SPORTS CONTRACTING
CLS Sports deliver high-end natural and 3G
pitches for Welsh FA’s National Football
Development Centre
L
eading sports contractor CLS
Sports has completed its most
prestigious project to date.
The Football Association of Wales (FAW)
officially opened its £5m Colliers Park
National Football Development Centre,
near Wrexham, on 22 September, a
date that commemorates the 85th
anniversary of one of the world’s worst
coal mining disasters. On that date in
1934, an explosion rocked the nearby
Gresford mine, killing 236 colliers.
Working seamlessly to ensure the
project was delivered on time and to
budget, the CLS Sports natural and
synthetic pitch construction teams have
laid a full-size FIFA Quality accredited
3G facility alongside two full-size natural
turf pitches with full underpitch drainage
and sustainable soakaway.
Completing the £2m contract, CLS
Sports supplied floodlighting, camera
gantries, mini grandstands, pitch
perimeter fencing, maintenance shed,
hard and soft landscaping and pathways
for the Park.
The Welsh national football squads will
train on one of the natural grass pitches,
along with youth sides – the second
grass pitch being hired out to local
league and weekend sides.
GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019
The 3G facility, intended for grassroots
football training, has been laid on the
site of an existing 3G installation at a
former training ground.
Much of the stone supplied for the
original pitch has been redeployed under
its replacement and used in the paths
that cross the Park.
CLS Sports employed many of its
own specialist plant and machinery,
available through its CLS Landscape and
Earthworks and CLS Self Drive divisions,
to contour the site and lay the pitches.
“Colliers Park showcases our
construction team’s ability to deliver
across both natural and synthetic pitch
installations to world class standards,”
said CLS Sports Director of Operations
Brian Dunn.
Sports facility design specialists Geo
Turf Consulting conceived the Colliers
Park pitch design and layout, having
completed a similar project for the FAW’s
headquarters at Dragon Park, Newport.
As project managers for the pitch
development, Geo Turf oversaw the
pitch construction programme, which
began last June and was handed over in
May (the pitches in March).
“We worked closely with CLS Sports
throughout the development,” said Geo
Turf’s Jonathan Smith. “They were easy
to work with, efficient throughout the
project and well resourced the work with
people and plant.” CLS Sports Contracts
Director Stephen Miller added: “We are
proud of the facility we have created and
it has been a pleasure to work for the
Welsh FA alongside Geo Turf Consulting.”
Lucy Scott, Facility Manager Operations
Commercial and Strategic for Colliers
Park, said: “The centre is attracting
plenty of interest and represents a
massive benefit for the region, the finest
facility of its kind in North Wales. “Welsh
players will aspire to come here because
Colliers Park carries the wow factor
locally, regionally and nationally. It will
also function as a focus for the girls’ and
women’s game.”
For more information, contact CLS
Sports, T:01642 488328.
www.cleveland-land-services.co.uk
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