Football and Rugby Pitches Photo

Football and Rugby Pitches

Our Construction Experience

Fineturf is a specialist contractor for the construction, renovation and maintenance of natural turf football and rugby pitches in the UK. Our comprehensive services for winter sports pitches include site surveying, design and project management, removal of surface vegetation, earthworks, drainage, preparation, surface installation, aftercare and maintenance.

Our clients include professional sports clubs, non-league and community clubs, local authorities, universities, schools and academies, where we often work closely with civil engineering companies.

Natural Grass Sports Pitch Construction – What's Involved?

Projects range in size and scope from single pitches for the grass roots game to large multi-facility venues. All new grass football and rugby pitches are constructed and renovated to meet the Natural Turf for Sport guidance set out by Sport England.

With decades of experience, our engineers confidently develop strategies to overcome any construction challenges and site-specific issues involving soil composition, formation and structures, remediation and drainage. Our highly-trained teams use our fully-owned fleet of specialist machinery.

1
Project Planning and Site Setup

Following a site survey, project design and planning, vegetation is removed.

2
Topsoil Strip and Earthworks

Existing topsoil is stripped and can be stockpiled for reuse. Cut and fill earthworks if required.

3
Drainage and Laser Levelling

Primary and secondary drainage installation and sand slits. Topsoil replacement, sand amelioration and laser levelling.

4
Prepare Final Surface

The pitch surface is consolidated and a pre-turf fertiliser applied before high-quality sports turf is laid or a specialist seed sown. Contract to ensure a successful grow-in and ongoing maintenance schedules.

New Pitch Construction – Advice and Professional Support

If you're considering applying for funding or grants for new football or rugby pitches, we can signpost you to current design guidance and potential funding streams.

Football and Rugby Pitches – End of Season Renovations

End of season renovations are a vital part of a pitch maintenance programme and the key to retaining a high-quality playing surface year after year. We renovate natural turf and hybrid pitches at stadiums and training grounds. Renovation work varies, depending on what's required and could include:

  • Surface removal, cultivation, application of sports sand, drainage and sand slit installation.
  • Deep tine aeration or use the latest Airter® pneumatic aeration machine to relieve compaction, oxygenate the rootzone, and to help surface water drainage.
  • Application of Profile®, a porous soil amendment to the rootzone to improve germination, aid water and nutrient retention and promote deep rooting.
  • Disc and or dimple seeding with a high-quality ryegrass seed blend or re-turfing, followed by a fertiliser application.

​Artificial Football and Rugby Pitches

Fineturf can assist with every aspect of the construction of artificial football and rugby pitches including design and specification, groundworks, construction, installation, resurfacing and upgrading. Find out more about our dedicated in-house synthetic sports surfaces team and the services we offer.