It’s January, the dawn of a new year, that time when – following the indulgence of Christmas and New Year – many resolutions are made. One of the most common? Getting more active.
It’s also nearly the end of January, which means we’re coming up to this year’s Quitter’s Day.
Each year, popular sports app Strava use the past 12 months of data from their users to calculate the day people are most likely to abandon their new physical fitness goals for the new year.
This year’s Quitter’s Day falls this weekend – on Sunday, January 26th 2020.
It’s no secret that physical activity is extremely important for not only our physical health, but our mental wellbeing. As Harvard Health Publishing puts it, exercise “has a unique capacity to exhilarate and relax, to provide stimulation and calm, to counter depression and dissipate stress”.
Good physical and mental health doesn’t just benefit the individual. As a student or employee, it will impact motivation, productivity and reduce the chance of absence due to illness – all of which benefit schools, universities and workplaces.
Despite all these benefits, it’s a lot harder for adults to be active than it is for children. Cambridge University released the results of two new pieces of research this week in their article ‘Becoming less active and gaining weight: downsides of becoming an adult’. The research shows that both leaving school and getting a job lead to a drop in the amount of physical activity that adults undertake.
There are key elements to encouraging any type of good physical habit to form, including encouraging team activity and providing good access to sporting facilities.
Although the Cambridge research shows that there’s a notable drop in physical activity after leaving school, it’s not to say that schools are directly responsible for the higher activity levels in younger people.
In fact, recent Sport England research shows that activity in schools over the past two years actually stagnated, despite a 3.6% rise in activity levels for young people overall.
There was a 4.6% increase in young people taking part in activity outside school instead. This may be down to increased participation in local sports teams or in sports that schools don’t offer.
To help contribute to wider participation in sports, schools can increase the variety of sports they offer through expanded facilities/equipment and encourage participation in team sports.
Strava noted that users who ‘exercise in a group record 10% more activities’, so by introducing students to team sports in school, schools can encourage pupils to develop a love for sports that they’ll continue and maintain beyond school.
In 2019, we constructed new sporting facilities at Holy Cross Preparatory school, encompassing an under-utilised area, approximately 1/3rd of the school’s footprint, bringing it into everyday use. The facilities include one flood-lit sand-dressed artificial grass turf hockey pitch, one artificial grass turf pitch, a sports pavilion and cross-country run around the boundary of the facility.
With a sport for all with excellence policy, the school’s bursar noted that “all girls in years 3 to 6 have the opportunity to represent their school in a sports team”. Through their official partnership with two local state schools, the facilities have also been able to allow the school to widen access to their resources, benefitting not only their own pupils, but those in the wider community as well.
There are plenty of things that can be done to combat the drop in activity levels in adults – and allow those New Years resolutions to really stick. If we all do enough to encourage physical wellbeing, perhaps one day Quitter’s Day will be a thing of the past!
The leisure industry also plays an important role in getting both adults and children more active, in providing access to facilities across the nation.
With UKActive’s Research Institute showing a 5% decline in visits to leisure centres from FY17 to FY19, it’s important for leisure centres to provide the sporting facilities that both members and non-members seek.
For example, outside of the ‘core three’ sporting activities that members attend leisure centres for, Football was the clear leader in the most popular sporting activity in 2019, growing year on year since 2017. It is also a huge draw for non-members, providing a strong way of drawing in PAYG members who may not have the financial ability to be full time members – improving access to sport regardless of financial status.
Our article on UKActive’s annual report delves into this in more detail.
If you think space might be an issue for an artificial pitch, think again. Woking Leisure Centre showed us this in their innovative use of space. Where most people would see a dull multi-storey, they saw an opportunity. The roof of their customer car park is home to 4x artificial grass turf football pitches, a 5-a-side complex we were thrilled to refurbish in late 2019.
With Cambridge University’s research pointing to ‘getting a job’ as one of the two key reasons behind a lack of physical activity in adults, does the buck stop with the workplace?
