This is where it all started back in 2013, as we took a playing field with absolutely nothing but grass and turned it into a Step 6 facility. With the club promoted 5 times in a decade, we did not stop there and the facility now is of Step 3 standard to match the clubs lofty position. Work undertaken includes new Changing Rooms, Floodlights, Covered Standing, Covered Seating, Turnstiles, a new Clubhouse, Ball Stop Netting, Walkways, Barriers, Fencing, a Toilet Block, a Hospitality Suite, a TV Gantry, a Disabled Viewing Platform and an Irrigation System. Effectively we look to use this ground as something of a test and learn facility, so that we have fine-tuned the design before we go out to the wider world.
The club had not been able to play at their home ground for a number of years due to grading at a facility that they shared with the Cricket Club. Because of this we put in some 18 metre corner columns for the Floodlight install. Again we put in walkways and pitch barriers as well as 100 seat stand.
Our first external project and we are for ever grateful for the club taking a punt on us back in 2014. Naturally this was an enormous learning experience, and a development carried out in the winter on land that was challenging to say the least! This involved a Floodlight installation of the Abacus Halide System, a walkway, fencing and barrier work, and we are delighted to see the club continuing to improve their impressive facility.
In 2015, whilst still wet between the ears we carried out a significant project down at Helston Athletic just a couple of miles from Lands’ End that allowed the club to move up from its Step 7 status. Again this involved Floodlights, Walkways, a PA system, Barrier and Fencing as well as a 100 seat stand.
We assisted the club with a move to a completely new ground. The Lincolnshire club were FA Vase finalists in 2017 and our task was to make the facility compliant for Step 4 football in the Northern Premier League. Our work included Floodlights, Pitch Barriers, Turnstiles, Fencing, Walkways and Covered Spectator Accommodation. On this project we carried out some of the development ourselves and project managed others works outsourced to external contractors.
The club had not been able to play at their home ground for a number of years due to grading at a facility that they shared with the Cricket Club. Because of this we put in some 18 metre corner columns for the Floodlight install. Again we put in walkways and pitch barriers as well as 100 seat stand.
In 2019 alongside the demolition company and Moore Steel of Thorney we took down 4 x 25 metre floodlight columns and a 1,000 seat stand at Barnet’s old ground piece by piece and moved them 80 miles up to Peterborough for use at Peterborough Lions Rugby club.
By 2019 we had naturally grown up somewhat, were now 60 major projects in, and starting to develop both our skill set and product range. At Brackley Town we put in our “lift & drop” stand solutions to provide the National League North Club with 382 additional seats and standing for 300 as well as putting crush barriers into covered standing behind a goal that we had converted from seating to standing.
This was an example of us acting as Project Manager rather than carrying out the work in our own name. Women’s Premier League side Everton had been playing their home games out at Southport, but wanted to come back home to Goodison Park’s post-code L4 at Walton Park. The first job was converting covered standing into 250 seats and then putting another 125 seat structures either side of it. The project also included new dug outs, barrier work, ball stop netting, tarmac walkways, turnstiles and AstroTurf around various areas as well as moving and re-erecting Floodlight columns and putting a PA system in place, with Covid 19 naturally providing us with some challenges for this 2020 development.
We really started to spread our wings in terms of product range through 2019 and into 2020. At National League North Kettering we provided the club with a 250 seat stand behind a goal to ensure they met their Ground Grading criteria via a 7 row option solid steel structure. We are already developing this into something that will have executive boxes at the top of a 2 storey structure with changing rooms below.
Another club looking to move home through 2020, and another where we project managed rather than carry out the work ourselves. Naturally there are areas where we are completely in touch with the market and so give the club the benefit of our experience and knowledge, as well as access to our buying power. At the same time, for civils works and fencing we tend to recommend that the club utilise local resource that we then manage as well, and this project was a classic case of a mix of both worlds as we installed Floodlights, 2 x 50 seat stands (with Covered Standing to follow) walkways, fencing, a control centre and dug outs.
We broadened our business again in 2020 to enter into an installation project with Duralock for pitch barriers. This excellent uPVC covered steel solution is available in single, double or half mesh and we already have a team working with Duralock pretty much full time.