SIS Pitches has just completed the installation of its Soccer Pro 60 3G surface at two key sites in Liverpool - Walton Hall and Wavertree Aquatics Centre.

Liverpool City Council specified the rubber-crumb filled surface to replace a played-out hockey pitch at Walton Hall, the Liverpool County FA headquarters.

"Our remit was to bring the facility into the 21st century with the latest surface," says SIS Pitches Contracts Director Jon Turnbull. "Although originally designed for hockey, the pitch was being used for football but bookings had fallen away because the quality was not fit for purpose," he adds.

A 90% grant from the Football Foundation funded the project, won against stiff competition, which saw SIS Pitches extending the original pitch 2m in width and length to accommodate football, adding recess areas for goal storage, checking floodlighting lux levels and installing perimeter fencing.

Wavertree Aquatics Centre caters heavily for the community, running a full-size sand-dressed pitch marked out for 5-a-side football. Coming to the end of its useful life, the surface was replaced with an SIS Soccer Pro 60 surface.

There were other considerations before the carpet could be laid, however. "On inspection, we found that tolerances were poor," says Jon, "so we laid a 6ml overlay of open-graded Tarmac to bring the area up to specification."

SIS Pitches created recess areas for goal storage, erected perimeter fencing, and added a single divide net across the middle of the facility, which now accommodates four 5 by 5 areas and will allow Wavertree to optimise community use

"Winning the job of installing two full-size pitches in a city that is one of the biggest players in football is really prestigious for us," Jon states. " Football participation is rising locally and the superior quality of the Soccer Pro 60 surfaces, independently tested to FIFA 1 star, will allow the game to advance still further at club and community level."