Elite Pitch Opens at Leicester City Hockey Club

SSL were delighted to recently attend the official opening of the stunning new hockey venue at St Margaret’s Pastures, the proud home of Leicester City Hockey Club.

The opening of the facility marks the outcome of over 3 years of work by the SSL Team, not to mention several more years of dedicated work by club members and other key stakeholders. In addition to taking on the design role and leading the contractor procurement process on behalf of the club, SSL successfully secured the required planning permission and were on hand to offer support throughout the construction phase, carrying out a series of quality control checks at each key stage of the works.

After making use of various facilities across the city in recent years, the club, one of English hockey’s most successful, now boasts an elite level new pitch located in a central location within the city.

DCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0279.JPG

It’s clear the new pitch will have a significant impact, as the club’s Vice President of Development Sarah Treanor explained;

“It’s going to inspire a whole new raft of hockey players across all ages and abilities. It’s the catalyst for our site development as we move into the next stages of the programme to make this one of the leading community facilities for multi-sport in the city. All our members love the pitch and we cannot wait for next season to start. It’s exactly what we hoped for.”

Sarah, who was an integral part of the project team, also provided an insight to SSL’s involvement;

“The support, advice and knowledge provided enabled us to get comfort that our specific needs and requirements would be met in an open and honest way. We were advised properly with regards to planning permission and environmental management and formal designs were produced that enabled the chosen contractor to price their work incredibly accurately. Transparent charges, fair costs, a wealth of knowledge, skills and a highly professional service meant our project was a huge success. We would highly recommend SSL.”

With the club boasting 5 senior women’s teams and 3 senior men’s teams, not to mention many junior teams and with growing demand for walking hockey, SSL look forward to the new facility providing a safe, high quality environment for hockey player development for many years.

DCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0073.JPG
DCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0215.JPG

Stamford Double Pitch ‘Exceeds Expectations’

SSL are proud to have delivered a significant sport facility development for the historic Stamford Endowed Schools.

SSL were appointed as project lead with a remit to provide a full design service, secure planning permission, and oversee the construction of a double hockey pitch facility.

Various specialist survey works were carried out, scrutinized by the SSL Team and factored into the design process in order to ensure a robust construction. By applying such attention to detail during the design stage, we were able to ensure the proposed development would be considerate from a planning permission perspective.

Stamford Endowed Schools Director of Estates & Facilities, Stewart Dorey commented;

I recently had the pleasure of working with SSL and I have nothing but positive things to say about the experience.  From start to finish, they were professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly helpful in helping us determine the best course of action for our sports facility.  Not only did they provide us with a comprehensive evaluation of our current sports surface, but they also took the time to listen to our concerns and goals and amend the brief where required.  They were able to provide expert advice on the best materials and installation methods to meet our needs and budget.  Throughout the process, they kept us informed and up-to-date on progress and were always available to answer any questions we had.  The final result exceeded our expectations and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

I would highly recommend SSL to anyone in need of expert guidance and advice for their sports facility. Their expertise and professionalism truly set them apart from the rest”.

The facility, designed to achieve FIH National performance standards, includes two full size hockey pitches installed by SIS Pitches, both incorporating a certified sand dressed synthetic turf surface complete with contrasting coloured surrounds.

We are delighted to have played our part in enhancing the sports facilities at Stamford and also pleased to receive more positive feedback on the services provided by the SSL Team.

SSL Invest in Design Capabilities

At SSL we strongly believe that we provide the very best independent facility designs in the industry. Our design processes encapsulate every aspect of a facility including earthworks, drainage, base design, surface system design, perimeter fencing, floodlighting and all associated peripherals such as sports equipment, facility access and maintenance considerations.

And as part of our commitment to delivering the very best service, SSL recently invested in state-of-the-art drainage design and modelling software. The new software enables a proposed drainage system to be hydraulically analysed which ensures that the proposed drainage system, whether SuDS or a combination of traditional and SuDS, achieves the necessary design parameters.

The software can be used in conjunction with SSL’s existing volumetrics system, used widely by civil engineers for earthworks calculations.

SSL’s Managing Director Steve Wilcockson commented; “We recognise that our design solutions must provide value for money and the investment we have made will ensure we have greater control of the design process. Having this capability in-house will ensure that SSL are extremely efficient in being able to make adjustments to the earthworks and/or drainage system design. The SSL team submit a large number of planning applications each year and ensuring we are able to demonstrate an effective well designed drainage system is often a key requirement with planners.”

The new software will ensure that SSL continue to deliver considerate and well planned sports facilities to the very highest quality.

Stunning 6 Pitch Facility Delivered by SSL

Surfacing Standards were pleased to be selected as consultant to deliver one of the largest sports pitch projects ever carried out for a UK education provider!

Set in 220 acres of North Yorkshire countryside, Queen Ethelburga’s College promotes standards to match the very best independent schools in the world. The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) awarded the College the top grading of ‘Excellent’ following an inspection in February this year.

