Home Luxuries: Creating An Outdoor Sports Area

Sports surfaces play a critical role when it comes to the development of sporting opportunities, no matter whether you are an international class athlete or a young beginner. After all, a poor quality surface is only going to hinder a person’s talent and stop them from developing to the level they wish to achieve. 

This is why it is so important that all sports clubs and businesses invest in the services of premium quality surfacing contractors, and that they work closely to ensure a good design that takes all issues into consideration. This is also the case if you want to create a luxury sports area outside your home, be it a tennis court or something else. For more information, read on.

Hiring Surfacing Contractors For Artificial Sports Surfaces

There are a number of advantages associated with synthetic grass sports surfaces over natural grass. This includes their defined performance characteristics, better overall value for money, flexibility, increased usage, more efficient use of space, durability, and lower maintenance requirements. 

This is why synthetic sports surfaces are used for a wide range of sporting areas, including flat green bowls facilities, athletics training facilities, cricket wickets, competition pitches for the likes of rugby and football, larger format pitches for sports training, specialist netball and tennis courts, small multi-use games areas, and small informal play areas that have mini sports features.


No matter the sporting area, most artificial sports surfaces are made from numerous layers. This may differ slightly, but generally these layers are as follows. At the bottom, there will be consolidated subsoil, which tends to be the site’s natural soil. Here, drainage will usually be installed. There is then the geo-synthetic layer, which is designed to stop the particles migrating between the layers. 

After which, there will be a crushed broken stone sub-base layer, and then a carefully regulated, stable base layer. This is typically one of the following: in-situ formed concrete, specialised mineral particulate materials, compacted sand, or porous macadam. It is designed to support the synthetic surfacing. Finally, you have the shock-absorbing layer, followed by the surface layer. There may be slight variations to this layered format, but it should resemble something similar to what has been discussed.

Designing Artificial Outdoor Court Surfaces

Now you have an understanding of the basic design of outdoor court surfaces, but there is a lot that your contractor should consider when putting together the ideal surface or court configuration for your requirements. Your contractor will need to consider what sports or activities will be played, and how frequently. 

The site and the surrounding areas need to be carefully assessed, as well as the intensity of use and the size of the pitch itself. In regards to the site investigation, the company will look at the following factors: biodiversity issues, underlying soil conditions, trees, water supply, electrical supply, site drainage, access, and topography. For the size and layout of the surface, factors such as access routes to point of entry to the court, location of lighting columns, margins and safety run offs, and levels of play need to be looked at.

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Other considerations include funding body requirements, the management and maintenance regime, the sports performance and playability characteristics that are required, and the potential expenditure and income. It is advisable to have an early consultation with everyone involved, i.e. stakeholder groups and sports clubs. 

This will ensure you understand local views and the demand for community use. After all, you want to ensure that you have an attractive design that is fun to use, encourages ownership, and meets needs.
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