|
With the Ospreys and Swans continuing to produce high-flying performances, a top-class pitch able to take the pace of life at the sharp end is being laid at the club’s new home.
Swansea Council is determined to ensure the quality of the pitch is one of the highest outside of the Premiership.
That’s why it has engaged international firm Hewitt Sportsturf as pitch contractors, who already have experience of working on the pitches at Premiership club grounds such as Highbury, Anfield and Reading Football Club’s Madjeski stadium.
To ensure that the turf can cope with about 60 high-intensity matches a year, the company is planning to put almost 24 million special plastic inserts into the playing surface using the Dessomaster system.
MD John Hewitt explained that this did not mean teams would be playing on a plastic surface. The surface will be grass and won’t look or play any differently to any other top quality grass pitch.
But he added, “What the polypropylene yarn stitching does do is lock the surface together so it’s impossible to take a divot. It is leading edge technology and fitting for this new construction in Swansea.”
The plastic inserts provide extra strength for the grass roots. The material depth of the pitch is 42.5 cm. This consists of a lower drainage area of gravel, a separating layer (also gravel) and a sand root zone. The surface is graded with laser-controlled equipment.
The stadium has been designed to enable a free flow of wind through tunnels at each corner to facilitate grass growth. There will also be a mobile lighting rig for growth through the dark winter months.
Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Gerald Clement said, “The stadium is in the transition between being a building site and becoming a state of the art sporting and leisure facility and the installation of the pitch is key to this. We have chosen the experts in their field to carry out this important task.”
• Press and Media are invited to attend the Stadium on 15th March at 10am to film/ photograph the stadium and the pitch being laid. Interview opportunities will be available with Project Manager for the Stadium at Swansea Council, Steve Evans and MD of Hewitt Sportsturf, John Hewitt. A Welsh-speaking interviewee will also be available.
| 
