New “SBS LAYER” for Artificial Football Pitches

Smith Construction are excited to announce the launch of their new “SBS LAYER” at this month’s CIVILS 2008 Exhibition.

The “SBS LAYER” is a new pitch base construction system specially developed for the football and rugby market.

Extensive research and trials over a period of almost 3 years have produced the “SBS LAYER” pitch base system as a superior alternative to the “Dynamic” or “Unbound” pitch base construction. The new “SBS LAYER” forms a flat, laser graded, free-draining surface on which to install a shockpad and synthetic turf carpet. Design engineers have developed this system to overcome many of the inherent problems of “Dynamic” bases and to reduce the costs generally associated with fully engineered bases.

“Dynamic” bases are thought by some to save money. However, following concerns about the quality of some recently constructed artificial pitches, a survey by the Football Association has shown 26 out of the 30 “Dynamic” based pitches tested, failed to meet FA Community Use Performance Standards. Surface levels, excessive compaction, ball bounce and inadequate porosity were the typical reasons for failure for comparison, an independent test was commissioned at Parmiter’s School, Watford, on their 3G football turf pitch, which was designed, constructed and is maintained by Smith Construction. The Smith 3G pitch, intensively used for more than 5 years by the school during the day, and community during the evenings and weekends, passed all the test criteria with flying colours, with the exception of the ball roll. This was only marginally out of scope, due to normal carpet fibre wear. This result was fantastic for Smith Construction and demonstrates the durability, high performance standards, and longevity of a Smith 3G pitch installation with a “bound” base.

For anyone involved with design specifications for artificial football or rugby pitches and considering “Dynamic” Vs “Engineered” base construction, Smith Construction’s new “SBS LAYER” offers a true value-for-money alternative with stability, durability and proven performance characteristics.