One of the oldest schools in the country, The Royal Masonic School for Girls in Hertfordshire, has given its talented hockey players a new place they can call home with the installation of a brand new artificial grass pitch.
With over 500 girls aged 11-18 playing hockey each week, either as part of the school programme or as extra-curricular activity, the school needed a facility that would perform well while also providing a safe environment to be played in by students and community clubs alike. Previously, hockey had been taught on the school’s natural grass pitches, with travel to nearby schools and clubs with an artificial grass pitch required for team training and competitive fixtures.
Following a design and build tender process led by the Sports Construction Consultancy, sports surface specialist, Agripower, was appointed to deliver the new full size pitch along with a floodlighting system and perimeter fencing.
Graham Longdin, Director at Agripower said: “With the installation needing to take place over term time, we knew our biggest challenge would be getting the groundworks prepared and pitch laid without causing any disruption to the school. Not only that, but the school needed a surface which could be used by the local community as well as the school’s hockey players, so we knew versatility would be very important.”
After carrying out the removal of mature trees, ground remediation, and a large cut and fill process, Agripower stabilised the subsoil using a cement-lime stabiliser to allow all work to continue through a period of adverse weather. For the playing surface itself, Agripower opted to install TigerTurf’s Evo Pro artificial grass, which offers no ball deviation and the kind of versatility that makes it the number one choice amongst education and community facilities.
Since the installation’s completion, the surface has delivered an average of 23 hours’ usage per week, plus an additional 10-12 hours for extra-curricular activities; the latter generating approximately £60,000 of additional revenue.
For the first time, The Royal Masonic School for Girls has a place it can call home for competitive fixtures – a boost prompting 15 new students to join the local hockey club, which also calls the school its home. Better still, the versatility of the multi-sport pitch has led to its use for some football lessons and training, rounders lessons and touch rugby.
Liz Spendiff, Director of Sport at The Royal Masonic School for Girls, commented: “Teaching of hockey in particular has been transformed immensely this year. Student enjoyment of the game and lessons is much improved due to the quality of surface and ease of control – not to mention the lack of mud! As a result, the number of girls trialling for our teams was up by around 20% last September and we’re expecting this to increase further for the new season.
“Having a local hockey club use the facility has raised the profile of both the pitch and the sport locally, which has seen a number of our students playing out of school hours.”
Paul Langford, managing director at TigerTurf UK added: “We’re seeing a number of schools around the country look to introduce hockey facilities which achieve that all-important balance of quality and versatility. The new pitch at The Royal Masonic School for Girls does just that, and it’s great to see how the surface has boosted interest in the sport locally.”
