Pupils and staff at Victoria College in Belfast have recently taken possession of their new sports hall and synthetic sports pitch delivered by MSM Contracts under the DENI School Enhancement Programme.
Completed within a 13-month timeframe, phase 1 of this circa £3million project comprised four key elements:
– Construction of a newbuild two-storey sports building (GIFA 1,750m2). This includes a 4-court sports hall with a polyurethane sports floor and line markings. Additional features in the sports hall include an electrically-operated acoustic curtain to sub-divide the sports hall, electrically-operated hinged climbing frames, wall-mounted basketball nets, electronic scoreboard and ceiling-mounted radiator panels.
Other accommodation in the sports building includes 4nr pupil changing rooms including showers; 2nr staff changing rooms including showers; pupil WCs including disabled WCs; P.E. office; hygiene room; store rooms; electrical switch room; plant room and cleaner’s store. A fitness suite, P.E. classroom and glazed viewing gallery are located on the first floor.
– Construction of a 7 a-side synthetic hockey pitch to replace the existing all-weather pitch. The sports pitch comprises a Playrite Tournament 18 synthetic sports surface on a shockpad absorbing system over a layer of porous asphalt. The sports pitch is coloured green with all run-off areas coloured blue. Other work included line markings; floodlighting; perimeter sports fencing; goals and team dugouts.
– Resurfacing of the existing 4nr tennis courts with a Playrite Matchplay 2 synthetic sports surface and new perimeter sports fencing
– Major site development works including site clearance works and demolition of an existing sports pavilion; major reduced level excavation; construction of retaining walls up to 3m above ground level; soft landscaping and construction of an access road and paths.
The design team comprised Povall Worthington (Architectural); Hawthorne Consulting (QS & CDM Co-Ordinator); Brian W Murray (Structural & Civil) and Integrated Services Design (M&E).