The provision of a new synthetic turf pitch for use by The Blandford School, Milldown Primary School, stakeholders and community users.
The project
The Blandford School is an 11-18 secondary school, occupying a rural site on the edge of the town. There is no alternative sports pitch provision during periods of wet weather and there is a lack of football facilities for young people and the community in Blandford and the surrounding area.
A new full sized floodlit 106 metre x 70 metre third generation (3G) artificial grass pitch has been provided. The facility is for use by The Blandford School and Milldown Primary School during the school day and stakeholders and community users of all ages outside of these times. The playing surface is accredited to The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) 1 Star for Football and International Hockey Federation (FIH) National standard for Hockey. The existing netball courts have been resurfaced and provided with floodlights to enable after-school and community use.
This project started on site in July 2014 and was completed in November 2014.
The design
The new full sized Synthetic Turf Pitch (STP) is located on Dorset Council land to the south of The Blandford School buildings and the leisure centre. The land was previously let under a grazing licence to the adjacent Deer Park Riding Stables, which has now expired.
Suitable fencing and gates are in place to provide security, to prevent balls from leaving the STP and reduce the risk of contamination of the STP surface from the surrounding grass pitches. Floodlighting has also been provided to enable use of the facility throughout the year.
The bank to the south west of the STP will be maintained to maximise habitat, and on the north side the bank is available as a spectator area.
To mitigate the reduction of the existing grassland, a swathe of riverside grassland will be established as a semi-natural habitat. Some of the existing mown grass banks will be converted into grassland habitat and as much as possible of the existing paddock grass habitat has been retained. A mixture of English Oak, Hornbeam and small-leaved Lime trees will be planted at various locations around the site of the STP.
Surface water from the new STP will be collected under the pitch in a drainage system designed to discharge the water into a series of swales and soakaways.
The design team and main constructor
The project to create a new STP at The Blandford School has been procured and project managed by Dorset Property. The design team and main constructor were as follows:
- Client: The Asset Management Group for Cabinet, represented by the Director of Children's Services
- Project manager: Dorset Property
- Landscape architect and lead designer: Dorset Property
- Cost consultant: Dorset Property
- Electrical engineer: Dorset Property
- Structural engineer: Dorset Property
- CDM co-ordinator: Robinson Low Francis
- Clerk of works: Dorset Property
- Main constructor: Tiger Turf UK Ltd