If you want to combat activity and productivity levels, give workers the opportunity to get active in the workplace itself. Whether it be a large-scale development or simply a fitness trail around the office boundary, there is plenty that can be done to contribute towards a more active workforce.
Widening the opportunity for team sports, as well as individual fitness, is a great way to not only help staff members get more physically fit, but can help colleagues learn to communicate more and work better together as a team.
Times are changing, and with the construction of many new business parks, health and wellbeing is becoming a huge consideration for businesses choosing a new home for their office spaces.
When it came to expanding their car manufacturing plant, the BMW MINI Plant knew that the football pitches on Horspath road in Oxford would have to be removed.
Knowing the importance of sports within the community, BMW funded a £5m new sports park, set across 39 acres and including 16 football pitches, two cricket pitches and softball facilities.
We were thrilled to work on this project, delivering first class sporting facilities to local clubs and businesses within the community.
There are plenty of touch-points for both adults and children in their lifetime, where sport can be actively promoted to encourage healthier and more active lifestyles – truly allowing those new year’s resolutions to stick. Here’s to a future where Quitter’s Day becomes a thing of the past!
Get in touch with your sports construction experts.
Our in-house dedicated design and planning team would be happy to discuss your site’s potential, and the sports facilities possible within the space available.
Get in contact on 01635 345 21 or email info@sandcslatter.com
It’s a new year, and whilst there’s plenty of excitement about new projects starting, it’s also a great time to celebrate company milestones and ongoing partnerships.
2020 marks our 5th year working in partnership with Freedom Leisure, taking ownership of the group’s artificial turf pitch maintenance requirements.
When it comes to achieving the best performance and return on investment (ROI) for any artificial sports pitch, it’s not only about ensuring that the initial construction is carried out to the highest standard. Experience and regular professional maintenance is just as important to the quality and longevity of a pitch.
Freedom Leisure have always been aware of these requirements, seeking to ensure that their facilities are always playing to the high standard customers expect, and working with S&C Slatter since 2015 to achieve this.
To secure the initial account, our specialist maintenance division prepared a ‘packaged’ business proposal which delivered a range of maintenance-focussed solutions to help ensure Freedom Leisure maximise the financial return from their original capital investments.
Sharon Morfitt, the group’s Procurement Manager commented that S&C Slatter:
“Worked tirelessly to gain not only our business but our trust in their ability to manage this area of our business. Through their hard work and determination they have managed to stem our reactive maintenance and provide a more comprehensive planned service at a very competitive rate.
Most impressive was the time and effort that clearly went into the planning stages and the level of detail they were able to provide to assist us in understanding how we were managing this area.
Now that the contract has begun, the sites have had nothing but praise for the service on site; clearly this is a contractor who places a lot of store on delivering a service to a high standard as promised from the outset; it is refreshing to find a contractor who values our business as much as we do and for this reason I would not hesitate to recommend SC Slatter moving forward.”
To understand in detail Freedom Leisure’s site requirements, S&C Slatter’s maintenance division, S&C Slatter Sports Maintain, visited each artificial turf facility and conducted a full maintenance assessment, incorporating the 3G or Sand-filled artificial turf surface, fencing and general infrastructure. From this the company was able to make specific and planned recommendations aimed at sustaining the active life of each pitch over an extended period and underpinned by a cost proposal which reflected the savings accrued by combining a number of sites with a single contract.
Like all great working relationships, our collaboration has grown over the years, incorporating 9 new sites with additional facilities for our maintenance division to nurture.
Overall, we now provide roughly 180 scheduled maintenance visits throughout the year across 20 Freedom Leisure sites in total.
Freedom Leisure is a not-for-profit leisure trust which manages leisure and cultural facilities on behalf of partners across the UK.
With a focus on increasing participation, improving services and delivering quality experiences for customers, as well as reducing negative environmental impact, the trust not only provides high quality facilities for users across the UK, but does so with the wider community and environment in mind, values that strongly align with our own and many of our clients.
