Founded in 1893, Shotley & Benfieldside Tennis Club in County Durham, is an established community tennis club with a thriving social scene, consisting of a unique indoor floodlit court and 5 additional outdoor tennis courts, all of which are artificial.
The club decided to refurbish 2 of the courts in 2020 as they were worn and in need of replacement. The positive reaction from members enjoying the new courts and the increasing influx of court usage prompted the club to consider replacing the remaining 3 courts.
Whilst the remaining 3 courts were still in a reasonable condition, they showed signs of wear & tear and had started to become unreliable in poor weather and prone to flooding. To help fund the project, members were asked to renew annual fees earlier than normal and were offered the opportunity to purchase a special 5/10 year membership. This investment allowed the club to fund the project and ensure that the work would be completed before the 2021 season began.
The club’s committee nominated a working party to investigate the market and test surfaces. Initial findings identified that Playrite’s Grandplay surface would provide the unrivaled durability and performance the club was after.
Grandplay is Playrite’s most popular tennis surface, suited for tennis players who want a faster pace. With a uniformed tuft density design to simulate a natural grass court with a positive grip underfoot, it makes it the preferred choice for many clubs.
To ensure that the surface was the right choice, the committee visited several clubs with Grandplay installed and tested the surfaces out by playing a few games of tennis. The committee had several technical discussions with Playrite to agree to some amendments to the specification to meet their needs and achieve direct equivalence with the previously installed courts.
Playrite recommended local contractors Fosse Contracts to complete the surface installation, and have partnered together on similar projects, were also able to offer a full turnkey solution that delivered an excellent all-weather playing surface.
Committee Member, Tony Pensom commented, “This was our first experience of Playrite products and people. We are delighted with both – good, honest, quality people and a great product”.
The project was completed ready for the 2021 season and members have been thrilled to experience the new courts.
The school previously had a non-porous, very slippy area which was causing a hazard to students especially in wet weather. Sandringham Head of PE decided steps were needed to revitalise their sports area into something that children could enjoy and use to their full potential.
Matchplay 2 was introduced to the school and as the surface boasts so many advantages for all sports and so the decision became an easy one. ETC Sports contractors were assigned the task to turn the slippery hard-surfaced area into a fully porous artificial grassed sports area the school could be proud of and most importantly, a sports pitch that can be used all year round no matter how wet the weather.
3 years from the project’s completion, Simon Wells Managing Director at ETC Sports commented how pleased they were with the outcome. The surface is still providing the school with the same fantastic advantages as it was in the first year of installation.
The University decided that an investment was needed for their grounds and they worked closely with Playrite and MUGA UK to decide that a new multi-use surface was just what they were looking for.
Playrite liaised closely with the client along with MUGA UK’s help, to discuss the requirements. The university wanted a durable, multi sports and yet low maintenance surface; it was quickly recognised Playrite’s Matchplay 2 surface ticked all the right boxes. Matchplay 2 is extremely durable and performance proven to provide multiple sports for the students to best utilise their facility and offers minimal maintenance costs.
Neil McHugh from MUGA UK, a specialist consultant within the sports surface industry specified Playrite’s Matchplay 2 for this project; Neil has worked with Playrite on a variety of projects over the last few years.
The contract for the installation of the pitch was awarded to Midland CSB and completed early 2016 to an excellent
finished result.
Playrite have since made a follow up visit to the University and the feedback they have provided is that both students and staff are delighted with their new facility and the playing characteristics it offers. They are now considering funding a similar installation on an adjacent campus.
Playrite are thrilled with the transformation of the playing area which has provided the students somewhere to play multiple sports, in what was a refined area and is proving to be a great benefit to the University.
Hoddesdon Tennis Club provides tennis for families and individuals in the local community not only for competition but also for fun, social interaction and pure enjoyment for all ages and abilities.
As some of the courts were in need of a bit of TLC, Playrite were brought on board by Simon at ETC Sports to help with the project of resurfacing areas of the tennis club. Along with Mike Seymour, Playrite and ETC Sports worked together to select the correct surface, Grandplay was chosen as the ideal choice to bring the club back to life again.
Grandplay is Playrite’s newest addition to our tennis surface range, it simulates a natural grass court providing a positive grip underfoot which makes it the preferred choice for many tennis clubs.
Hoddesdon was completed by the end of 2016 and the club now have gained so much from the new courts, its really boosted their facilities which now all the community can come together and enjoy.
In the Spring of 2017, the school approached Playrite to discuss a proposed scheme to upgrade an existing macadam
playground of approx. 3000 Square Metres in size to a synthetic surface.
The area was to be used during regular break times throughout the school day and also for multi-sport / P.E activities including Netball, basketball, tennis, 5-aside football and general exercise. The emphasis was very much on day to day use.
As the main brief for the project was a hard wearing, durable ,low maintenance multi-sport surface, the solution offered by Playrite was our Matchplay 2 Sand-Dressed Needlepunch Carpet, which is a highly durable, UK manufactured, low maintenance surface, which was ideally suited to the criteria laid out by the schools estate management and the PE department. The high level of performance for individual sports was also a key factor in the requirement.
