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
Looking to gain some insight? Join us for complimentary drinks and an informal live Q&A session with Scott Brooks of St. George’s Park and Karl McDermott of Lord’s at SALTEX Stand F185, 4pm, 30th October 2019
Saltex Q&A with Scott Brooks and Karl McDermott from The Slatter Group on Vimeo.
Join us on stand F185 at Saltex
Find out the additional pressures of preparing the grounds for England’s finest. Just what does it take to care for England’s football training complex, St. George’s Park, or the home of cricket, Lord’s?
Hosted by White Horse Contractors, this informal social event is a great opportunity to talk shop and enjoy a free drink with colleagues.
You can ask your question via email or tweet us @whitehorsecontr
Winners will be selected by Scott and Karl and announced following the Q&A on Stand F185 when the champagne will be awarded.
With over 60 years of experience, White Horse Contractors, a Slatter Group company, is a leading provider of natural and hybrid sports turf pitches, pitch renovations, land drainage and water engineering.
We look forward to welcoming you to Stand F185 for complimentary drinks – remember to submit your question for a chance to win one of three magnums of Champagne!
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.
Hockey pitch specialist S&C Slatter has every reason to celebrate with the award of two International Hockey Federation (FIH) certifications.
The company has been registered as an FIH Certified Field Builder under the 2019 FIH Quality Programme for Hockey Turf, and the hockey pitch constructed for their client, Royal Holloway University of London, has once again received it’s FIH Certificate of Field Performance following the programme’s mandatory periodic re-testing.
For clubs, schools and communities considering the development of an artificial hockey pitch, the FIH Certified Field Builder designation provides a good deal of reassurance that they are dealing with a provider of proven technical skills, quality and reliability. S&C Slatter has secured this recognition for each of the last four years.
The FIH certificate succinctly summarises the benefits for a client. ‘(S&C Slatter) has demonstrated a proven ability to construct hockey fields to the standards the game requires, has appropriate in-house civil engineering expertise for the design and construction of hockey fields, operates a quality management system to ensure consistency in their work and provides comprehensive maintenance advice to their customers.’
In practice, these benefits are clearly evident to Royal Holloway University of London. Back in 2015 S&C Slatter designed and constructed a new full-size hockey pitch as part of a wider sports development including an artificial turf rugby and football pitch, tennis/netball courts, MUGA and an activity track. The hockey pitch, featuring a FieldTurf Hockey Gold sand-dressed artificial turf, was built to deliver the FIH National Performance Standard, which was confirmed by the independent post-completion testing and certification. Now four years on, and literally hundreds of games later, the pitch is still delivering its ‘as built’ characteristics and qualities.
Mark Hyndman, Head of Student Engagement & Sport at the University, has commented ‘Feedback has been overwhelming on the standard and quality of playing surfaces. We’ve had visitors from all over the country to view the facilities and the workmanship that went into it.’
S&C Slatter, part of The Slatter Group, is committed to upholding the objectives and values of the FIH Quality Programme for Hockey Turf, with its manufacturing partner, FieldTurf, also being recognised as an FIH Preferred Supplier.
A fully inclusive one-stop solution is provided by the S&C Slatter team of experts, from initial feasibility, design and planning, through development, verification and implementation, to construction, fitting out and maintenance.
S&C Slatter is delighted to confirm the acquisition of White Horse Contractors Limited which becomes a member of The Slatter Group.
White Horse Contractors was established in 1957 by Arnold Binning. Since then it has grown into one of the leading providers of natural turf sports facilities, land drainage, water engineering, landscaping and civil engineering projects. It has gained a first-class reputation for quality and service in these sectors.
As a well-established family business, S&C Slatter are acknowledged as one of the Country’s foremost experts in the design and construction of sports facilities including artificial and natural pitches, multi-use games areas (MUGAs), hard and soft landscaping. The Surfacing & Civils division is also very successful in securing an increasing share in the infrastructure sector – car parks, roadways, hard standings.
White Horse Contractors will operate from the Group Head Office in Enborne, Newbury as an autonomous business under the guidance of newly appointed Managing Director David Smith and Technical Director James Welsh.
With this addition, The Slatter Group offers an unrivalled scope of services to a broad reach of clients within the sports grounds, amenity, leisure, agricultural and equestrian sectors. The knowledge base and resource that White Horse Contractors brings to the Group complements perfectly the skills, technology and experience in artificial surfacing, civil engineering and project development accessible from the existing specialist divisions of S&C Slatter.
David Slatter, who oversees the operations of all Group companies, comments:
“When I first took over the business from my Father, we provided sub-contract services for White Horse Contractors on their bigger projects. For me they were always the ‘Gold standard’ which I was aiming to emulate and to this end I saw a perfect opportunity to approach the Directors of White Horse Contractors. To be able to bring their expertise and resource to our family company is a dream come true for me. The depths of services, skills and knowledge that we can now offer our clients in a one stop shop is industry leading.”
James Binning is the third generation of the Binning family to chair White Horse Contractors and says:
“I’m delighted that we have found another family business which can take White Horse Contractors to new heights and that shares our company ethos and family values. Many of our staff have worked with us for decades and it is important to us that the business continues to be run in the same style as it has for the last 60 years.”
However, the Binning family association with the industry will not cease as White Horse Contractors’ workshop and plant will continue to grow and thrive under a new name, Muddy Plant Hire Ltd, providing specialist plant hire services to The Slatter Group and the industry at large.
We’re delighted that the Harlequins Foundation will be joining us at our Rugby Turf Workshop on 24th January 2019. Their Manager Paul Wilson will be giving a special presentation of the wonderful work the Foundation does in the rugby community to promote health & wellbeing.
Paul has been with the Harlequins Foundation since 2015, co-ordinating and managing delivery of the Harlequins Foundation programmes.
A former rugby player, Paul very much ‘leads from the front’ and in 2017 took on the challenge of the London Marathon to raise funds for the Harlequins Foundation’s mental health campaign.
Their Vision:
A world where the power of sport is used to drive positive change.
Their Mission:
To use the Harlequin network and brand to inspire, educate and equip individuals and communities at home and around the world to change their lives and fulfil their potential.
Their focus is on inspirational, sustainable and transformative solutions that tackle inequality, poor health and the challenges facing the most vulnerable in society by using education, skills development and entrepreneurship.
Movember Partnership
This September The Movember Foundation, Harlequins Foundation and Harlequin FC announced a long-term partnership that will see them team up for a joint initiative committed to help rugby fans, and the wider community,
The partnership is focussing on improving awareness of men’s health issues during the season as well as raising funds to deliver a mental health and wellbeing project in the 2019/20 season aimed at reducing self-harm and suicide amongst young men.
The partnership brings together a joint ambition between the Club and the Foundations to address the issues around men’s health and provide information and guidance on what to do when health suffers. They are planning several campaigns, focused both on awareness and fundraising, and during the partnership the funds raised will be invested into projects aimed at parents, coaches and young men; all delivered through the Harlequins Foundation.
