19th August 2018
With the firm’s already sterling reputation for its sports pitch design and construction projects being bolstered through the award of the runner-up up prize in last year’s IOG ‘Contractor of the Year’ awards category, Turfdry has been engaged by Barratt Homes to deliver new natural turf sports facilities for its Kingley Gate Development in Littlehampton, Sussex.
Construction of the new housing development has been ongoing for the last five years, and with the work on the housing estate drawing to a close, Barratt Homes were keen to expedite the proposed sports pitch construction as much as possible, in order to finalise the project as a whole in a timely and coordinated fashion. To this end, they contacted Turfdry, to draw on the company’s extensive experience in designing and constructing carefully considered sports facilities - on time and within budget. Whilst an initial design for the pitches and sports plateau had been developed, Barratt were keen to take on board Turfdry’s input, which suggested a re-designed plateau, with revised levels that would assist in more effective surface water drainage, and relocated pitches to ensure the future sporting activities would prove minimally disruptive for the new residents of the estate.
The new design was facilitated by state-of-the-art GPS survey technology, which allows for the generation of a computerised 3D model of the site. The model is then used to produce a ‘cut & fill’ design for the site, taking into account the quality of the existing material on-site. As a consequence of the area’s mixed use throughout much of the construction phase, it was necessary to supplement the existing material with around 5000 cubic metres of additional, high quality topsoil.
The Kingley Gate development remains a busy and active site, which presented a challenge to Turfdry - as well as the various other stakeholders in the project - when faced with the prospect of importing such a volume of topsoil through a busy construction site, without delaying progress on the pitch’s construction, or disrupting the broader construction activities on the estate. However, thanks to detailed analysis and discussion of the various logistical considerations, helped by a productive spirit of cooperation between all parties, the topsoil was successfully imported over a period of three weeks as the earthworks began.
The major earthworks element of the project is currently underway, with the subsoil layer being constructed using a range of Komatsu excavators, equipped with GPS technology that links them to the design model to ensure efficient and accurate construction. These machines are supplemented with a number of dumpers, for the movement of the substantial quantities of material around the site as required.
Despite some heavy rainfall that has presented some minor challenges, good progress is being made on the construction, and we look forward to bringing you more details of the project as it progresses.
Be sure to stay up to date with the project's progress at www.turfdry.com, or see the news section for more of Turfdry's current activities.
