A landmark synthetic turf project at University College Dublin( UCD) has enabled sports pitches to capture and store rainfall for use across the site, including irrigating the natural grass pitches alongside them.
SPORTS PITCHES
Synthetic Turf Pitches Become a Water Resource at University College Dublin
A landmark synthetic turf project at University College Dublin( UCD) has enabled sports pitches to capture and store rainfall for use across the site, including irrigating the natural grass pitches alongside them.
The project began in February 2025 and remains ongoing, forming part of a broader expansion of UCD’ s sports facilities, including creating a modern indoor sports hall. Accommodating the new hall meant relocating UCD’ s existing synthetic turf pitches, which in turn presented the opportunity for a full reset and upgrade of the playing surfaces.
Water management was central to the design from the outset. UCD’ s Belfield campus was originally a site of extensive green space, but decades of growth have added numerous buildings to house its expanding facilities. Run-off from those rooves and hard surfaces needed managing, and the new pitches provide a solution that can do exactly this while still offering a highquality playing surface.
A series of attenuation tanks were designed and installed beneath the pitches, with capacity to hold the large volume of water draining through the synthetic surface. The tanks were set within a permeable aggregate matrix, adding further temporary attenuation as water percolates through the pitches. Stormtech tanks and pipework were installed by CubicM3 | Microstrain Ltd, with Tony Patterson Sportsgrounds delivering the pitch works.
Ground conditions presented the main obstacle. The pitches sit on very poor ground, and considerable improvement works were required before the tank foundations could be laid and the pitches built over them.
Daniel McGeever, Project Engineer – University College Dublin, said:“ The pitches have provided our students and the wider
32 GroundskeepingJournal. co. uk | November / December 2026