Tag: hockey

Winterfold House School, synthetic grass hockey pitch has been awarded FIH Certification.

O’Brien Contractors who are FIH Certified Field Builders recently completed the design and build for the construction of the full-size sand dressed synthetic hockey pitch as well as a spectator area, black weldmesh fencing & floodlighting. In addition to this we constructed two porous macadam tennis and netball courts with floodlighting as well as access pathways and access road.

O’Brien Sports Director, Mick O’Brien, said: “We are delighted that the Winterfold House School pitch has gained FIH certification. Our sports division has been delivering top quality hockey fields for many years now and this certification recognises the professionalism, skill and high standards that O’Brien Contractors bring to all of our projects.”

FIH Certified Field Builders are companies that specialise in building hockey fields. The companies that achieve accreditation have a proven ability to construct fields to the international standards the game requires. They have appropriate in-house civil engineering expertise for the design and construction of 11-a-side and Hockey 5s fields, operate quality management systems to ensure consistency in their work, and provide comprehensive maintenance advice to their customers.

Only a small number of firms worldwide have so far achieved FIH accreditation award.

The Department of Health recently published its ‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action’ designed to help reduce childhood obesity through healthier choices.

The report suggests a number of measures, including: introducing a levy on soft drinks, helping businesses make their products healthier through innovation and reducing sugar in products by 20%.

Another recommendation says that every primary school pupil should engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day – 30 minutes delivered in school, with parents and carers responsible for the remaining 30 minutes.

With many children spending their free time in front of a screen and far less on hands-on activity, it is understandable why almost a third of 2 to 15 year old children are classed as overweight or obese.

The new initiative will provide children with regular exercise and contribute to their overall physical health. They will also learn valuable social and teamwork skills.

Below are some of the great benefits participation in team sports can bring to young children:

• #1 – Builds confidence
  Children have the opportunity to really enjoy an activity that they are good at. They can also practice and exercise their skills, learn their strengths, develop their weaknesses and gain greater self-awareness. It’s a real confidence booster.

• #2 – Try their best
  When playing a team sport, children gain the experience of winning and losing and how to deal with both emotions. They also learn that things are not going to go their way all of the time, but all that’s important is that they tried their best.

• #3 – Helps develop relationships
  For many children, making friends can be quite a challenge. By taking part in a team sport, children have many opportunities to practice and develop their social skills and build friendships with their peers and coaches.

• #4 – Teaches respect
  Through team sport, kids learn the importance of respecting authoritative figures, like their coaches and referees, but also the opposition and their teammates.

• #5 – Provides a platform to excel
  Getting involved in a sport provides children with the platform to realise their sporting goals and ambitions. Whether they go on to become the next Olympian or just take part for fun, it can stay with them for life.

• #6 – Develop vital communication skills
  Team sport places children in situations where they need to communicate with their peers and coaches – who may or may not be their friends. This can help them become more sociable in different environments and overcome shyness.

Finding a trusted partner

In order to maximise your budget and deliver high quality sports facilities, you need to engage with a specialist whose team of experts has a proven track record in designing and building sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications.

O’Brien Sports delivers natural sports pitches used for rugby, football and cricket. It also supplies synthetic and Multi Use Games Area pitches, with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user – from professional sports teams to schools and communities.

Our services

O’Brien Sports offers a full range of sports pitch services, including:

• Full design and build construction projects
• Synthetic and multi-use games area (MUGA) pitches
• Pitch renovations
• Natural turf sports pitches
• Total solutions for sports pitches
• Infrastructure, including access roads and car parks

To discuss how you can create the right sporting environment for young people in your community, contact us: Tel: 01926 319 724 Email: info@obriencontractors.co.uk

The Mayor of East Staffordshire, Cllr David Leese cut the ribbon and officially opened Burton Hockey Club’s new full size synthetic grass hockey pitch at Shobnall Leisure Complex, Burton upon Trent.

The new facility, named after Peter Ellis, the former president and a member of the club for 50 years, was constructed by O’Brien Sports, in partnership with Notts Sports, and tested in accordance with “The International Hockey Federation (FIH).

It was Peter’s wish that the club obtained its own playing facilities and when he passed away, he made a generous donation that led to the formation of an Astro committee.

Building on Peter’s generosity, the committee raised additional money that provided support for a grant from Sport England and contributions from a number of other sources.

