THE "best health club in the world" is being built in Sandton.

Managing director of Virgin Active South Africa, Ross Faragher-Thomas, said this yesterday while leading British billionaire Richard Branson and others through the construction site of the new Virgin Active Alice Lane Health Club, set to be opened in August.

Joining the business magnate and founder of the Virgin Group on the tour to view the progress on the new state-of-the-art gym were Olympic swimming star Chad le Clos and his father Bert.

Branson, 62, recalled a phone call he received many years ago from former president Nelson Mandela, which prompted his interest in building gyms in South Africa.

"He called while I was in the bath and told me to come to South Africa to save a chain of gyms which was going bust," he recalled. "Obviously, if Madiba calls, you take the next flight."

The new gym will cost R150-million to construct and joins two other so-called "classic clubs" in the country - the first of which opened in 2003 in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg.

"This gym offers space, convenience and special luxuries. The one in Melrose Arch is 10 years old, the technology has certainly changed since then," Faragher-Thomas said.

The gym will include a full wellness suite with doctors, dieticians and physiotherapists, a state-of-the-art cafe, a 6-Star spa and will also provide transportation around the Sandton area.

Branson said although the facility would be able to accommodate up to 9000 members, membership will be capped at 4000. According to Faragher-Thomas, this will be to ensure exclusivity.