Dundee University

Facilities development project, football and hockey pitches, Riverside Campus

The University of Dundee approached Sports Labs in October 2008 to assist them with the development of brand new sports facilities at the Riverside Campus and a second campus site.

The development was to include one full size 3G pitch built to FA community use standard that could also be used for rugby training (IRB22), one full size sand dressed hockey pitch built to perform to FIH standards, one full size natural grass pitch and four new polymeric tennis courts (second campus site). The project had to be fully designed and procured through the University procurement route, before 19th December 2008.

This involved a significant amount of time spent with Brian Ewing (Institute of Sport & Exercise) and Gilbert Valentine (Estates), ensuring that the design of the facilities were going to work in the areas identified. Also, the specification was to be as sustainable as possible with life cycle costs never far away from design decisions.

The design was completed and the tenders were issued before the end of November 2008. These designs allowed for a double pitch area with large warm up and training area within the double pitch area. The double pitch is surrounded with twin bars, using rebound mesh on the football half and kick boards on the hockey side.

Storage areas were designed at this stage to remove the need to construct an external store for goals when not in use. The area is lit using nine 15m raise/lower columns.

This facility is located at the Riverside area and is supported by existing changing facilities.

The natural pitch is located immediately in front of the sports pavilion and has been completely re-drained and cultivated as well as separated from the surrounding pitches by the new spectator rail.

This facility is located at the Riverside area. The tennis courts are replacement courts that involved a complete reconstruction to provide the University with a sustainable facility that demanded maintenance budget spent each year. Logistically this construction would be more demanding due to the location, but effective design pre-tender would manage this problem.

This facility is located in the main campus area.

Budget costing for this project was estimated at around £1.3million.

The tenders were returned and a robust evaluation process narrowed out Spadeoak Duracourt as the preferred contractor, using Tiger products, Total Turf 67 for the 3G and Evolution 18 for the sand dressed surface.

The Polymeric surfacing would be supplied by Playdeck.

Quickly the project team were established and construction began on 1st March 2009. The project team consisted of Spadeoak (Peter Lothian), The University (Estates & Institute of Sport) and Sports Labs. This team would meet every two weeks to keep up the project's momentum.

The result of the pro-active project team was that the project was delivered under budget and ahead of program including providing the University with additional car parking for eighty cars and improving the emergency access routes to the facilities. The University took possession of the site in August 2009 before the students returned, allowing for staff maintenance training and familiarisation of the new facilities.

This project progressed from design desk to completion and handover in nine months, which is truly fast track considering there was a design, then tender period, followed by evaluation and award before the contractor arrived on site.