Tag Archive for: Pitches

SIS Pitches announces major project

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SIS Pitches announces major project: SIS Pitches, the team behind the World Record-breaking Kingdom Arena pitch, has announced it is set to deliver a major project in Saudi Arabia.

SIS Pitches, which produces premium hybrid, synthetic and natural pitches for an array of sports, has announced its partnership with Aramco Stadium in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The project reflects the brand’s commitment to delivering high-quality sports facilities in the region.

SIS Pitches announces major project

SIS Pitches announces major project

As part of the project, the SIS Pitches team will design and build a hybrid grass football stadium pitch, complete with an SIS Air classic vacuum and ventilation system, and two natural grass training pitches. Works will also include associated irrigation and drainage and pitch accessories. With design development completed to be completed by January 31st, the stadium and training pitches should be finalized in 2026.

The project will benefit from the proximity of SIS Pitches’ local turf farm in Saudi Arabia, guaranteeing a quick supply of high-quality, locally grown grass. Grass from Saudi farms will be installed specifically for the Aramco Stadium works and is due to be operational from April 2025.

David Ball, Managing Director at SIS Middle East, said: “A year on from the Kingdom Arena, our flagship project for the region, we’re thrilled to be able to announce another major project.

“Demand for high-quality sports surfaces in the region has skyrocketed in recent years. This project will be the perfect opportunity for us to help support Middle Eastern sports and showcase our wide offering – from pitch design and construction to irrigation and ventilation – across a range of disciplines, including football and cricket.

“We’re looking forward to unveiling our design for the Aramco Stadium very soon.”

SIS Pitches made its first foray into the Middle East in Dubai, UAE, in 2011. After recognizing a growing appetite for high-level professional sports – and the resulting increased need for cutting-edge surfaces – the brand established a dedicated SIS Pitches office in Saudi Arabia in July 2023.

Within weeks of establishing the Saudi Arabia office, the team at SIS Pitches undertook one of the world’s most ambitious sporting infrastructure projects to complete the Kingdom Arena – the world’s first fully indoor hybrid pitch, famously built in just 21 days – in partnership with Sela.

For more information on SIS Pitches, visit sispitches.com/uae/

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SIS Pitches celebrates record year

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SIS Pitches celebrates record year: The UK’s leading sports manufacturer, SIS Pitches has announced it has secured a patent for its new machine, rounding off an exceptional year.

A patent has been granted for the vacuum mechanism ‘Revolution’ machines, made by SIS Pitches to produce premium hybrid pitches for an array of sports. The machine is the first of its kind, allowing the manufacturer to stitch pitches at variable depths, offering more flexibility to clubs and sports facilities.

SIS Pitches celebrates record year

SIS Pitches celebrates record year

The patent is the latest addition on a long list of achievements for SIS Pitches in 2024 – the company’s most successful year to date. In addition to investing £500,000 in its Maryport factory for new tufting machines and solar panels, and growing its overall employee headcount by 20% since January, the company has opened four new offices globally. These are located in Poland, India, Saudi Arabia and Georgia, in order to meet rising demand locally.

Earlier this year, one of SIS Pitches’ major pitch maintenance projects in the Middle East, the Kingdom Arena, in Riyadh, built in partnership with Sela, won two Guinness World Records for the largest covered football stadium and the highest capacity for an indoor covered stadium. The stadium itself was the first ever indoor grass pitch grown entirely without natural sunlight.

In India, the SIS Pitches team installed the country’s first hybrid cricket pitch – a SIS Grass Hybrid product tried and tested across the English game – marking the beginning of a series of projects in the country. The manufacturer, working with Greater Ten locally, used its own ‘Universal’ machine to stitch hybrid cricket pitches in locations including the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamshala.

Other major projects won by SIS Pitches this year include names football fans around the world will recognise immediately, including Manchester City Football Club, MLS’ Chicago Fire, as well as Iceland National Stadium and Uganda Athletics and Football. The company also made significant forays into other sports internationally, securing projects with Baseball United to build the first professional baseball ballpark in the Middle East and South Asia, as well as Aramco Stadium in Saudi Arabia.

