Site Selection/ Assessment

The White Horse Contractors team understand the unique nature and importance of each site selection process. We work alongside our clients and partners to design our Training Ground projects using our in-depth knowledge and experience to accommodate accessibility, availability of utilities, project parameters, soil analysis and site topography.

Facility Layout

White Horse Contractors' in-house teams work closely with Architects, Consultants and Designers to ensure optimised use of space and accessibility for players and coaches. Layout design allows the creation of safe and secure spaces for elite teams to hone their skills both collectively and in specific areas, dedicated to the specific positions such as goalkeeper areas or grids.

Pitches

The design of the pitches should be carefully planned to meet the team's specific needs. The pitch quantity, size, and construction specifications will be selected based on the team's training and development requirements. This could also include training grids, goalkeeper training areas, rehabilitation areas for players, academy pitches, artificial grass pitches and sometimes community access pitches.

Car Parking and access

A well designed and situated car park is an essential component of a Training Ground, providing ample space for players, staff, and visitors to park their vehicles. It is also important to create good access routes and appropriate lighting. Efficient movement and lighting around the site for visitors is crucial, especially during the late winter afternoons and evenings with community use and high volumes of traffic. We recognise the importance of offering senior squad players and staff the privacy of a security access parking area.

Fencing

The Training Ground is where elite sports teams require security for the players and staff and the ability to work on specific actions with total confidence of privacy. White Horse Contractors appreciate the needs for Training Grounds to have sight barrier fencing installed around the perimeter of the training complex and in specific area around the first team ‘show’ pitch. As well as security fencing, it is important for ball stopping and acoustic fencing to be designed into the facility to help reduce the excess noise into and out of the training spaces, to help reduce the disturbance to training sessions.

Under- pitch Heating

At White Horse Contractors we understand the specialist requirements to keep training sessions active throughout the season, no matter the weather conditions. We design and construct our pitches, where appropriate, to incorporate the use of undersoil heating systems. This specialist design feature helps protect the elite pitches from the effects of frosty conditions. The design principles are to provide training pitches that mirror the Stadium pitch, throughout the season and especially during the depths of the winter months.

Landscaping

High quality and sympathetic landscaping to the Training Ground is also important, as the surrounding environment can impact the players' mindset and overall experience. Bringing together decades of experience in land drainage, environmental conservation projects, sportsturf pitch construction, and hard & soft landscaping. We build green infrastructure and open spaces that promote mental and physical health. Creating attractive and functional outdoor areas, including planting trees and shrubs, laying turf, hard landscaping features and installing drainage systems to improve user experience.

Infrastructure

White Horse Contractors work closely with our partners at natural sportsturf pitches to create efficient working outdoor spaces for our clients. The use of appropriate lighting for car parks including floodlights and bollard lights, soft landscaping and security lighting allows the Training Ground to feel safe whilst engaging with the natural environment to improve the user experience.

Structures

Maintaining an elite level training facility requires storage of materials, housing of equipment and other buildings essential to the upkeep of the pitches, machinery and wider site. White Horse Contractors design and build structures to maximise the efficiency for our clients to maintain their Training Ground facilities. These structures extend to Groundsman buildings, chemical storage units, sand storage units, storage yards, material management bays, wash down areas. Seating areas/ grandstands physio building and rehab building are provided to support the players and the coaching support staff.

Hybrid Turf pitches

White Horse Contractors are a leading design and constructor of Hybrid Sportsturf Pitches . Partnering with GrassMaster to install their world-renowned stitched hybrid turf system, our combined experience and portfolio is unmatched in the sportsturf industry. The Hybrid Sportsturf system ensures the natural grass has a lattice of fibres to grow amongst to ensure a consistent feel, enhancing stability of the pitch to support busy training regimes. and covering throughout a busy practice regime. The Hybrid system allows the user to maximise the playing time per week and ensure the highest level of performance through a season. The Hybrid system can also be used in specific areas of high wear including goalkeeper areas, the centre of circle and the goalkeeper training areas where hard wearing surfaces are hugely beneficial. The stitched hybrid pitches have been known to support far greater hours of training and matchplay. What kind of things should a customer know before building a new pitch?

Budget

Design and construction costs can vary depending on factors such as the facility's location, size, materials, and amenities. Additionally, different sports may have varying requirements for their Training Grounds. At White Horse Contractors we optimise the design of the training facilities to maximise any budget.

Timeline

At White Horse Contractors, we pride ourselves on our ability to careful plan our projects to the highest level of detail. Our modern, efficient machinery is wholly-owned and serviced in-house to ensure the highest possible standards throughout the Training Ground construction process. The stringent management of supply chain, with our pre-approved partners and materials providers, results in an exceptionally good relationship with our suppliers ensuring best quality products being available for each project.

Construction timelines can vary significantly depending on the project's complexity and other factors, such as weather conditions, topography and ecological considerations. Furthermore, we work with clubs to work around the challenges and demands placed on the Training Ground by league and cup competition fixture schedules. We recognise all pro-clubs strive for promotion, or play-off places and lengthy cup runs. To reduce the over-run of the project and unforeseen costs, it is important to work with contractors that have high level experience, and in-house resources to deliver on time and to budget.

Maintenance

Once the Training Ground is complete, ongoing maintenance is required to keep it in good condition and remain fit for purpose. We see this as vitally important to develop longer-term planning as part of our design phase to reduce the overall cost of ownership and maintenance. White Horse Contractors also offer full and comprehensive training and support package to the clients' grounds team as required.

Quality

The quality of materials and craft used to construct the training ground will impact its durability and performance over time. Our insights into the optimum products gained over 65 years of experience are invaluable in selecting the right products. GrassMaster Solutions pitch construction we have a very strict auditing and KSI inspections. We also ensure that performance testing and materials testing are completed to the highest standards with directors' approval at each stage of the building process. This helps us to deliver the best possible outcomes for our clients.

Enhanced Performance on the Field

Professional training grounds can provide athletes with a range of advanced tools and technologies to help them improve their performance. Where WHC has previously delivered high quality natural sports turf pitches , we have been complemented on the capability of the pitches to support training throughout the season. The consistency in performance of the training ground pitches to match the home stadium pitch has proven time and again a critical factor in the success of high-performance teams. Our outstanding Training Ground facilities are an important part of the high-performance team.

Better Team Cohesion

A well-designed training ground can create a sense of unity among team members. Players can develop a stronger sense of camaraderie by training together in a dedicated and professional environment. This can lead to better team cohesion, improved communication, and more effective collaboration on the field. White Horse Contractors specialist in delivering all external aspects of the Training Ground environment to ensure players, coaching staff and grounds staff alike can operate at the highest standards. The sports turf pitches are clearly a critical aspect, however careful consideration and construction expertise is given to facility layout, materials for surfaces such as access paths and maintenance routes, along with high level ball stop netting, acoustic and sight screen fencing and the hard and soft landscaping to the site – all contributing to create a high-performance environment.