Sports enthusiasts at the University of Portsmouth will soon be able to practice for longer and in all weathers.
The University will be building a new full size 3G pitch, suitable for playing football, rugby, lacrosse and american football at the Langstone campus.
Langstone campus
This near £1million project will begin in April and the pitch will be ready by the end of September 2013. It will be available to students and the local community to use.
3G stands for 3rd Generation rubber crumb filled synthetic grass. It is a type of plastic grass that looks and feels just like the real thing, but with the added benefit that it can be played on for 10 hours a day and lasts for eight years before it needs replacing.
Paul Tilley, Head of the Department of Sport and Recreation, said: “I am extremely excited about this project. The new grass will significantly increase the amount of activities we can undertake and for longer periods. This winter we have lost 14 weeks of matches due to waterlogged grass pitches. Such postponements will hopefully become a thing of the past.”
The new pitch will be fully IRB and FIFA certified. There will be double sided spectator viewing between the existing hockey pitch and the new pitch.
In addition a new hard surfaced warm up area and two five aside pitches will be created. Two netball courts will also be resurfaced.
The first team football pitch will also be completely dug up, full drainage installed and it will be levelled and seeded to a very high standard.
Paul Hayes, Dean of Faculty of Science and Chair of the Sports Management Group said: “The University installed a new hockey pitch 18 months ago, and we are so pleased with it that the football and rugby pitch was an obvious next step.
“We hope our students will benefit from the increased opportunities to keep fit, gain new skills and make friends.”
The pitch will be supplied by Dutch company Greenfields, the company that supplied the hockey pitch.
