Projects by location: South West

Five Islands School Multi Use Games Area

Blakedown Sport and Play have constructed two new multi use games areas at the new Five Islands School on the Isles of Scilly.

The first a sand dressed MUGA using a Desso Trophy carpet lined for hockey and tennis, the second a polymeric MUGA lined for netball & basketball.

All build materials and construction machinery for the project were sourced from the mainland then shipped from Penzance to St. Marys Island.

To ensure work was completed smoothly and efficiently Blakedown put 10-day shift patterns in place for all on-site staff working on the project which allowed the project to be completed in only 8 weeks.

The school was part of a £13m re-build project and was visited by the Queen & Prince Philip, the royals’ first visit to the Islands in 46 years.

Soham Village College Tennis Court

Blakedown were employed to undertake resurface works & new build of sports courts at the college.

Four existing courts have been resurfaced with macadam and lined for tennis, netball and basketball, with sockets to allow for the appropriate game equipment to be fitted quickly. New fencing was also installed around the existing courts

Four new courts were constructed; drainage was installed and finshed with two layers of macadam. Equipment sockets for tennis and netball were also included.

These new courts have been built with a dividing fence to allow two blocks of two courts, one of these blocks of two has been acrylic coated, and floodlights have been installed to allow longer playing time during shorter days.

Members of the community can use the new courts, while students and the Soham Tennis Club can also benefit.

The state of the art facility was opened to coincide with Wimbledon.

Principal Dr Carin Taylor said “I hope these courts will be well used by people keen to enjoy recreational and competitive tennis in Soham”

Hartpury College Rugby Pitch

Hartpury College in Gloucester – training ground for Gloucester Rugby Club has again chosen Blakedown Sport & Play to construct a new 3G rugby pitch at the college.

Back in 2004 a 3G warm-up area was installed to the International Rugby Board (IRB) Performance Specification.

Blakedown were successful out of nine tenders received by the college.

The existing surface was an old grass golf range, the new facility comprises of a new 65mm sand & rubber crumb in-fill carpet with 20mm in-situ rubber shockpad installed on a 50mm engineered macadam base. Fencing & floodlights complete the £500,000 project and again the surface meets IRB specification.

Chew Valley School, Bristol Sports pitch

Blakedown worked closely with Bath & North East Somerset Council to design and produce a full-size artificial multi-use sports pitch that will primarily be used for hockey and recreational soccer.

The construction entailed major earthworks, drainage, stone foundation and two tarmac layers. A 15mm shockpad, sand-filled carpet, fencing and 350 lux floodlighting system were all incorporated into the design.

Bill Chard, Chew Valley’s Project Manager, said: “All the hard work that has been done for so long, by so many people, is now coming to fruition. We are very pleased with the new All-Weather Pitch and the choice of Blakedown as our pitch contractor has proved to be a great success. Their experience and expertise has contributed significantly to the successful completion of this facility.”

Dauntsey’s School Hockey pitch

Blakedown installed a new full size FIH hockey pitch, resurface their existing sand-filled full size pitch both complete with fencing and floodlighting as well as undertaking a large landscaping and natural pitch scheme across the campus.

Fairfield High School, Bristol Sports pitch

Fairfield High School asked Blakedown to construct new sports facilities at its Boiling Wells site.

This comprised installing a 10,500m2 artificial sports pitch with a 15mm in-situ shockpad and Edel PP 24mm sand-filled carpet.



The new sports facility included a full-size pitch, lined for hockey and football use, a 100m 8-lane athletics sprint straight, three five-a-side football pitches and three bay cricket wicket nets.

Monkton Combe School, Bath Sports pitch

Blakedown Sport & Play undertook the design and build works at Monkton Combe School to replace the existing full-size sand-filled artificial sports pitch which including a retaining wall, new drainage, fencing, floodlights, access path and associated landscaping.

Parc-Y-Werin, Swansea New sports facilities

The construction of a new 32m x 32m sand-filled pitch with lines for football and tennis. The refurbishment of old existing tennis courts into a new 33.5m x 16.5m macadam multi-use games area was finished off with a sky-blue acrylic coating.

Both pitches were completed with two recess goals, 3m-high weldmesh fencing with 1.2m double weldmesh rebound boards, four-column floodlighting systems and perimeter tarmac footpaths.

Penryn RFC Rugby/football pitch

Blakedown Sport & Play was sub-contracted to install a full-size rugby/football pitch at Penryn College.

The 120m x 75m pitch was surfaced with 3rd generation rubber crumb, laid on top of a 24mm Brock shockpad, and was marked out for rugby, football and futsal use. Also installed were 200 lux floodlights and 5m weldmesh fencing with 1.2m-high ranch boards. The pitch was completed with folding rugby posts and self-weighted football and seven-a-side goals.

The Ridings High School, Bristol Football/hockey pitch

Construction of a new, full-size, synthetic pitch at The Riding School in Bristol.

This exciting new Edel LSR/NDR sand-dressed sports pitch is primarily used for hockey and football, and includes an 8-column static floodlighting system complete with 50/50 weldmesh 3m-high perimeter fencing.

The project incorporated a 1000m2 new tarmac bus park facility which was also marked for netball courts to be used during school hours, landscaping around the facility, including using the 1500m3 top soil from the site to make mounds for the spectators to use, building a block paving path around the sports pitch and rejuvenating the boundary wall to the school.