Challenge

Guildford County School wanted to establish a new multi-use games area (MUGA) that could provide a high-quality basis for numerous different sporting disciplines.

Blakedown Sport & Play, awarded the design-and-build contract, faced several significant challenges in arriving at a design that could fully satisfy the school’s multiple requirements. Perhaps most importantly it needed to deliver an all-year-round playing surface that would erradicate the existing site’s problems with water-logging and drainage, which often rendered the playing field unusable during the winter.

Blakedown also had to take careful account of the residential properties located to the south of the site. Not only did the proposed new MUGA pitch and sports hall need to have as small an impact on the surrounding dwellings as possible, but noise and disturbance during the construction process also had to be kept to a minimum. The choice of building processes and materials was therefore the subject of very rigorous evaluation.

Product supplied

Blakedown decided to utilise Anderton Concrete’s Stepoc concrete shuttering system to underpin the new site, which features a significant gradient in one orientation and a steep bank to one side.

Anderton Concrete’s Technical & Development Manager, Tim Fields, explains: “Stepoc is a system of concrete shuttering blocks that are highly enigneered and dimensionally coordinated. Stepoc is designed to readily accept vertical and horizontal reinforcement for use where structural performance is the prime consideration and is the real alternative to shuttered concrete, offering cost savings in terms of both time and labour.”

Work undertaken

The design and development period saw Blakedown work closely with Anderton Concrete to devise a system that could achieve retained heights from 0.4 to 3m. Ultimately, the design made use of three block sizes from the range - 200, 256 and 325mm - for a solution that was both economical and ‘fit for purpose’.

In addition, the system formed the walling of a concrete slab roof, which was cast in situ and provides a covered and recessed storage area, as specifically requested by the school.

The entire project team was mindful of the need to minimise disruption to the neighbouring residential areas, and as a result deliveries were made by suitably sized vehicles to a very precise schedule. Larger vehicles would not have been practical due to the main access point to the site involving a sharp turn off a main road combined with a steep slope.

Outcome

Construction of the new MUGA ­progressed smoothly and was completed in time for the start of the autumn term. As well as providing a fantastic new facility for use by the entire school, it enables a much more expansive approach to scheduling sporting activities, with the use of outdoor space increasing from approximately 18 weeks per year to 52. It also blends in very discreetly to the school grounds, with the development distinguished by a high standard of landscape design that includes extensive use of trees and other planting.

Testimonial

“...very satisfied with the Stepoc Concrete Shuttering System, having now used it on several key projects. Coupled with the excellent customer service that we can offer and Blakedown says it would recommend the system to all.”
– Tom Buckingham, Blakedown Sport & Play