S&C Slatter have a long and exceptional heritage in building cricket facilities, having built over 1,000 non-turf cricket construction projects for clients including Hampton Wick Royal Cricket Club, Christ Church College Oxford and Dauntsey’s School.
Read on to learn more about our first-class cricket facilities or get in touch to discuss your project.
From design and construction through to aftercare and maintenance, we’re experts in new build, refurbishment and enhancement projects for synthetic cricket facilities.
We work with our partners Notts Sport, world leading suppliers of ECB Approved non-turf cricket pitch systems for coaching, practice and match play.
Whether you’re looking for non-turf match play pitches, indoor netting systems or artificial grass practice and coaching facilities, please call or email our dedicated Cricket division for an informal chat.
For existing cricket facilities that are in need of repair, our dedicated cricket division frequently carry out cricket ground refurbishments. Less costly that a new build, refurbishment usually consists of the removal and replacement of the artificial turf system, whilst ensuring the existing base system is level and suitable for quality play.
Our maintenance experts can advise on whether your pitch may benefit from a deep clean to extend the lifespan of your pitch and delay the need for refurbishment. Prevention is always better than cure, and regular maintenance will maximise your cricket facility’s potential in terms of quality, performance and longevity.
There are eight key stages in the construction of new cricket facilities:
1. Design and planning
Though they may seem small, cricket facilities will still require planning permission as a sports construction project. This stage involves the design of the new facilities, obtaining planning permission and the creation of technical drawings and specifications ready for construction.
2. Environmental considerations
This can include management of water run-off and drainage, whilst mitigating the impact of the facilities and any overspill from lighting.
3. Health and safety
As with all construction projects, it’s crucial to create a safe and thoroughly planned site that meets all legislative requirements whilst employing best practice.
4. Earthworks
The preparation of ground and foundations to ensure the integrity, performance and safety of the cricket pitch or training area.
5. Sub-base and base
Carefully chosen materials forming the base are compacted to accurate depths and levelled to the right tolerances.
6. Performance underlay
Control layers are specified and laid underneath the artificial turf surface to create a natural and consistent performance – unaffected by moisture.
7. Non turf (artificial grass) top surface
This is the part of the cricket pitch or practice system that you actually see. This can be woven or tufted based on the needs of the project.
8. Ancillary equipment
This includes appropriate netting, lighting and sports equipment – as well any project specific requirements in support of the cricket facility, such as spectator areas, pathways and car parks.
More detailed information on the common stages of construction can be found on our Artificial Turf Pitches page.
A non-turf cricket pitch is, quite simply, a cricket pitch constructed with artificial grass, rather than natural turf, also known as synthetic turf or astro turf cricket pitches.
As a synthetic surface, the grass in these systems is made with synthetic fibres, and can be either tufted or woven – in a similar way that indoor carpets are produced, which is why you’ll sometimes hear non-turf artificial grass referred to as cricket ‘carpet’.
Below the carpet lies specially developed layers that make up the full non-turf ‘system’. This includes base and sub-base layers, pads and porous materials – which all work together to support the non-turf layer in delivering that top-quality, consistent performance that you would expect from a perfect natural grass pitch.
Call our experts to discuss how a non-turf cricket facility may suit your needs.
‘Woven’ and ‘Tufted’ refer to the two most common manufacturing methods available for artificial grass cricket surfaces.
Woven surfaces are the elder of the two technologies, and whilst they’ve been around for many years and can provide a great performing playing surface – they’re less durable than the equally high performing tufted surfaces.
In a study carried out by Labosport, implementing the the TS6 Performance standard test used by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) tufted cricket surfaces were shown to endure nearly twice as much use as woven surfaces.
The average cost for a new non-turf cricket pitch for match play is roughly £8,000, and £12,500 per lane for practice lanes in a coaching facility.
As with all sports construction projects, the cost can vary greatly based on the project size and surface type, so can cost anywhere between £7,000 – £20,000 depending on a number of factors.
