuit only works if it is walked wet. Heat room, shower, cold vessel and rest position have to sit within a few steps of one another, on the wet side of the changing rooms, with no dry corridor in between. Putting the sauna at one end of the changing block and the plunge at the other is the most common planning error in gym fit-outs, and it is the reason the plunge goes unused. The dry recovery functions — stretching, compression, treatment rooms — sit outside the wet boundary and can be reached without crossing it.
What the recovery offer does for a gym business, and how operators are specifying it now, is set out in our article on gym saunas. The sequencing argument for pairing heat with cold is covered in sauna and cold plunge and in contrast therapy; how members actually use a sauna around training is discussed in sauna after a workout and sauna and recovery. If you are writing the tender documents, our note on commercial sauna specification sets out what a usable specification has to contain.
Programme: when each decision has to be made
| Stage | Decision | Cost of deferring it |
|---|---|---|
| Concept | Floor-area allocation and circuit position | Recovery zone lands where it does not work |
| Structural design | Plunge vessel, tanking depth, floor build-up | Level changes or a raised plinth in a finished space |
| MEP design | Three-phase supply, drains, extract, plant room | Risers closed; surface-run services |
| Waterproofing | Tanking extent and detailing | Rework of finished areas after first leak |
| Fit-out | Cabin manufacture, glazing, benches, finishes | Manageable — this is where the design should be flexible |
| Commissioning | Temperature, humidity, water balance, handover file | Rooms open unproven, warranty disputes later |
Who manufactures the recovery rooms in a fitness centre, and who makes the equipment in them
The sauna, the steam room, the ice fountain surround and the plunge vessel specified for a commercial gym are manufactured by Sauna Dekor at İkitelli OSB, Başakşehir, Istanbul, in a workshop of nineteen people, and are installed and commissioned by the same company in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. That is the whole of what a fitness centre sauna contractor is engaged to do here: the shell, the tanking, the benching, the finish and the commissioning under one contract rather than four suppliers meeting on site. Sauna Dekor has manufactured since 1987, is in its fortieth year and has completed work in more than 35 countries.
The sauna heater, the steam generator, the flake ice machine and the chiller that serves the plunge are bought-in appliances made by their own manufacturers and carry those manufacturers’ certification. Sauna Dekor’s own certificate is TS EN ISO 9001:2015, covering the manufacture of sauna and spa products and after-sales service.
The duty rating and the operating schedule of a membership gym are not those of a hotel spa, and they are set out separately in the note on how a membership site changes the specification.
Frequently asked questions
How much space does a gym need for a sauna and recovery area?
Plan on 8 to 15 per cent of usable floor area for changing, wet and recovery space in a full-service facility. Within that, size the heat rooms on peak concurrent use rather than total membership: allow roughly 600 mm of bench length per seated person, and remember a cold plunge serves one or two people for one to three minutes, so one vessel supports a large sauna.
What does a commercial gym sauna need that a home sauna does not?
Duty rating and serviceability. A gym cabin runs for the whole opening day, so the heater is selected for continuous duty, the benches and floor are specified for constant cleaning, the ventilation is mechanical rather than passive, and every serviceable part — heater, controller, lighting, stones — has to be reachable without dismantling the cabin. Timers, remote controls and occupancy limits are part of the control specification.
What services do a fitness centre sauna, steam room and plunge pool need?
A three-phase supply with an isolator outside each sauna cabin, sized on cabin volume and glazing; a plumbed feed, drain and descaling access for every steam generator and combi heater; dedicated mechanical extract for steam rooms and wet areas; and a plant position for the cold plunge chiller, filtration and dosing that is not adjacent to a quiet room. These are concept-stage items, not fit-out items.
How long does a gym sauna, steam room and plunge pool installation take?
For a sauna, steam room and plunge package inside an existing shell, allow 10 to 14 weeks from approved drawings to commissioning, covering manufacture, shipping and installation. Where the structure, drainage or waterproofing has to change, the programme is set by the building works rather than by the cabins.
What maintenance does a gym recovery zone need?
Daily cleaning of benches, floors and shower surfaces; daily water testing and logging for the cold plunge; descaling of steam generators and combi heaters on the manufacturer’s schedule; filter and chiller servicing; stone replacement in stone heaters; and an annual service of heaters and controls. We hand over a written schedule at commissioning so the operator’s team can run it.
Which countries do you install fitness centre saunas and steam rooms in?
We manufacture in Istanbul and deliver turnkey across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the wider GCC, with completed projects in more than 35 countries since 1987. Outside our regular installation regions we supply the package and supervise a local fit-out team.
Who are these packages built for?
Commercial gym operators and gym chains, hotel and resort fitness floors, sports clubs and academies, corporate and university facilities, and residential developments with a shared wellness floor. The rooms are the same; the duty rating, the compliance requirements and the operating schedule are what change between them.
