Notts Sport pitches in to help school

Staff and students at a Yorkshire school have finally achieved the all-weather sports facility they have been craving for years, thanks to the specialist support of leading synthetic surfacing supplier Notts Sport.

The old redgra-shale pitch at Harrogate Grammar School dated back to the mid-1970s and for over a decade the school was desperate to bring its facilities up-to-date. For a long time, however, planning difficulties stood in the way of this dream – until Notts Sport came on board.

Notts Sport’s unrivalled range of sports surfacing solutions and its unique free Design and Advisory Service meant the school not only achieved its ambition to install a top-notch synthetic turf pitch (STP), but also received all the expert help it needed to win planning permission for the scheme.

The brand new facility for hockey, football, rugby training and track and field athletics is now complete – and youngsters at the school are taking full advantage.

Planning permission was the main hurdle for the school to overcome because of the proximity of houses to the application site, but Notts Sport was able to help with public consultation and liaise with the local planning authority to ensure the process of securing approval for the bespoke facility was as straightforward as possible.

Notts Sport also provided the design and technical aspects of the project, in parallel with the school’s Grounds 4 Success campaign to galvanise parents to support fundraising initiatives.

Notts Sport’s approved contractor Ray Skelton Ltd carried out the installation of the STP, and the work also involved recycling the excavated redgra surface being re-used to level off the existing natural turf rugby pitch at the school, minimising the environmental implications of disposing waste at landfill.

The school now has a fully-fenced 101.4m x 63m artificial turf multi-sport pitch, which is FIH (International Hockey Federation) compliant and delivers performance for football, as well as supporting rugby training and athletics and recreational tennis. There’s also a sprint extension to allow a 100m straight to be marked out, while long jump and triple jump pits have also been installed.