SPEEDCUT CONTRACTORS have been praised for their construction of three high-standard football pitches at Northwick Park, Harrow, for Brent Council – in the shadow of Wembley Stadium.

The pitches, two senior and one youth, was a project started in the summer in which the Speedcut team worked on 2.4 hectares of a former multi-use sports ground.

Neil Martin, Leisure Client and Projects Officer for Brent Council, said: “Brent is investing in improving sports facilities across the borough for the local community and sports teams and we are delighted with the quality of the works undertaken.

“We know there will be plenty of interest from the local football teams to use the pitches next season.”

The job involved removing the topsoil, decompacting the subsoil, laser-grading the levels and laying 8,000 metres of primary drainage which connect to an existing outfall chamber.

Says Speedcut contracts manager Kevin Smith: “The pitches were laser-graded to pre-determined levels prior to fertilising and seeding in late-September using a Barenbrug BAR 7 ryegrass mix. 

“The grass is now well-established and later the pitches will be sandbanded using the BLEC Sandmaster at 250mm centres, 150mm deep, to complement the primary drainage system.”

Following this 900 tonnes of selected sports sand will be applied in three applications as part of the initial 12-month maintenance programme.

This is not the first pitch construction job Speedcut Contractors has done for Brent Council, having previously built pitches at Silver Jubilee Park and Pellat Road.

Northwick Park is home to Kingsburians Rugby Football Club and Northwick Park Sports Pavilion. It is well used by local football teams and popular with youngsters and parents who have a purpose-built play equipment area next to the pavilion.

 “The ground is typical London clay,” says Kevin. “It can be difficult to deal with but we did not encounter any major problems.

 “We always enjoy working with the Brent Council team and the Northwick Park site is particularly well-located being fairly open ground alongside paths which are popular with local walkers and cyclists, who took a great interest in our operations.”

 The Speedcut team will return when the grass is well established to carry out verti-draining on the three pitches.

“The summer weather this year made a tremendous difference to our work schedules,” says Kevin.

This year has been one of the busiest on record for Speedcut with sports pitch construction and golf course projects across the country – including Oxfordshire, Surrey, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Somerset.