NEWS: White Horse Contractors make hybrid history

The first of its kind

Following a tender process and in-depth discussions with White Horse Contractors’ Technical Director Dr James Welsh, Whitgift selected the Berkshire sports specialists to construct a new full-size hybrid pitch and multi-use infrastructure and games area. This week, White Horse have broken ground; beginning with earthworks at the award-winning independent boy’s school.

Whitgift will be the first independent school in the UK to install a GrassMaster hybrid turf pitch using 100% natural grass, reinforced with high-performance monofilament fibres. For the school, this means their pupils will be playing on the same elite surface used by national teams at Twickenham and Wembley Stadium.

As partners to the Dutch brand, White Horse Contractors will construct the new pioneering hybrid pitch system with Contracts Manager Colin McBeth overseeing the project.

A win for Whitgift

Whitgift opted for this elite surface for their new pitches as it offers a guarantee of increased playing time and performance to align with the school’s programme of all round use, for both pupils and community projects. Pupils at the school will benefit from a consistent playing surface thanks to hybrid turf’s operational reliability and superior drainage performance due to White Horse’s experience in consistently delivering sports drainage for over 60 years.

With Director of Estates and Facilities James Stremes and Grounds and Estates Manager Daniel Ratling working closely with the White Horse team, Whitgift is maximising their capacity for play in the future.

The independent school is proud of the levels of participation from their 1500 students and focuses on developing an “active for life” philosophy amongst them. With Whitgift’s alumni including rugby players Danny Cipriani, Elliot Daly, cricketers Rory Burns and Dominic Sibly and footballer Callum Hudson-Odoi, the school has a proven track record of providing fantastic sporting facilities. Both the full-size hybrid sports pitch and multi-use games area will continue to provide Whitgift’s pupils with exceptional year-round play.

Moving forward with 60 years’ expertise behind us

White Horse Contractors announced at the tail end of last year, a new partnership with GrassMaster Solutions as part of our shared mission to innovate within the sports surface industry.

Within months of the announcement, we’re delighted to be making history by delivering Whitgift’s new hybrid pitch, the first of its kind in the UK, strengthening our already established relationship with the global sports surface suppliers at Tarkett Sports and reinforcing our unrivalled expertise across multiple sectors.

Delivering hybrid installations comes with expert design, planning and preparation that, when delivered by our dedicated in-house teams, will ensure Whitgift School benefits from an exceptional proven playing surface that will be unmatched in performance and aesthetics by any school in the country.

Make sure to keep a keen eye on our feeds and website to see all updates for this project! For more information, read about our hybrid pitch construction services.