When it was decided to make a significant investment to create a Sports Village, the College turned to experienced sports pitch consultants SSL to write a detailed design/specification before overseeing the construction of 6 new synthetic turf pitches.

The project created a site that can offer the complete sports development experience with different synthetic turf surface systems to provide elite level performance for various sports including football, rugby and hockey.

We recently took to the skies to fully appreciate the scale of the facilities – CLICK BELOW to download a video link to take a tour of this state-of-the-art development….

SSL provide key input to £200m Parklife programme

Jeffrey Humble Playing Fields  (image courtesy of Liverpool Council)

Just over two years since SSL produced various design options as part of a detailed Feasibility Study into this Liverpool Parklife project, the end result looks fantastic!

The scheme at Jeffrey Humble Playing Fields includes three floodlit 3G pitches, changing rooms, a gym and associated car parking. The development will be the home for the Walton and Kirkdale Junior Football League which boasts 38 teams.

It forms part of a £200 million programme to build multi-pitch Parklife hubs across the country and involves a partnership between the FA, the Premier League, local councils and local leagues, Sport England, the Government and the Football Foundation. 

At SSL we pride ourselves on attention to detail and providing a balanced approach to assessing the viability of different development sites. Being an independent consultant with extensive knowledge of sports facility development, SSL are delighted to have been involved in the Liverpool Parklife project, along with many other Parklife schemes across the country.

To hear more about the new facilities, including comments from the Mayor of Liverpool and Chief Executive of Liverpool City Council, please view the below article courtesy of the Liverpool Echo.  www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpools-new-state-art-football-15239646

The Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity, are responsible for the delivery of the Parklife programme. For further information about Parklife  please visit www.footballfoundation.org.uk.

SSL deliver stunning facilities for The Manchester Grammar School

SSL are pleased to hand over an impressive new hockey pitch and tennis courts to one of the leading independent schools in the UK!

SSL were appointed by the School to carry out an initial Feasibility Study and outline design. SSL’s experienced team were able to provide expert advice prior to submitting a detailed planning application to Manchester City Council. Following approval, SSL provided a contract specification document accompanied by design drawings as produced by SSL’s in-house CAD design team. This enabled the project to be formally tendered to several specialist contractors.

A careful tender analysis process, based on both price and quality criteria, was carried out by SSL and a report provided to the School.

Following contract award, SSL managed the construction stage on behalf of the school, chairing progress meetings with the contractor Greenfields UK as well as carrying out key stage quality control inspections to provide independent verification that the works were being built to the required high quality standards.

And the end result looks impressive! Facilities include a new floodlit waterbased synthetic hockey pitch, synthetic turf tennis courts and tarmac MUGA/overspill car park. SSL are sure the new development will only serve to enhance the top-class reputation of one of the UK’s leading educational establishments!

A short video illustrating the new facility can be viewed below….

Quality Pitch for Coventry University

SSL were delighted to be selected by Coventry University to assist with the resurface of the synthetic turf hockey pitch at their Westwood Heath site. The pitch has recently been awarded FIH National certification confirming that the facility has been resurfaced to the highest standard.

Having been employed in the early stages of the project to provide the University with independent design advice and guidance, SSL’s experienced staff were on hand to provide quality assurance via a series of key stage surveys.

SSL have provided a high quality service to a number of Universities and higher educational institutions in recent years, with this project marking the most recent impressive example.

SSL project continues to meet high standards at Queen Ethelburga’s

Quality is never short term with a Surfacing Standards project!

Having been selected by Queen Ethelburga’s College to act as sports pitch consultant to develop a detailed design/specification before overseeing the project build, the water based hockey field continues to maintain exceptional quality standards having recently passed a re-test to FIH Global Performance standards.

SSL officially handed over the hockey field back in January 2015 as part of a stunning project to deliver six (yes six!) new synthetic turf pitches covering an area of 38,000m2. This created an outstanding sports village that could offer the complete sports development experience with different accredited pitch surface systems to cater for hockey, football and rugby. It marked the development of the largest private facility of this type in the North of England.

The successful re-test carried out by an independent FIH accredited test-house serves to demonstrate the quality and longevity of the design implemented by Surfacing Standards, together with the quality of the build and effective ongoing maintenance procedures.

SSL deliver refurb of Cheshire sports courts

Just 37 days since construction started, over 3500m2 of macadam sports courts in Cheshire have been successfully refurbished in a project carefully designed and overseen by SSL.

SSL were first engaged by Helsby High School in May 2018 to provide an independent assessment and outline cost options to refurbish two blocks of old unusable macadam courts. With a preferred option identified, SSL developed a detailed specification document complete with bill of quantities and a suite of design drawings before tendering the scheme to several specialist contractors. Construction works were commenced by Fosse Contracts Ltd on 10th October with SSL carrying our key stage checks during the build to ensure the required industry construction standards were achieved.

The of 29th November saw official project handover, just 37 work days since works commenced!

Despite the winter weather kicking in, the school is now able to increase their sports provision, not just for pupils, but also for the local community.

A time lapse of the construction phase can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQjns35ROI