SIS Pitches has officially handed over playing surfaces for the completed Graves Football Hub in Sheffield.
The venue will serve as a pilot for The FA’s £200 million plan to transform the quality of grassroots football through the providing purpose-built multi-pitch facilities at strategic locations across towns and cities in England.
The project was procured under a framework agreement to provide the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of artificial grass pitches. The agreement is supported by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), Football Association (FA), Sport England, England Hockey, Sport England and the Football Foundation (FF) capital investment programmes.
The works began last winter and included the full construction of two full size 3G pitches, including all civils works, drainage, sub-base, fencing, floodlighting, equipment and almost 15,000m2 of carpet all to FIFA Quality performance standards.
In one of the largest earthmoving operations SIS Pitches has undertaken, over 10,000m3 of existing subsoil was used together with a large cut-and-fill operation to provide a suitable stabilised base system., all completed by our in-house civils team led by Cameron Thomson, and managed onsite by Dean Patterson.
The selected surface is the monofilament system, SIS Soccer Pro 60. The company says it offers durability and resilience, combined with player comfort and is manufactured at the SIS Manufacturing plant in Cumbria.
Paul Billington, from Sheffield City Council said, ”It is the city's biggest ever single investment in outdoor sports facilities’ and it will significantly improve the quality of grassroots football provision in Sheffield”.
The project was funded by The FA, local and national bodies with Sheffield City Council also contributing.