We look forward to continuing this partnership in 2020 and beyond, working with Freedom Leisure to support their vision of ‘Improving lives through leisure’ by maintaining their artificial sporting facilities to the high standard expected of the trust, their clients and their partners.
If you would like a site visit or consultation with our maintenance team, please get in contact on 01635 345 21 or email info@sandcslatter.com
Whether it be politicians, businesses or activists, it’s no secret that the environment has been high on the agenda for many in 2019.
In the world of sports construction and artificial turf, we’ve noticed a growing desire for environmental consideration, both from manufacturers and clients, and have been consistently working to promote and offer solutions to mitigate the impact of our work on the environment.
So what are the current environmental challenges and solutions in our industry? Here’s a roundup of the problems we’re facing and how we’re working with clients and partners to address them.
Although created using rubber from recycled car tires, polymer-based infill materials within some of our artificial turf pitch systems are recognised and classified as microplastics, due to the way in which they can break down over the time.
There are already a number of alternative organic infills that are coming to market in place of polymer based ones. Whether it be cork, coconut husk or olive stone granulate, these are being tested in place of rubber crumb to ensure they meet governing body standards. Some of these also come with their own environmental concerns e.g. the farming of organic material and fungus growth problems, so research is ongoing into what the best solutions are for the future. Our partners FieldTurf have already created ‘Purefill’ and ‘Pureselect’, organic infills made from cork and olive cores respectively.
With a 2017 report by FIFA showing that only 3% of performance infill usage on Football pitches was organic material, our hope is that manufacturers will make production and testing a priority for 2020 to allow us to champion the use of sustainable, high performing alternative infills to clients.
There has been some concern around the possible health risks of recycled rubber granules being used as infill in artificial turf pitches, with anecdotal fears around potential carcinogen exposure cited in a handful of notable articles in 2016.
In June 2016, the European Commission asked the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to evaluate the risk from recycled rubber to the general population, including children, professional players and workers installing or maintaining the pitches. ECHA undertook an evaluation of the possible health risks of recycled rubber granules used as infill in synthetic turf sports fields and found that “recycled rubber infill causes a very low level of concern”.
Of course, for any clients that are still concerned by this, we have the option to coat the SBR infill with a polyurethane plastic film, which prevents chemicals leaching out from rubber crumb. We recently constructed a FIFA and World Rugby standard artificial pitch at ACS Cobham School using this specialist infill coating.
This one ties in quite closely with problem #1, as it relates to the migration of infill materials away from the pitch, which is of course of concern when it comes to microplastics. Infill migration can occur through natural movement across the pitch, (where infill ‘spills’ off the side), through drainage and by being carried off the pitch on the boots and clothes of players. The issue with this is that it can then end up in the water supply, either through drainage or when players shower and wash their kit – or when someone washes it for them!
Our in-house design and planning department are actively implementing infill mitigation measures in line with Fidra guidelines, such as adding solid surfaces around the edge of pitches, introducing physical barriers, pitch drainage filters and brush off zones.
Fidra is a charity who shine a light on environmental issues, working with the public, industry and government to deliver pragmatic, evidence-based solutions for a healthy environment and sustainable societies. They have a project dedicated to artificial pitches, looking at the reduction of microplastics, infill migration and responsible pitch disposal.
Beyond the concerns around infill, another big question facing clients, contractors and manufacturers is: what happens to a pitch when it needs replacing?
Common end of life options for artificial turf are re-use, landfill, incineration and recycling. Landfill and incineration are the two concerning disposal methods, due to their impact on the environment, however incineration can now be used to generate energy itself, to offset some of that impact.
Rather than opt for landfill or incineration, our partners FieldTurf offer to remove clients’ old turf and repurpose this into new material, including their infill material ‘ProMax Hydroflex’ in a unique cradle to cradle concept. You can read more on this specialist infill from SAPCA’s article ‘FieldTurf creates eco-friendly infill for synthetic turf’. FieldTurf is 100% recyclable, and FieldTurf was the first company in the industry to remove entire artificial turf systems and recycle them.
