Surrey Sports Park

Kestrel Pitch in at Women's Rugby World Cup

Another prestigious project undertaken by specialist natural and artificial sports pitch contractors Kestrel has been in the spotlight of late, as the Women's Rugby World Cup took place at the recently opened Surrey Sports Park at the University of Surrey in Guildford.

The sports-hub already used by Harlequins RFC remains a frontrunner in becoming a host training camp for the 2012 London Olympics and is regarded as one of the finest Sports Parks in the world

                   Rugby pitches at the Surrey Sports Park

The sports pitches, which contained 4 hectares of natural grass comprising of 10 football and rugby pitches; two-small sided sports pitches and two cricket squares were developed as part of a much larger overall scheme.

The works consisted of extensive earthworks during the initial phase with approximately 80,000 cubic metres of cut and fill undertaken to produce a uniform plateau.

The topsoil was re-spread, graded and consolidated, a comprehensive land drainage system was installed at 5 metre centres and secondary slit drainage at 1m spacings.

A 70mm depth of specialist sports sand was ameliorated into the topsoil to improve drainage characteristics and reduce the risk of the drain lines capping off.

The area was seeded with an RTF seed mix, a new generation of tall fescue.

In all 8000 fans flocked to Guildford for the pool phases to witness the cream of international women’s rugby. Hosts England knocked out USA, Kazakhstan and Ireland from Pool B in front of the Sky Sports cameras and Head of Elite Rugby Rob Andrew but were denied the prestigious trophy by the gritty and much fancied current World Cup champions the New Zealand Ferns 13-10.

Andrew commented "To put it on at this venue, a terrific new venue, with great pitches, and a sell-out crowd, all in all I think everyone involved can sleep easily”.

              Land Drainage installation at Surrey University

The flagship competition was a major success for Kestrel, Surrey Sports Park and the University of Surrey.  The playing surface was certainly tested by both the female rugby stars and the quantity of matches played in such a short time period; however the quality of the pitch upheld, highlighting the good work of Surrey Sports Park’s grounds staff and Kestrel’s capabilities in world class natural sports ground construction.

Rosie Williams the RFUW Managing Director was delighted with tournament “It was absolutely phenomenal. The venue had very, very high quality surfaces.”

To find out more about natural pitch drainage or artificial grass pitch construction please contact us on 01256 880488, or complete the contact form on the left.