School Playing Fields: Planning and Design Guidance - VicSport

2: Design criteria and technical specificationssportscotland has recently completed theNational Audit of Scotland’s Sports Facilitiesaimed at identifying the condition of the nation’sstock of facilities and the cost implications ofbringing them up to an acceptable standardand maintaining them thereafter. This studyestablished various grades for the different typesof facilities studied and these have been used toset design criteria and technical specifications forschool facilities.Synthetic grass pitchesSGPs are those surfaces which provide anartificial alternative to natural grass for the playingof winter sports. They can be particularly usefulin the school context as they are able to copewith much more intensive use, require lessmaintenance and are less affected by severeweather conditions than natural grass. They maybe especially useful in situations where there issignificant demand for use of a school’s facilitiesby the community. A synthetic surface is capableof being used constantly throughout the schoolday, after school and by the community atevenings and weekends, though it should berecognised that high levels of use will increaseroutine, periodic and refurbishment maintenancerequirements. Artificial grass cricket wickets arealso effective in a school setting allowing a trueand safe surface to be easily provided andmaintained at comparatively little cost.No single carpet type is suitable for all sportsand, while they are very valuable facilities, overdependence upon SGPs can reduce and restrictthe range of sports that can be taught. Forexample, not all surfaces are suitable for rugbyskills practice and although some surfaces aresuitable for shinty, the pitch dimensions requiredfor a match are unlikely to be provided by an SGP.Different sports require different playingcharacteristics and their respective governingbodies stipulate precise requirements. Choosinga priority sport may mean that certain playingcharacteristics are not ideal for – or evencompatible with – other sports. Governing bodiesof sport identify in their technical specificationsperformance requirements for surfaces in areassuch as ball surface properties (such as roll andrebound characteristics) and player surfaceproperties (such as traction and verticaldeformation).Most existing SGPs are multi-purpose facilitiescatering for as many sports as possible and tendto be a compromise between the main sportinguses of football and hockey. More recenttechnical developments have tried to createsurfaces which more closely match the playingcharacteristics of natural grass and meet theperformance requirements of different sports.Today there are a large number of artificialsurfaces available, most of which look similar butmay be made of different materials, manufacturedby different techniques and designed for use indifferent ways. The most basic distinction has untilrecent years been between filled and non-filledartificial grass systems.In filled systems, the pile of the artificial grass isfilled to within about 3mm of the fibre tips with afine granular material, such as silica sand. Playtakes place on the composite bed of fibre andsand. Sand dressed systems are a developmentof the filled system – the carpet pile being denserand shorter and with a reduced quantity of infill.This produces a slower surface and allows theboot or stick to get under the ball.Non-filled surfaces consist of carpet alone andplay takes place entirely on the fibre. The pile ofthe carpet has to be much denser per unit areato support the player and the stresses of play.This type of carpet is used almost entirely forhockey and the ball speed is regulated bywatering the surface.Third generation carpets more closely mimicthe playing characteristics of good quality naturalgrass surfaces. The pile length is longer andmore open and can be infilled with either acombination of sand and rubber granulate orsolely rubber granulate, or have no infill at all.The different types of system and their suitability fora range of sports can be characterised as follows:Sand filled/dressedMulti-purpose facilities able to cater for a varietyof sports including football, hockey, basketball,netball, volleyball and even tennis.Water basedHigh specification hockey surface.Third generation (long pile)High specification football surface but also rugbyskills practice.Third generation (short pile)Primarily football but also rugby skills practice,hockey and shinty.In most cases, schools with a single SGP willrequire a multi-purpose facility. If a second SGPis provided, a more specialist surface (typicallyfor football) can be specified. In urban areas withmore than one SGP (whether at schools orcommunity playing fields), it may be possible toprovide different surface types at each to bestsuit a range of sports. Ultimately, however, it isfor local education authorities to determine therequirements for each school, taking into accountcurricular requirements, the most popular sportsat the school, local community demand and theCouncil’s sports pitches strategy.FencingSGPs must be enclosed for security and ballstop purposes. Fencing will also help to keepsurfaces clean by preventing dog fouling and theaccumulation of wind blown debris. Many earlySGPs were bounded by light rolled mesh orchain link fences but these have been unable towithstand the rigours of use, are subject todeterioration behind goal areas and vulnerable tovandalism. It is recommended that artificial grasspitches be provided with higher quality fences.School Playing Fields 42School Playing Fields 43