Our mitigation methods, alternative infills, and partner recycling programmes are currently tackling the most pressing environmental challenges our industry and clients face. We will continue to monitor new developments and champion eco-friendly design, practice and removal in our work, in collaboration with our partners and in line with Fidra and governing body advice.
Beyond construction, we also strive to be environmentally friendly in other ways, such as our dedicated recycling points within our offices, running biofuel and integrating electric vehicles where possible across the business.
If you have any questions relating to our environmental practice or would like to discuss alternative infill methods, pitch recycling or similar, please get in contact on 01635 345 21 or email info@sandcslatter.com
It’s been an extremely busy year for The Slatter Group, with our acquisition of White Horse Contractors, the construction of almost 100 new artificial turf sports pitches and maintenance of just under 300 sites across the country.
It might be December, but we’re not slowing down any time soon. With a number of new employees joining us over the year, within both S&C Slatter and White Horse, we’ve recently been joined by yet another new addition to the team, Simon Bradbury!
Simon joins the company with over 20 years’ experience in the car park and civils trade, and will be heading up our surfacing and civils department.
Bringing with him such a wealth of knowledge, we couldn’t help but check in with Simon for quick Q&A to hear more about his experience and get his expert opinion on the state of the industry.
They’ve been good! I’ve been meeting a whole bunch of new people which has been fun, everyone here is really friendly. There’s a modern outlook compared to the last company I worked for, I’ve seen a much more proactive approach than what I’m used to which is good, it’s what you need to be successful. It has been a little difficult getting used to new systems though! Early days, but one job in already.
Yes, completed last Friday. An enquiry came through for a rear service road at a school in Banbury. It was finished by another company but the school thought it was too untidy, so I went to have a look at it, talked through the solution – which we implemented, and it’s all completed – done and dusted!
I have over 20 years’ experience in the surfacing and civils trade. I’ve been in the business for a long, long time, my initial training was getting stuck in driving, learning about the industry from site. This was part of the management training program at the time, you had to be out for 6-9 months working, which was a very useful experience. It allows you to know exactly what you’re talking about and gain the respect of the people on site. I’ve developed that over the years, from supervising work, undertaking contract management work and running sites. I progressed to estimating and selling the work, then to running teams and bringing work into the business.
I’ve worked in all sorts of areas, across commercial, private, estate, agricultural works, business centres, shopping centres etc. Those are my specialist areas, with all aspects from initial site survey through to build including civils, drainage – the whole package!
S&C Slatter is primarily known for sports construction, but there’s normally always surfacing and civils involved alongside any sports builds. Whether it be footways accessing new facilities, car parks, access roads etc. it’s something that S&C Slatter already do, but it’s not something we’ve really been pushing, which is why I’ve been brought in, as it’s my area of expertise.
My goal is to make sure there are enquiries coming in specifically for this side of the business, I’ve got a good understanding of how I need to be proactive and look forward to expanding this area, as there are very few companies out there that can offer this ‘one stop shop’ solution of design, planning, sports construction and the civils that go alongside it. My aim is to grow the department beyond the current success in sporting civils, into the areas I have strong experience with like business centres, developers, architects and so on.
There has been big improvement in terms of manufacturing methods and practices, everyone is developing and learning all the time. There are different products coming out which make the construction of car parks for example a lot easier. There are all sorts of cellular products now for stabilisation, which is greatly improving in that area.
There are a lot of environmentally friendly products that are used now, as well as sustainable drainage systems and recycled products, which weren’t used before. With tarmac for example, a lot of the product which is removed from the roads is now crushed up and reused to produce new tarmac, which before was just dumped in landfill sites. This has a massive environmental impact.
