Leading
sports contractor CLS Sports has completed its most prestigious project to
date.
The
Football Association of Wales (FAW) officially opened its £5m Colliers Park
National Football Development Centre, near Wrexham, on 22 September, a date
that commemorates the 85th anniversary of one of the world’s worst coal mining
disasters.
On that
date in 1934, an explosion rocked the nearby Gresford mine, killing 236
colliers.
Working
seamlessly to ensure the project was delivered on time and to budget, the CLS
Sports natural and synthetic pitch construction teams have laid a full-size
FIFA Quality accredited 3G facility alongside two full-size natural turf
pitches with full underpitch drainage and sustainable soakaway.
Completing
the £2m contract, CLS Sports supplied floodlighting, camera gantries, mini
grandstands, pitch perimeter fencing, maintenance shed, hard and soft
landscaping and pathways for the Park.
The Welsh
national football squads will train on one of the natural grass pitches, along
with youth sides – the second grass pitch being hired out to local league and
weekend sides.
The 3G
facility, intended for grassroots football training, has been laid on the site
of an existing 3G installation at a former training ground.
Much of
the stone supplied for the original pitch has been redeployed under its
replacement and used in the paths that cross the Park.
CLS Sports
employed many of its own specialist plant and machinery, available through its
CLS Landscape and Earthworks and CLS Self Drive divisions, to contour the site
and lay the pitches.
“Colliers
Park showcases our construction team’s ability to deliver across both natural
and synthetic pitch installations to world class standards,” said CLS Sports
Director of Operations Brian Dunn.
Sports
facility design specialists Geo Turf Consulting conceived the Colliers Park
pitch design and layout, having completed a similar project for the FAW’s
headquarters at Dragon Park, Newport.
As project
managers for the pitch development, Geo Turf oversaw the pitch construction
programme, which began last June and was handed over in May (the pitches in
March).
“We worked
closely with CLS Sports throughout the development,” said Geo Turf’s Jonathan
Smith. “They were easy to work with, efficient throughout the project and well
resourced the work with people and plant.”
CLS Sports
Contracts Director Stephen Miller added: “We are proud of the facility we have
created and it has been a pleasure to work for the Welsh FA alongside Geo Turf
Consulting.”
Lucy
Scott, Facility Manager Operations Commercial and Strategic for Colliers Park,
said: “The centre is attracting plenty of interest and represents a massive
benefit for the region, the finest facility of its kind in North Wales. “Welsh
players will aspire to come here because Colliers Park carries the wow factor
locally, regionally and nationally. It will also function as a focus for the
girls’ and women’s game.”