Ian Brown, Chairman, Burton Hockey Club, said: “It’s all a bit overwhelming that the dream that started five or six years ago – and enhanced by Peter’s legacy – has finally come to fruition.”

“It’s very exciting to have our own pitch for the first time since we formed back in 1889. We have always shared a venue or hired, so it’s the first time we have been able to call somewhere our home.”

Key to O’Brien’s success in securing sports pitch projects, including: a sand dressed hockey pitch at Burton Hockey Club, Christ’s College Finchley 3G football pitch, Gerard Buxton Sports Hub’s 3G football pitch and 8 tennis courts and Oswestry School’s hockey pitch has been their underlying commitment to invest in an earthworks team and the operation of GPS and laser guided plant.

Steve Hillman, O’Brien Sports, General Manager, said: “At tender stage our dedicated earthworks team liaise with both our internal estimators and our clients, and through accurate calculation of material quantities, we are able to deliver clear, accurate and reliable information and advice, before, during and after contracts.

By offering alternative designs at an early stage, we can create a solution that gives clients the best possible results financially and practically. We can also minimise our environmental impact by reducing plant movements and off site material disposal to landfill.”

“Once we are awarded a contract, our machine control expert models the designed earthworks profiles and uploads them remotely to the projects Dozers and Excavators. This then ensures that the plant is ready to work before it even reaches the site.”

If you’ve got a sports pitch project you’re looking to start then call us for a chat about it on 01926 423 918 or email us at info@obriencontractors.co.uk and we’ll get back to you soon.

According to a report published by Ofsted, outside of football, a large proportion of students, who have gone on to become the next elite athletes and tennis, rugby union and cricket players, have been nurtured on the sports fields of England’s independent schools.

41% of Team GB athletes who won a medal during the London 2012 Olympics were educated at an independent school. This is quite remarkable when you consider only 7% of school-aged pupils attend an independent school in England, compared to 86–93% of the population who are educated by a state run school.

This should come as no surprise when you consider that Independent schools have embedded competitive sports into their culture and ethos. They ensure all students participate in frequent sports activities; building confidence, self-esteem, academic excellence, character building, but also providing young people with the platform to realise their sporting goals and ambitions.

Independent schools do enjoy greater financial benefits over state schools, but now the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is investing over £1 billion in the next few years to help people get fitter and healthier through a range of programmes designed to make access to sports facilities easier for everyone.

So, with grants and funding available to schools and local authorities, this is a great opportunity to get new sports pitches and facilities in place and bring competitive sport into the fabric of the education curriculum of state schools.

It is vital that schools and local authorities make the most of this opportunity because the skills adopted during physical education and through regular participation, are essential to the early development of children and young people. It can teach them key values, including: sportsmanship, teamwork, respect, mutual understanding and honesty.

Through competition, a child’s education is a far richer experience. They enjoy competition. Competitive sport encourages children to try harder. It also provides them with the experience of winning and losing and how to deal with both emotions.

Sports Pitch Specialists!

Investing in new sports facilities has to be done right for two important reasons: firstly, so that you get the best value from your budget, and secondly, so that you receive a high standard installation ensuring students can and will use them for years to come. To do it right you need to work with the best sports pitch providers you can and O’Brien Sports, who’s management team has over 55 years’ experience in sports pitch construction, is one of the first large civil engineering firms able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports facilities.

The company delivers projects ranging from stadiums and arenas through to rugby, football and hockey pitches. This capability is all maintained in house – with no outsourcing required – by a team of experts with a proven track record of delivering design and build sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications.

The sports installations that we deliver include synthetic and Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) pitches with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user, from professional sports teams to schools and communities, and natural sports pitches, such as those used for rugby, football and cricket.

Recent projects have included the construction of a FIFA-compliant football pitch, an Olympic-standard, eight lane athletics track (complete with long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault) and a football club (complete with 11 natural turf pitches, changing facilities, entrance road and car park). All elements of these projects were handled in house and to our uncompromising standards.

Services

O’Brien Sports offers a full range of sports pitch services, including:

• Full design and build construction projects
• Synthetic and multi-use games area (MUGA) pitches
• Pitch renovations
• Natural sports pitches
• Total solutions for sports pitches
• Infrastructure, including: access roads and car parks

The total solution…from concept to construction, we design and build all Synthetic and Natural Sports Surfaces.