One thing I have noticed anecdotally is the change in customer perception and loyalty within the industry. Clients are understandingly looking for more insurances and reassurances, a lot of which I think comes down to the growing importance of price. Sadly, because the industry is quite bespoke, there are a lot of ‘cowboys’ out there capitalising on this and generating a stigma within the industry, which can cause everyone to be tarred with the same brush (excuse the pun!). A strong reputation is required to overcome this, which S&C Slatter thankfully has.
Environmental issues are huge at the moment. People are really keen on that, particularly on the recycling side. So, anything we can do to keep up with technology and anything we can do to aid that and introduce to the client we will do. ‘Environmentally friendly’ are the two key words moving forward.
Recyclable materials, plastics, concretes – introducing these into new builds is good for the environment and can often even save customers money. Sometimes it’s a case of putting things in practice and proving to the customer that new alternatives are the best route forward. For example there are new kerbs, such as ‘Durakerbs’ that can be produced out of recycled plastic. They’re lightweight, which is useful for health and safety on site, you can lay 4x the amount in one day and they have the same strength as normal kerbs once put together. It’s just a case of changing mindsets, kerbs don’t have to be made of concrete!
Some of the most common needs for civils work are to make roads more user friendly, expand facilities to accommodate more visitors or staff, finding ways to utilise space and updating old roads that aren’t fit for purpose.
Normally it’s a case of ‘what’s currently working isn’t working’, however culture is changing too. Fitness for example is becoming increasingly important in business, so businesses are having to think about introducing fitness trails around business parks to improve employee wellbeing. The question customers come to us to answer is “How can we make this work?” we work to understand their requirements and design a solution.
Beyond this, finance is always a big challenge for private individuals. Compromise is often needed to fit expectations of what is achievable on any given budget.
Ensuring strong product knowledge, keeping up to date with the latest technologies and practices – and adapting to these. A key thing with civils is understanding layouts, what is and isn’t achievable. I think for many contractors too it’s a case of ensuring strong communication with clients, which can be difficult with new processes – and contractors should never bite off more than they can chew. But from what I can see S&C Slatter won’t have a problem with that!
Talking to Ben actually! [Ben O’Connor, Commercial Manager] I used to work with Ben at my previous company, so I spoke with him about heading up the Surfacing and Civils side here. I had a look into the company, then I spoke with Jason [Jason Douglass, Group Commercial Director]. After that I thought: it’s a challenge I want to take, an up and coming department, proactive, friendly bunch, let’s go for it!
My advice would be to outline exactly what you want, and what you want to use it for. Figure out your exact requirements, ask: who will be using it, does it need to be purely functional, or do you also want it to be designed in a different or attractive way, what environmental concerns do you want to address?
Think about your budget. There’s no harm in telling a company even roughly what your budget is, as if they know both what you want and what your budget is, they can provide an informed specification to try and address your needs.
It’s also worth looking at projections in terms of what you might need in the future, as enabling works could also be carried out to aid future development (e.g. further expansion).
Remember to consider health and safety. For example, have a look at your current car park, does it meet health and safety standards? If a car park is poorly designed there is greater risk for both pedestrians and vehicles getting into scrapes. Likewise with poor surfaces, where there’s risk of people tripping. In the ‘suing’ culture, you’ll want to ensure that you’re covered.
I’m a big rugby fan, my team is Windsor RFC. I play golf with my wife, enjoy socialising with friends, dinners, holidays with my family and taking our black lab Nora for a walk. The cat is less important…!
A huge thank you to Simon for letting us pick his brains. Welcome to the team!
Whether you’re looking to expand or improve current car parks, roads or access ways or are looking for something new or different, get in touch with Simon and the team on 01635 345 210 or email info@sandcslatter.com.
After a string of fantastic events in the last few months, we’ve been busy collecting our thoughts and looking ahead to 2020.
This year’s UKActive National Summit was – as always – incredibly insightful, with an array of impressive speakers, including some of Great Britain’s finest Paralympians and Olympians (Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Anthony Ogogo) and notable figures from the world of sport, health and wellbeing.