These factors include:
Supporting work can also be required for any new cricket facilities in the form of ancillary equipment and civil engineering, such as clubhouses, access pathways, roadways and car parks, so this may need to be factored into your costs.
The cost for a non-turf cricket pitch or cricket lane refurbishment is significantly lower, usually between between £2,000 – £5,000 due to much of the infrastructure (foundations, frames, civil engineering) often already being in place.
Please get in touch with our dedicated cricket division if you’d like an example cost breakdown, or a quote based on your cricket facility needs.
Whilst many clients fund multi-use games areas through capital spend or private funding, there are a number of funding options available to clubs, schools and universities who don’t have the option to use capital spend.
If your cricket facility needs updating and is an asset to the local community, you may be eligible to apply for Sport England’s community asset fund. Your local or regional council may also offer sporting grants to contribute towards the cost.
Grant funding can come with its own complexities and high competition, so is not ideal for every situation. Private funding may be preferable, such as operating leases. You can find out more about operational leases on our funding page, or by checking out our recent work with the John Madejski Academy, who utilised an operating lease to fund their 3G artificial turf pitch, offsetting the cost with pitch hire.
Taking your new facility through the design and planning stage will often take up the majority of your project time.
Once your new cricket facility has been granted planning permission, a construction programme will be agreed. This can be anywhere between 1 day up to 6 weeks depending on the scope of the project.
A non-turf artificial cricket surface can last up to 20 years, though this will depend on the chosen synthetic turf system, weekly hours of use, the standard of pitch maintenance and pitch construction.
Non-turf cricket pitches are built to provide consistency of performance and safety, and offer a greater level of durability than natural turf cricket pitches.
They are constructed to ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) requirements with approved materials – and are tested based on ball rebound, surface hardness and rotational resistance, to ensure they are suitable for match play or practice.
A key benefit of non-turf over natural turf cricket pitches is a guaranteed level of performance that is not reliant upon, or impacted by the weather – which is particularly important when dealing with British weather!
To ensure maximum performance, safety and longevity, routine maintenance is required on any non-turf artificial turf cricket pitch or practice facility.
Whilst non-turf cricket pitches won’t need the cutting, watering or sunshine that natural turf cricket pitches require, maintenance is still needed to protect the synthetic fibres and
For artificial grass MUGAs, while the synthetic grass may not need watering or cutting, regular maintenance is still required to protect the fibres and maximise the lifespan of the surface.
Maintenance can include brushing, decompaction and chemical treatment to prevent the growth of weeds and moss that cause issues with drainage and safety.
To find out more about the maintenance required for non-turf cricket pitches, please refer to our maintenance page or call our dedicated in-house team to discuss your specific needs.
Non-turf/synthetic cricket pitches (artificial grass) are approved for use by the ECB, as well as fine turf (natural grass) cricket pitches.
Both types of turf must adhere to the relevant guidelines for construction, maintenance and performance standards.
Our partners Notts Sport are ECB Approved suppliers, offering a number of ECB approved non-turf pitch (NTP) systems. With 30 years of experience in the design, construction and maintenance of non-turf cricket systems, all of our projects adhere to the ECB’s Code of Practice and Technical Requirements for the Design and Installation of Non-Turf Cricket Facilities.
S&C Slatter have 30 years’ experience in the design, construction and maintenance of non-turf cricket systems.
Our dedicated in-house cricket division work closely with our partners Notts Sport (ECB Approved non-turf cricket system manufacturers) to deliver first-class cricket facilities across the UK.
We work with cricketing clubs at all levels of the sport, from an elite level installation of non-turf cricket practice lanes at Lords’s Cricket ground, to university level, such as our triple lane indoor facility at The University of Cambridge, through to a 4-lane coaching and practice facility at William C of E High School.
If you have any further questions on non-turf artificial cricket pitches or practice facilities, or would like to discuss your project, please get in touch with our dedicated team.
For more information call 01635 34521 or email enquiries@slattersportsconstruction.com