T: 01926 423918

E: info@obriencontractors.co.uk

Leading civil engineering and groundworks firm, O’Brien Contractors, has joined forces with the Official Facilities Partner of England Hockey, Notts Sports, for the installation of a new Lano 3G synthetic pitch at Westfield Academy.

The new pitch, part of several major new sports investments at the school, included upgrading an ageing redgra area to provide students with a state-of-the-art playing surface supporting a wide range of sports, including: football and hockey. The project also involved the construction of a dynamic base, fencing and floodlighting.

O’Brien worked with Notss Sports to implement a design which recycled waste materials from the redgra area, to create a new compound for the groundsman.

Steve Hillman, General Manager, Sports Division at O’Brien Contractors said: “As a company, we are fully committed to minimising the impact of our activities on the environment in order to operate a business that is safe, sustainable and socially responsible. On all the projects we operate on, we look to recycle waste materials into the scheme to reduce the amount of spoil sent to landfill and provide cost savings to our clients.”

Local sporting hero and Yeovil Town Football Club player, Chris Weale, was invited to officially open the new pitch. The opening ceremony kicked off with players from Pen Mill U11 squad joined by Westfield students from Year 7 & 8 taking part in a demonstration tournament, with Chris, a former student of the academy, refereeing one of the matches.

Steve Hillman added: “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to work with both Westfield Academy and Notts Sports on such an important project for the school. The feedback of the new pitch has been excellent, which is now used by many community groups and regarded as one of the best in the area.”

The installation of a 3G pitch can cost between: £300,000 to £500,000 and take up to 12 weeks to complete. Once installed, the new pitch can provide an additional revenue source generating in the region of £200,000 a year based on 50 hours use per week.

The O’Brien Sports management team has over 55 years’ experience in sports pitch construction and is one of the first large civil engineering firms able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports facilities, delivering projects ranging from stadiums and arenas through to rugby, football and hockey pitches.

Recent projects have included the construction of a FIFA-compliant football pitch, an Olympic-standard, eight lane athletics track (complete with long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault) and a football club (complete with 11 natural turf pitches, changing facilities, entrance road and car park).

The England Rugby World Cup 2015 provides the perfect opportunity to deliver a lasting legacy and to raise the profile of sport in our schools and the wider community.

In order to capitalise on the interest in sport generated, the availability of referees, coaches and quality sports facilities, to enable the next budding sportsmen and women to achieve their ambitions and succeed in their chosen field, will be high on the agenda.

Sports Pitch Specialists

The O’Brien Sports management team has over 55 years’ experience in sports pitch construction and we are one of the first large civil engineering firms able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports facilities, delivering projects ranging from stadiums and arenas through to rugby, football and hockey pitches. This capability is all maintained in house – with no outsourcing required – by a team of experts with a proven track record of delivering design and build sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications.

The sports installations that we deliver include synthetic and Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) pitches with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user, from professional sports teams to schools and communities, and natural sports pitches, such as those used for rugby, football and cricket.

Recent projects have included the construction of a FIFA-compliant football pitch, an Olympic-standard, eight lane athletics track (complete with long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault) and a football club (complete with 11 natural turf pitches, changing facilities, entrance road and car park). All elements of these projects were handled in house and to our uncompromising standards.

Oswestry School
O’Brien Sports constructed a synthetic grass hockey pitch for Oswestry School in Shropshire.

The design and build contract involved the construction of a full size sand dressed synthetic grass hockey pitch, installed upon an insitu rubber shock pad, on an engineered base.

The project included approximately 4500 m3 of earthwork remodelling, the construction of a spectator area, fencing and floodlighting. Additional works included: access roads and car parking facilities with bollard lighting.
The new pitch was completed within the 12 week time-frame and was handed over to the school ready for its new term.

“From my perspective, it was a delight to work with O’Brien and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. One of the reasons for choosing O’Brien was the fact that we were dealing with the top management from the start.”
Phil Bowd – Bursar at Oswestry School

Wasps Rugby Club
O’Brien Sports partnered with GreenFields UK for the installation of a new playing surface at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

The project involved site preparation works to remove the existing 8000m2 playing surface before the installation of a new natural turf surface, farmed in the Netherlands, could be installed. Works started on 5th December and was completed ready for Coventry City’s home league game with Fleetwood Town on 20th December.

Services
O’Brien offers a full range of sports pitch services, including:

• Full design and build construction projects
• Synthetic and multi-use games area (MUGA) pitches
• Pitch renovations
• Natural sports pitches
• Total solutions for sports pitches

The total solution…from concept to construction, we design and build all Synthetic and Natural Sports Surfaces.

