Case Study

Client :

Cheshunt Football Club

Grading Plan

Background:

SPDB Ltd provided detailed designs and obtained full planning consent for the large football facility and are currently monitoring the construction. SPDB Ltd designed and carried out the initial designs and pre application discussions with Broxbourne Council for an application to improve the existing grass football pitches on the former landfill site at Cheshunt Football Club. The proposals also include the construction of an artificial state of the art 3G football pitch with lighting and an irrigation lagoon which will harvest water from the proposed new drainage.

The 3G artificial pitch will form an integral part of the future development plans for the main football stadium (centre of football excellence) and act as an important all weather training and coaching academy. 

In 2011 Cheshunt Sports & Leisure Ltd took over the Football Club. The new company is looking to invest in the club, both on and off the pitch, and take the club forward. The vision is to produce a Conference standard football club and academy together with first class sports and business facilities that will allow Cheshunt Football Club to become a centre of sporting excellence.

Whilst the development of the stadium itself is part of a separate vision and future planning proposal, the adjoining football pitches that are used for coaching, training, and matches for under 18’s,17’s,15’s,13’s,12’s,11’s,10’s,9’s,8’s and 7’s are in a very poor state due to the underlying nature of what was a former landfill site.

The surfaces of these football pitches are neither commensurate with the standards expected for the current football league (or owners aspirations) or the quality required by a club aspiring to get into the higher Conference League. Neither do the surfaces comply with the standards expected by the FA or Sport England. 

The primary reason for their sub standard quality is the very poor soil conditions and levels associated with the previous capping off of the landfill site on which these pitches sit. The current soil profile consists of thin impermeable water retaining top soil with, more alarmingly, a subsoil that in many areas contains large amounts of broken glass, metal and various quantities of stone, ash and putrescible material. In places these undesirable subsoil elements are working their way to the surface.

To compound the bad soil condition and poor drainage qualities of the area the current pitches are also suffering from an uneven settling of the former landfill site thus creating a “corrugated” appearance to the many of the various football pitches. This is not only very undesirable in terms of the playing and coaching of football but it also creates further drainage issues and further maintenance problems all of its own.

In addition the poor quality playing surfaces there is also a problem with “joy riders” / trespassers getting onto the site which needs to be resolved. 

Other advantages

Process

It is proposed by SPDB Ltd that the area of these football pitches be re-profiled so that not only are the surfaces evened out and “positively drained” as a managed surface water flow(s) but the soil beneath these pitches is capped off with a better “cleaner” subsoil and  deeper more appropriate sand ameliorated topsoil.

The leveling off of the pitches is vital as the settlement of the former landfill site is likely to continue and the hollows created only serve to create water holding pockets and substandard surfaces to play on.   

The restructuring of the soil profile above the former landfill site will provide a suitable level soil medium to grow and maintain a high quality, all year round, sports turf. The proposed re-profiling works will also ensure that any subsurface drains that need to be trenched below the football pitches will do so above what it clearly a substandard capping as far as high quality sports pitches are concerned.

The above upgrading of the surfaces will be undertaken by raising the levels slightly by bringing in clean soils and subsoils, followed by the trenched installation of “herring bone” drainage lines and the introducing sand ameliorated topsoil as the growing medium and surface as per Sport England recommendations .

In relation to the pitch design the re-profiling of the general football area provides an opportunity to reconfigure and vary the size and format of football pitches (i.e. Adult pitches, 5 aside, 7 aside, coaching areas etc, plus a cricket pitch) so that provision for coaching and playing areas for every age and type of football can be achieved. By doing this every aspect of the operational element of this sporting facility is accommodated for and maximised.

Add to this the flexibility and quality of the proposed artificial pitch then every aspect of football development is catered for at Cheshunt FC, no matter what the weather conditions, age or level of play.

The proposals also incorporate as part of the re-contouring of the design the creation of a water harvesting scheme whereby the surface and subsurface flows (drain lines) will be managed so that not only are the pitches kept in a suitable condition all year round but the surface water from half the site is re-directed to a lagoon (located in the centre of the site) for re use in the summer months.

The provision of a lagoon for winter storage (when the majority of rainfall usually occurs) for use in the summer provides a sustainable irrigation proposal which doesn’t rely on expensive mains water (which the club has to at present) and takes the pressure off the aquifers / utility companies in the summer especially in very dry or drought conditions.        

Completion of Project:

Planning submission to take place April 2013

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