• transparent panels on the sides of the stands to let natural light into the concourses where the fans go at half time, saving on lighting bills
Barr Construction, who had built Southampton’s new St. Mary’s stadium as well as a number of venues in Scotland, were given the build contract, whilst a number of local sub-contractors were also appointed.
The construction was completed in under a year and the club moved to the new stadium in the summer of 2008, just in time for the 2008-09 season.
The pitch construction
Head Groundsman, David Blacknall, has been with the club for twenty-one years following a six year tenure as a junior groundsman with Nottingham Forest. Not one for seeking the limelight, David has, perhaps, been under scrutiny a little more than he has been accustomed to over his long career with
the club. But, in true groundsman tradition, his concerns lie solely with the care of the pitch, and he is delighted with the new ground. “When you are in one place over a long period of time you get to know all its faults, idiosyncrasies and what works and what doesn’t” said David. “I was consulted on the criteria required for the new pitch and, using a combination of my experience and advice offered from those in the industry who had been in a similar position, I was able to voice my preferences for the type of pitch I wanted and could easily justify my requirements.”
One of the most significant
improvements is the installation of a primary, lateral drainage system feeding to a six inch mains pipe. As the native soil in the Colchester area is extremely heavy clay, drainage and irrigation can be a nightmare at the best of times. David explained further. “At Layer
Road we had no integral drainage, and a manual irrigation system which basically ran my life! The need to monitor the watering was a twenty-four hour requirement, and I would literally be up at all hours to ensure the pitch was being watered correctly. Or, we would be incorporating all manner of machine based drainage techniques to try and alleviate a waterlogged pitch.” “Now we have installed a Toro remote operated, programmable pop-up irrigation system, water levels on the pitch are managed much more effectively. Additional drainage work on the pitch in the last few weeks has been a pass with the Qwazae deep ground probe decompactor, before verti-draining for that essential extra help with drainage. All this has made an enormous difference to the hours we can actually play and practice. In fact, the question is now ‘how do we find the time to do essential maintenance work without
Lloyds Greenline
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