The UK Active National Summit agenda well and truly reflected the state of physical activity in modern Britain, covering everything from the role of physical health in the workplace, to combatting youth violence – and even how physical activity might play a part in regenerating Britain’s high streets!
The importance of exercise and its impact on so many areas of life across the UK was clear to see, with thought provoking insight on sporting facilities and how ‘place’ – what facilities are available, and where – can encourage physical activity.
Alongside the summit, UKActive’s Research Institute also released their 3rd Annual “Moving Communities: Active Leisure Trends 2019 Report”, their most comprehensive report yet, comprised of data from over 500 leisure sites across the UK.
Whilst it’s an engaging read, we know you may not have time to read all 23 pages, so here are some of the key points you’ll want to know:
There’s been a 5% decline in annual visits to leisure centres from FY17 to FY19, with total visits for 2019’s financial year at just under 80 million.
The most popular day of the week for visits is Tuesday, with the least popular day for visits being Saturday. However, it’s worth noting that non-members (pay-as-you-go) are much more likely to visit on a weekend (32%) than members (20%).
There are two clear spikes in visits based on the time of day, early morning (9-10am) and late evening (6pm).
The average age of membership has slowly increased in the last 3 years, now standing at 41 years 2 months.
The gender skew for membership is 54% female and 46% male, with female visitors more likely to take part in group activity, and male visitors more likely to focus on individual fitness (gym visits)
Remaining consistent across the last three years have been the main three ‘core’ activities visitors take part in at leisure centres: swimming, fitness (gym) and group workouts.
Tennis is one of the top 5 most popular sports for both male and female members.
Outside of the top three it’s a question of sport, with Football topping the remaining activities and growing in popularity year on year. Football represented 27% of non-core visits, responsible for every 1 in 4 visits in FY19 (up from 1 in 5 in 2017).
It’s a particular draw for non-members, for whom football makes up 13% of overall visits and 42% of sport specific visits. It is also in the top 5 non-core activities for members, and one of the most popular sports in the 16-24 age range.
Kick off your 2020 right and contact us on 01635 345 21 to discuss how artificial football pitches can help grow your leisure business. With over 25 years’ experience in the design, planning and construction of artificial 3G football pitches for leisure operators, we have a number of case studies to draw from to show you how to get the best ROI.
With new finance opportunities available, your pitch can be funded, built and paying for itself within a short period of time.
Knowing what’s growing in popularity, what’s losing traction and who’s visiting allows leisure operators to get planning for the year ahead. This might be in terms of:
If you know your audience, and the audience you’d like to attract, you can look at the report and consider what facilities you should be focusing on or planning for. For example, if you have a strong track record for converting pay-as-you-go members into full members, you might want to look at facilities that will bring in more non-members, such as football.
Knowing who is attending and when they’re most likely to attend will help you to schedule your classes and align your opening hours accordingly. For example if males are more likely to visit in late afternoon than women, then you may want to schedule fewer group classes at that time of day, as these are far less popular among male visitors.
Similarly to the above, if you’re aware of your audience and what sports they’re engaging with, then you may want to open up more class offerings to showcase the facilities you have that would draw them in. For example, if you have tennis courts and know that tennis is popular with female members – and that female members are more likely to engage in group activities, you might begin offering group tennis sessions to appeal to that demographic.
A recent report shows that the UK health and fitness industry has grown 20% over the last 5 years and the market is worth roughly £5bn. The opportunity for leisure operators is there for the taking, but with visits to leisure facilities in decline in 2019, it’s a matter of ensuring that you have the facilities you need to attract and retain your membership.
With over 25 years of experience in sports construction, we’ve helped leisure operators across the country to expand their offerings with new external sporting facilities. So whether you’re looking to build new artificial 5-a-side pitches, tennis courts or multi-use games areas (MUGAs) – or if you’d like to renovate or extend your existing facilities, please contact us on 01635 345 21 to discuss.
November was a busy month for The Slatter Group and we were proud to exhibit once again at the annual Holiday Park & Resort Innovation Show.
