The demands of a 20 acre housing development have resulted in two new pitches for a thriving Suffolk rugby club. Sudbury R.U.F.C, (home to three adult sides, a girl’s squad, a veteran squad and an active youth mini section of 250 enthusiastic players) grasped the opportunity to re-locate, when their old ground was needed by Persimmon Homes to augment the prime development site already acquired.
Stuart Marston, a club member explained “Basically we had to get a pitch contractor in and we were introduced to J Pugh-Lewis by David Powell, Head Groundsman at Northampton Saints Rugby Club,” he says. Having hired the Chesterfield pitch constructors to laser-grade, drain and re-seed the new pitches Stuart Marston extended their brief to include the pitch-side and boundary fencing, utilising their GPS (Global Positioning System) equipment to survey, design and mark out the pitches and boundaries. “The first team wanted a maximum size pitch but the survey showed us that a second team pitch of the same size would not fit within our legal boundary,” Stuart continues. “It could have been a lot more complicated. We needed two pitches, a clubhouse and a car park and had to ensure that everything would fit onto our land.”
Once the earthworks were complete, J Pugh-Lewis laser graded before trenching in the floodlight cabling and installing a comprehensive drainage system of pipe drains and sand slits. The company then cultivated the two new pitches and ameliorated them with sand, prior to seeding in August 2008. The club wanted to leave the pitches to grow-in for at least 12 months, which gave J Pugh-Lewis time to complete their extended contract. Acoustic Barrier fencing was installed along the boundary between Sudbury’s new ground and the Persimmon housing development and post and rail fencing erected on the southern boundary and around the first team pitch. As the northern boundaries were already marked by high hedging, all that remained was for J Pugh-Lewis to erect the new goal posts.
J. Pugh-Lewis
Tel: 01773 872362:
www.pugh-lewis.co.uk