Strathearn School

Clive Richardson Limited were appointed as the specialist sportsground contractor to carry out the construction of a sand-dressed hockey pitch, two dust/shale hockey pitches, four synthetic tennis courts and field sport facilities.

Strathearn School is a voluntary grammar school situated off the Belmont Road in East Belfast with a long term enrolment (LTE) of 770 girls aged between 11 and 18. The site is very mature with many established trees, particularly those that surround the front lawn, providing a pleasant physical environment.

The entire project, costing £15.2 million, consisted of major phased redevelopment of the existing school site including the construction of new 107,639sqft classroom block, and sports hall with synthetic/all-weather pitches and tennis courts, as well as the refurbishment of 17,222sqft existing facilities to provide a modern post-primary school for 770 pupils. The works were undertaken in 17 phases over a 178 week construction programme to enable the school to continue to operate on the existing site with the minimum of temporary accommodation and disruption.

The specialist works undertaken by CRL included the following:

• Construction of a new sand-dressed Tiger Turf Evo Pro Hockey Pitch including all excavations, drainage, base construction and turf installation.
• Construction of 4 new Playrite Matchplay Tennis Courts including all excavations, drainage, base construction, kerb edging and turf installation.
• Construction of an all-weather dust/shale pitch area including all drainage, base construction, surface finish and initial pitch marking.  The area would accommodate two hockey pitches as well as an athletics track in the summer months.
• Construction of a range of field athletics facilities including shot putt area and long jump pit and run-ups.
• Supply and installation of a range of associated equipment including tennis nets, hockey goals and team shelters.
• Landscaping around the site.