The show runs alongside the Farm Business Innovation Show, Family Attraction Expo, and Leisure Expo with attendees able to move freely between the interconnecting and complementary events.
Needless to say, the shows always provide a feast for the senses, with exhibitors across the industry showing off their latest and greatest, well…innovations!
Attending year on year, it’s also a great place to get an idea of how the industry is evolving, and what trends to look out for in 2020.
With a 27% increase in attendees compared to last year, one key takeaway from this year was clear from observation, let alone the data itself: the increase in farmers and landowners in attendance.
With The Telegraph reporting earlier this year that ‘Farmers reap more profits from glamping than growing food’, it’s no surprise that many landowners are looking to turn unused or underutilised land into profitable facilities and holiday destinations.
Diversification is becoming key to the strategies of many farmers looking to the future – and using their land for hireable facilities or holiday parks is proving to be a smart move, especially given the growing health and fitness sector (20% in the last 5 years) and increase in UK bound tourism. A recent Visit Britain study shows a 10% year-on-year increase to £7.2bn in the amount spent on UK bound tourism May – July 2019.
While an increased appetite for UK tourism and holiday park destinations provides plenty of opportunity for landowners – it also comes with increased competition and high standards expected from consumers.
It’s not enough to designate a few acres for camping or a 5-a-side football pitch. Water and soil engineering need to be considered, with the correct groundwork undertaken to prepare any new facilities on your land.
With the recent acquisition of White Horse Contractors , The Slatter Group are ideally placed to support entrepreneurial landowners with drainage, soil, and water engineering expertise. Learn more about White Horse Contractors here.
With experience building carparks, roadways, and hard standings for a broad range of clients; including Eton College, Royal Holloway University, and Oxford City Council, S&C Slatter’s in-house surfacing and civils team are ideally placed to build pitches for your new glamping venture.
This drive for diversification doesn’t just apply to new faces. Increasing levels of competition, coupled with ‘staycationers’ seeking new and exciting options, means that even established Holiday Park owners are having to expand their offerings to attract and retain holidaymakers – with sporting facilities in high demand.
Leisure operators looking to provide outstanding facilities to attract more customers can look no further than S&C Slatter, with over 25 years of building safe, long-lasting, all-weather sporting facilities that can withstand high usage and can even be rented out of season to generate additional revenue.
If you’re a landowner looking to make the most of your spare land, or a leisure operator looking to provide the very best facilities to your customers, get in touch to see how we can help you to realise your potential in this growing market.
That’s it from the Holiday Parks and Innovations this year, we look forward to seeing what 2020 brings!
It’s been a busy few weeks for The Slatter Group, with representatives from S&C Slatter and White Horse Contractors exhibiting at some of our industry’s biggest events, including the Sports Amenities Landscaping Trade Exhibition, aka SALTEX 2019!
We were thrilled to be joined on stand by two of the industry’s finest Head Groundsmen. Scott Brooks of St. George’s Park (England Football) and Karl McDermott of Lord’s (England Cricket) took part in our exclusive live Q&A, moderated by Martin Smart of Turf Business.
The Q&A drew in a sizeable crowd, with questions coming in from the audience, twitter, email – and even overseas! But that’s not surprising given there were magnums of champagne on offer for the top 3 questions…
Even Real Madrid’s Director of Grounds and Environment, Paul Burgess, got in on the action with an impromptu phone call midway through the Q&A. He took the opportunity to ask Scott and Karl their thoughts about environmental responsibility at their respective clubs.
The industry giants discussed everything from environmental issues to advances in technology, how to take on criticism and even how best to follow your turf management dreams!
We’ve got you covered. You can watch the Q&A in full below:
You can also skip to a question of your choice by selecting one from the full list below!
A huge thanks to Scott, Karl, Martin and everyone who attended the Q&A or got in touch to ask a question. SALTEX was a huge success and we look forward to doing it all again next year!
