Celebrating 100 years of Brambletye with an artificial turf pitch

Artificial turf pitch for hockey and football

Terraced viewing area for spectators with access footpath

Perimeter fence system and floodlighting infrastructure

Brambletye is a co-educational boarding and day school for children aged 2 1/2 – 13, based in Sussex.

Sport is an important part of student life at Brambletye, who believe providing the opportunity for every pupil to take part is essential for both social and physical development. Children take part in an hour of games each day in addition to their curriculum PE lessons, as well as a host of extra activities.

In Brambletye’s centenary year, S&C Slatter were selected to provide the design and construction of a brand new artificial turf pitch, complete with fencing, floodlighting infrastructure and a terraced viewing area for spectators. We were proud to deliver the project from concept to completion, utilising our dedicated in house teams.

With a tight geographical footprint, located in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) amongst ancient woodlands, our dedicated design team assisted in producing a pitch design that met the challenging site conditions with bespoke ecology solutions – all whilst ensuring that Brambletye’s needs and requirements for the sports and standards they wished to play would be met.

As part of our design and build solution, our team provided informal support to the project planning process, supporting the project manager prior to planning consent being received in August 2017.

With extremely challenging weather during the construction process, in addition to a wet site, our construction teams commenced civil engineering work with the construction of retaining walls, as well as undertaking additional work to stabilise the ground prior to pitch construction.

Despite the challenges of the site location for design and planning, as well as the on-site challenges raised by poor weather, Brambletye’s ‘long-dreamt-of-game-changer’ pitch was delivered on time and to budget by the S&C Slatter team.

With hockey and football both major sports in the curriculum, the artificial turf pitch provides a safe, high quality playing surface that can be utilised by the school, its staff and pupils year-round for a number of sports.

Putting this to the test from the very beginning, Brambletye officially opened their new pitch in a ceremony for parents, alumni and donors on 17th March 2018 – with students displaying their hockey, football and rugby skills – playing happily and safely despite the snow!

Facility

Artificial Grass Pitch with FieldTurf Hockey Gold Pro Artificial Turf 5074m2

Terraced viewing area for spectators with access footpath

3m perimeter fence system and 1.2m spectator fence

Floodlighting infrastructure

Staff and pupils alike are thrilled with our new artificial turf pitch which was an important element of our centenary celebrations. We selected S&C Slatter following a competitive tender process in which they demonstrated their capabilities and provided excellent references. These were borne out as the team utilised their experience to help secure planning permission and build the pitch despite difficult weather and challenging ground conditions.

Nick Hollamby - Bursar, Brambletye School

For more information call 01635 34521 or email enquiries@slattersportsconstruction.com

How Holy Cross Preparatory School are helping children thrive through sport

One flood-lit artificial turf hockey pitch

One artificial grass pitch

Perimeter fencing and floodlighting systems

Sports Pavilion

Cross-country run around the facilities boundary

In June 2019 S&C Slatter completed the construction of a £1.3million sports facilities investment project at Holy Cross Preparatory School.

Utilising free space for sports facilities and disabled access

The facility brings a large under-utilised area, estimated at one-third of the school footprint, into everyday use,“the building and the pitches represent a quality addition to the facilities at Holy Cross Prep School.”

Significant design and groundworks were undertaken to improve the drainage of the site providing a stabilisation platform and drainage carpet under the new surfaces. Another notable feature of the project was seizing the opportunity to improve disability access from the main school hall to the new sports facilities with a new disability compliant path.

Benefitting both students and the wider community

The School has a ‘sport for all with excellence’ policy. Core curriculum sports include hockey, netball, cricket, athletics, dance, gymnastics and cross-country.

“Sporting activities are now truly extended with numerous opportunities before, during and after school as well as at break time and lunchtime. Participation rates are high and pupils are very involved in sport in the local and wider community.”

The school, with its exceptional sporting facilities for a prep school in the area now hosts numerous fixtures across the sporting calendar and actively participates in both prep and maintained-sector events. All girls in years 3 to 6 have the opportunity to represent their school in a sports team.

Holy Cross Preparatory’s school partnership seeks to widen access to their education resources, by bringing independent and state school communities together in a mutually beneficial way. Since Sept 2016, the school has had an official partnership with two local state schools.

Facility

One flood-lit artificial turf hockey pitch

One artificial grass pitch recreational area

4x retractable floodlights with 2m-8m height range

Sports Pavilion consisting of a WC provision; small kitchenette; internal storage; main area of approximately 84m2; and a veranda / viewing platform

Cross-country run around the facilities boundary

The partnership proved to be a successful venture from the design stage to completion, S&C Slatter were extremely accommodating to the changing and increasing design of the facilities.

Russell Hanna – Bursar, Holy Cross Preparatory School

For more information call 01635 34521 or email enquiries@slattersportsconstruction.com