T: 01926 423918
E: info@obriencontractors.co.uk

Winner of 2014 Building Awards: Contractor of the Year (up to £300m), O’Brien Contractors, has completed a hockey pitch resurfacing project at Eastbourne Hockey Club in East Sussex.

O’Brien’s 9 week contract involved; the removal of the existing 16 year old sand filled synthetic grass surface, the adjustment of existing sub base and the installation of a 5027 m² DOMO Hockey Xtreme MDC Ultra sand filled synthetic grass hockey pitch with inlaid lines.

Prior to installation, the appropriate sub base tests were conducted to ensure levels in each working area were in accordance with the specification.

The works, which took place within a live sports facility, also included surveying and making adjustments to the existing Lava/ Rubber Crumb Dynamic layer.

Steve Hillman, General Manager – Sports Division at O’Brien Contractors, said: “One of our key capabilities is our commitment to providing our clients with the most efficient and cost effective service available at all times.

The new hockey pitch contract is something we have been particularly proud to have won and has provided us with the opportunity to show case our sports pitch capabilities and our commitment to delivering total customer satisfaction.”

Established in 1958, O’Brien Construction is a second generation, family-run business that has gone from strength to strength and expanded into a range of new sectors. We are one of the first large civil engineering firms able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports pitch installations, delivering projects ranging from athletics tracks, football pitches though to hockey and rugby pitches.

To date, O’Brien has delivered projects for a range of top quality clients, including Jaguar Land Rover, Nestle, the National Trust, Morrisons, Aston University, Kier Construction, Wates and John Sisk.

For more information, visit www.OBrienContractors.co.uk

The pitch was officially opened by the Mayor of Eastbourne and England Ladies’ number-one hockey goalkeeper, Maddie Hinch.

Sports Management Magazine – Vol 18 issue 4 2014

As the UK obesity statistics soar, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is investing over £1 billion in the next few years to help people get fitter and healthier through a range of programmes designed to make access to sports facilities easier for everyone.

These investments are crucial in getting people more active as a report released by the Institute of Economic Affairs in August 2014 revealed that Britain’s obesity problem is more to do with lack of exercise than with eating too much, or eating the wrong things. So, with grants and funding available to schools, sports clubs, community groups and local authorities, this is a great opportunity for neighbourhoods all over the country to get new sports pitches and facilities in place and get people more active.

With the latest statistics showing that 64% of UK adults are overweight or obese, as are one in every ten children when starting primary school, it’s vital that schools and communities make the most of this opportunity.

Pitching It Right

Investing in new sports facilities has to be done right for two important reasons: firstly, so that this crucial funding is put to best use, and so that people can and will use them for years to come. To do it right you need to work with the best sports pitch providers you can and O’Brien Contractors is the first and only civil engineering firm in the UK able to offer turnkey solutions for a range of sports pitch installations.

The company can deliver projects ranging from stadiums and arenas through to sports tracks and football pitches, tailored to meet your individual needs. O’Brien’s team of experts has a proven track record of delivering design and build sports projects to a diverse range of exacting client specifications and all of the work is completed in-house with no outsourcing required, meaning you get better value for money and projects are always delivered on time and on budget.

The sports installations the company delivers include natural sports pitches, such as those used for rugby, football and cricket, and synthetic and MUGA (Multi-Use-Games-Area) pitches with surfaces suitable for just about every sport and user, from professional sports teams to schools and communities.

Recent projects that O’Brien has completed include the construction of a FIFA-compliant football pitch; an Olympic-standard athletics track complete with long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault and a 400m running track; a football club with 11 natural turf pitches, changing facilities, entrance road and car park; and a full size sand dressed synthetic grass Hockey pitch, installed upon an insitu rubber shock pad on an engineered base for Oswestry School.

“From my perspective, it was a delight to work with O’Brien Contractors and would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone. One of the reasons for choosing O’Brien was the fact that we were dealing with the top management from the start (Mick) and because you are the actual contractors rather than a middle man. The construction itself wasn’t straight forward due to a large cut and fill exercise, but the end result is spectacular and we are very pleased with the outcome. In addition, all of the subcontractors used for the specialist areas (floodlights, fencing, and pitch surface) were very reputable with no shortcuts in quality once the contract had been won. Overall, we are very pleased.”
Phil Bowd – Bursar at Oswestry School