Sport pitches
Managing water beneath sports grounds.
Sports pitches and climate change.
In modern urban development sports pitches contribute to climate resiliency by integrating circular on-site water management. Good for the city, better for the environment and healthy for athletes.
Sports have shown a positive development in the past years in becoming an integral part of a healthy lifestyle in a world where over 50% of the world's inhabitants live in cities. This increase in popularity in combination with current urban changes creates a number of challenges when designing sports pitches.
The increasing membership numbers for field sports require more training and game time, which results in an increased demand and wear of sports pitches. In addition, with the changing climate it's important to think of playgrounds and pitches as part of the solution in creating climate resilient cities for many generations to come.
Modern sports pitches and playgrounds focus on successful sports and athlete health, combined with the integration of urban sustainable development goals in pitch design, based on natural and circular materials, with full water management as connecting element.
How it works?
Sports pitches occupy a significant surface area in cities worldwide. The Permavoid sports systems are based on circularity in both material choice and functionality and are characterized as nature-based solutions. Permavoid brings pitches closer to nature by intergrating on-site water management in its foundation; capture, store and reuse. With stormwater reuse and minimal drinking water consumption we enable natural, hybrid and synthetic pitches to feel, cool and play as if they were all natural grass; optimizing playability and turf quality on top.
Strong benefits for sports.
The various Permavoid sports systems consist of 85 or 150mm deep, high strength geo-cellular units with a 96% void ratio and create a multitude of benefits for construction, field reliability and water management. From high-end stadium pitches to training fields, smaller-scale sports grounds, MUGA's, playgrounds and schoolyards in dense urban areas. Supplemental to providing an optimal subbase for various sports surfaces, both permanent and temporary, the Permavoid sports systems bridge the gap between the current world of sports and the necessity to create circular and water sensitive solutions for sports.
The Permavoid subbase is approved for sports pitch applications by NOC*NSF accredited institutes like Kiwa Isa Sport, Labosport and SGS Intron. With system approvals for FIFA Soccer and FIH field hockey, the Permavoid sports systems ensure consistancy and safety on the playground.
The Permavoid capillary sports system has been tested for years by STRI in Australia, UK and the Gulf region. Water savings up to 60% when compared to tradition pop-up systems were measured. With a 96% void ratio, the system is capable of storing 600.000 to 1.120.000 liters of (storm)water beneath a 8.000 m² pitch.
Stormwater can be reused for a myriad of functions, from drinking water generation to grass irrigation or synthetic turf cooling, conserving water, keeping water out of overloaded sewer systems during peak events and at the same time creating a valuable urban cooling effect.
The systems allows for construction over bad ground conditions such as on low load-bearing soils, for example peat, high groundwater tables, landfills or contaminated sites. Because of its construction, no deep excavation for drainage or irrigation main lines is needed.
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