6th May 2020
“Stay Home”. It’s a phrase we’ve heard countless times, and a way of living that we’ve all become accustomed to over the past 6 weeks.
Thankfully, one of the few exceptions allowing us to leave our homes is for physical activity – albeit once a day. But with Sport England showing a record high in activity levels in the 12 months up to November 2019, how will the Coronavirus outbreak and restricted access to sports services affect the nation’s fitness, and what can be done to keep activity levels up?
The first step to keeping these activity levels high – for both adults and children – is to promote physical activity that can be carried out during the lockdown, to ensure that habits maintained (or formed) and more likely to continue after lockdown.
Sport England quickly responded to the lockdown measures by launching Stay in, work out, a great pool of resources for keeping active at home – but won’t necessarily quench the thirst of those missing their favourite team sports.
Why not opt for something more personalised and put together some practice drills for your school’s hockey team, or for those members of your leisure centre that miss their weekly kickabout – Why not email out some training programs to improve their skills and whet their appetites for when you reopen?
A leading sports contractor for nearly 30 years, we have built in excess of 60 sporting facilities over the last three years, and in ordinary circumstances we deliver pitch maintenance programs at over 600 locations.
As sports providers look to the end of Lockdown, one of the questions being asked is “how do I make sure my pitch is thoroughly clean?”
In conjunction with manufacturers of disinfectants, cleaning products, and artificial sports turf we’ve been looking at the best ways to ensure pitches are clean, safe, and ready to go as lockdown restrictions ease. Contact our Operations and Maintenance Manager Danny Pierce to learn more on 07498 826 885 or email dpearce@sandcslatter.com.
Speaking to our clients, we know that there remains a strong desire to improve the sports services and facilities available across the education and leisure sectors but there is a common challenge – funding new facilities.
Before the pandemic many organisations had plans and funding in place for the development of new sports pitches and grounds. While the ambition to bring these projects to life remains, the reality of uncertain finances is a significant challenge in commencing work.
Many schools may be unaware of the finance and leasing options available to them. There are dedicated funding and leasing opportunities available for sports construction and refurbishment projects which will enable you to spread the cost of improving your sports facilities. To learn more get in touch with Jason Douglass on 07786 987 215 or jdouglass@theslattergroup.com
When the lockdown was implemented in late March, guidance was unclear for how construction companies should proceed. We took the decision to safely shut down our sites immediately, as we felt it was the most responsible course of action to take until the situation became clearer.
Following a three-week shutdown period, new guidance from both the government and Construction Leadership Council was published, with the industry developing a well thought out set of site operating procedures, signed off by Public Health England. With these new procuedures in place and a clear directive from the government to keep construction work going through the UK lockdown, we began a gradual re-opening of sites, working with leisure and education facilities to construct, improve and maintain their sporting facilities.
These sites have been carefully chosen by our Contracts Managers and Health and Safety Manager, who worked tireless through our shutdown period to implement new ways of on-site working that comply with social distancing and safeguarding procedures for travel and work.
With Sport England showing that activity in schools stagnated between 2017-19 and UK Active showing that visits to leisure centres fell 5% between 2017-19 now is the time for schools, universities and leisure centres to improve their sports services and make an active nation a positive outcome of the pandemic.
If you’d like to discuss improving your facilities ready for pupils or members beyond the UK lockdown, please get in touch.