If you missed us at Saltex and want to learn more about The Slatter Group offerings, get in touch on 01635 345 21 or email info@theslattergroup.com
S & C Slatter last week hosted their second Bursars Golf Day at the Worsley Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club in Manchester.
Once again the Golf Day was organised to coincide with the start of the ISBA Annual Conference at which the company was exhibiting and presenting The Slatter Group .
Group Director Jason Douglass welcomed everyone as the traditional pre-play bacon rolls were consumed with great relish (they were exceptionally fine examples!) and our ‘Tournament Director’ Chris Marriott outlined the programme and logistics for the day.
In the evening, players and event support staff convened in the Club’s Manchester Suite for the competition prize giving, a three-course meal, the odd glass of wine and some very good conversation – most of which revolving around what a great day it had been. However, the chances of Liverpool winning the Champions League Final and the challenge facing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were debates also given a good airing!
Team 1st Place: Simon Piggott The Leys Cambridge, Tony Collinson Lady Barn House School, Paul McKeown Oakham School, David Thompson Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls.
Team 2nd Place: Richard Fletcher, Richard Thompson, Jon Lawrence Bridgewater School, Mark Mackenzie Crooks St. Helen’s School.
Team 3rd Place: Paula Vanninen Arnold House School, Gerard Garcia Beechwood Sacred Heart School, Gary Johnson, Tim Tracey.
Longest Drive: Men. Tony Collinson, Lady Barn House School.
Nearest the Pin: Matthew Swift, Stafford Grammar School.
The Team 1st Prize, for each player, was two tickets to the BMW PGA Golf Championship at Wentworth in September, courtesy of The Sports Consultancy.
And the name of Robert Lougee, recently Bursar at Salesian College, was drawn ‘out of the hat’ to win the Calloway Golf Bag kindly donated by Tim Tracey of Collinson Construction.
A special ‘thank you’ was of course given to Chris Marriott of The Sports Consultancy for all the great work he did both prior to the event and on the day – picking the teams, drafting the order of play and confirming the results.
Many of the guests in thanking The Slatter Group for organising the Golf Day, expressed the hope that it could be continued as an annual event which even more Bursars could have the opportunity to enjoy.
Sports Construction Specialist, S&C Slatter, is delighted to be appointed by Eton College to design and build a major new sports development at Willowbrook. This prestigious commission will be managed and completed by the company’s in-house design, construction and project management teams led by Pre-Construction Manager Ben O’Connor and Contracts Manager David Smith.
As an Independent Hockey Federation (FIH) Certified Field Builder we are particularly pleased that the scheme is centred on the provision of new hockey facilities. S&C Slatter will be providing two 101.4m x 61m sand dressed artificial grass hockey fields and a 59m x 27m training area – all to the FIH National Performance Standard. The selected playing surface is Hockey Gold Elite from manufacturing partner FieldTurf laid over an in-situ bound rubber shockpad. FieldTurf are an FIH Preferred Supplier.
The pitch build is an engineered macadam construction complete with lateral drainage system, and supplemented by LED Floodlighting, 868 rigid panel weld mesh perimeter fencing and sports pitch equipment.
However, a significant element of this exciting project lies in support and ancillary infrastructure which is another in-house specialism of S&C Slatter.
In this case, the company is creating a new 52-space barrier entry system Bodpave car park with tarmacadam access road which necessitates a S278 connection to the adjacent highway. The car parking is linked to the sports pitches and a new pavilion via tarmacadam and resin-bound gravel pathways which feature recessed and bollard lighting.
Site-wide surface and foul water drainage is also provided together with tree protection and soft landscaping works.
This broad scope capability, including the connection of relevant utilities, is particularly appreciated by clients in the independent schools and leisure sectors, who value the cost and operational efficiencies derived from a one supplier, one solution, delivery.
And for S&C Slatter, their growth in estate-wide business completely validates the substantial, and indeed, ongoing investment in new in-house technology and machinery seen over the last couple of years.