After discussions and regular meetings over a period of months between the school and Playrite and also our partner installer ,DuraSport Ltd, which involved site visits to similar Matchplay 2 Multi-sport installations, a decision was made in October 2017 to proceed with the installation and the Matchplay 2 Surface.
The installation involving just over 3000 Square Metres of material, with inlaid lines for sport, was completed on time by DuraSport Ltd in early January, just prior to the beginning of the 2018 School year.
The initial feedback from the school and pupils has been extremely positive, with the facility already being used daily.
With 10 years in padel court construction, PadelTech have the knowledge to apply a personal approach to installing state of the art facilities in clubs or private residences. PadelTech been involved in building padel tennis courts all over the world, forming strong partnerships with companies that want to maintain the highest-standards in this growing industry.
Springlawn, based in Perth Scotland has managed to secure the specification for Playrite’s Grandplay tufted sports surface for two new Padel courts at Thistle Lawn Tennis Club Edinburgh. PadelTech completed the groundworks and construction in conjunction with Doe Sports North.
Following the construction and installation of Playrite’s Grandplay, Ken Smith Area Sales Manager for Playrite met with Paul Ross to take a close up look at the exciting new facility at Thistle Lawn Tennis Club and to take a few minutes out to try this enjoyable racket sport.
Paul has had experiences of alternative court surfaces but insists the Playrite Grandplay is an excellent padel court surface due to the appearance and playability. Club players at Thistle LTC are delighted with the new construction of the two courts and look forward to a new competitive season.
PadelTech are keen to include Playrite Grandplay in future projects.
They wanted something unique to incorporate into their school grounds which would bring joy to the children, hence their motto ‘In gaudio serviamus’ which translates to ‘may we serve joyfully’.
The school made the choice to use Playrite’s Matchwinner Velour surface as they were amazed at all the things they could incorporate into their facility.
With guidance and help from Simon at ETC Sports and Playrite’s Steve Byrnes, the school came up with the idea of adding their crest into the surface showing their motto which gives a real personal touch for the school.
As well as the crest, the school added in hopscotch and a letter snake which makes the area bright and bold and also gives a learning prospective whilst having fun! This produced a very attractive finish.
The club was founded in 1860 and is located in the heart of Edgbaston in a picturesque setting next to the Botanical gardens.
As part of ongoing expansion and investment the club had been looking for some time to upgrade a block of 2 of their existing hard courts to a synthetic surface.
Working closely over several months with one of our Partner Tennis contractor ( Fosse Contracts Ltd of Leicester) who Playrite have worked with over numerous years, We were able to introduce our Grandplay Tufted synthetic Tennis grass to the club.
This Uk manufactured ITF certified category 4 Tennis surface was able to meet all the strict relevant criteria set out by the club, including performance , pace rating , durability and maintenance aspects.
Having carefully made the decision to proceed, the club appointed Fosse contracts to to install the material over an area of 1100 square metres in August 2020.
Playrite’s manufacturing process also meant that the club were able to choose a ‘striking’ Two Tone green colour arrangement on the courts, which added immensely to the overall aesthetics and appearance.
Playrite were proud to have supplied our synthetic tennis surfacing to this historic club venue and to have been part of this project.
The two new floodlit courts now being enjoyed on a daily basis, both during daytimes and evenings by club members and community and the the new facility has further enhanced this famous club.
Esher Tennis Club has a long history in providing grass-court tennis to the people in the Elmbridge Borough of Surrey and in 2017/18 they opened up a new stage in the development of tennis in the area.
Three of its ten courts have been converted to an exceptional all year, all weather Artificial Clay surface with two of these being floodlit by ‘state of the heart’ LED lighting for winter evening play. The club can now offer tennis players the opportunity to play throughout the year on three surfaces – grass, clay and tarmac.
Esher Tennis Club was able to do this due to considerable financial support from the LTA, Surrey LTA and from its own member’s contributions. The work on the courts was undertaken by ETC Sports Limited who despite horrendous weather conditions managed to deliver exceptional hard courts in 2017 and return in 2018 to install Playrite Specialist Surface’s “Clayrite MF Artificial Clay” on them. Luminance Pro Lighting Systems Ltd supplied and installed the floodlights working closely with ETC Sports. The light quality they delivered being significantly superior to older halogen systems.
The new clay courts and floodlights have been a massive success with ELTC members, guest and visiting teams. Juniors can now learn on a perfect surface winter and summer, and more mature members can play on a more responsive surface, playable daily even in British weather conditions.
As Mrs Clarke has 3 Children who play football more than any other sport, Mrs Clarke wanted to surprise her Children by arranging a new football surface.
Ken Smith from Playrite arranged to meet Mrs Clarke and survey the existing court. Ken advised that the existing tarmac court could be recovered and suggested Playrite Matchpad shockpad and Tournament MF with white lines for football.
With the family due to attend the World Rugby Finals in Japan, we had to work to a very short timeline and Ken invited Envirolawn to quote for the work.
In order to proceed quickly followed and the new surface was delivered and installed within 2 weeks to the delight of Mrs Clarke’s family.
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