Context

Hunter Construction completed the construction of full-size football pitch with LED lighting and ballstop fencing at Garioch Sports Centre in the Scottish Highlands. The pitch was built on a fully-engineered base using its own laser-controlled asphalt paver.

Project detail

The pitch was to be built on a site that was particularly wet underfoot and had a history of flooding. The site investigation did partially indicate this, however, the extent of the issues were not known. Hunter undertook its own trial pit investigation and carried out bearing capacity testing to determine the full extent of any ground improvement works required.

The area, it was discovered, had been built up with a large amount of excess topsoil at some stage, and this was mostly responsible for the area displaying poor drainage characteristics. Hunter Construction's assessment of the bearing capacity of the underlying soils demonstrated that the formation could support the loading. This was assisted by an exercise to balance the cut / fill earthworks by increasing the gradient of the pitch from level to under 1% permissible gradient.

The poor weather encountered during summer 2024 proved to create its own challenges, however the project was completed to allow play on the field within the programme.

The field has passed all the performance tests required and awaits FIFA certification being awarded.

Hunter worked with the client to value-engineer the project so that it met the clients budget restrictions.