The manufacturer also toasted two news milestones, joining the Green Sports Alliance, cementing its commitment to promote sustainability, and ESTC, the trade association for the Synthetic Turf Industry in the EMEA region.

To top things off, one of SIS Pitches’ installations took centre stage at this year’s Paris Olympics. The Stade de France, which features a hybrid SIS Grass pitch, was the chosen venue for a handful of disciplines, including rugby sevens and athletics.

SIS Pitches owner and founder George Mullan said: “I’m incredibly grateful for our team’s hard work and commitment this year – none of this would have been possible without them.

“2024 was a year of many ‘firsts’ for us, and one we’ll remember for a very long time. We’ve grown immensely, as a group – opening new offices abroad, working with some of the biggest names in sports and continuing to lead from the front when it comes to innovating.

“We’ve not forgotten our roots, however. The investment in our Maryport factory is a symbol of our commitment to British quality and expertise, and will enable us to meet the growing demand when it comes to high-quality sports surfaces, both nationally and internationally.”

SIS Pitches has also shared some of its plans for 2025. The manufacturer is readying to launch its innovative dry hockey solution widely in the second quarter. The surface, developed by the organisation’s experts, features a unique technology to replicate the properties of a water-based system without using a water ball, which can hinder the flow of play.

A US office is also in the works, and it was announced that current SIS Grass Managing Director, Ivo Lamot would become the company’s new Chief Executive, with owner and founder George Mullan stepping to Executive Chairman. Other major appointments also include Luke Edwards, set to become Chief Innovation Officer, while Rob Hope will continue on as Chief Operating Officer. SIS Pitches also underwent a rebrand earlier in the year and is set to launch its new website next year, focused on its philosophy of ‘Powering more play’.

George added: “Our business has evolved in the last few years, and with our new goals to expand to new markets, our structure had to follow too.

“Our ambition is to make 2025 an even bigger year, so I’m excited to have Ivo lead on the delivery of our shared vision, along with Rob and Luke.”

For more information about SIS Pitches, go to sispitches.com

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Lionesses Futures fund pitches

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Lionesses Futures fund pitches: Arsenal defender and Lionesses captain Leah Williamson returned to her hometown today to celebrate The Leah Williamson Pitch at Newport Pagnell Town FC, one of the first half of sites to receive Lionesses Futures Fund grants.

This £30m cash injection from the Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation was announced last year to recognise the trailblazing success of the Lionesses. The grants will help to provide women and girls across the country with gold standard facilities and experiences, with priority access for women and girls through reserved peak-time slots and welcoming changing rooms.

Since the Lionesses lifted the EURO trophy in 2022, 68,000 more girls are playing football compared to before the tournament. However, too often, badly lit pitches, unsuitable changing facilities and late-night kick-off times put women and girls off taking to the pitch.

To celebrate the Lionesses roaring to victory at the 2022 UEFA EUROs and their achievement of making the final at FIFA World Cup 2023, £25m from the Government and £5m from The FA was committed to supporting the improvement of at least 30 facilities across the country.

The Leah Williamson Pitch is just one of 15 sites across the country from Oldham to the New Forest and Suffolk to Somerset who have been awarded a Lionesses Futures Fund grant. By January 2025 further sites will be in place to provide every women and girl the facilities they need and deserve.

Leah Williamson said:

“It is such an honour to be here to see one of the first Lionesses Futures Fund pitches come to life. Something I know the squad is incredibly proud of. This pitch will provide the very best playing experience for local women and girls, ensuring they can play at decent times and on a state-of-the-art pitch. 

“To meet some of the players who will get the opportunity to lace up their boots to play on this great pitch has been magic!  I feel so proud to be a Lioness and proud of the whole team for inspiring women and girls to play football.”

Robert Sullivan, CEO of the Football Foundation, said: 

“It’s a real pleasure to be here to unveil one of the first 3G pitches that a Lionesses Futures Fund Grant has made possible. For the pitch to be named after local footballing legend Leah Williamson in recognition of the Lionesses recent successes will be incredibly inspiring for the players here at Newport Pagnell Town.

“This Fund builds on the Football Foundation’s biggest ever commitment to providing equal access to grassroots facilities for women and girls.

“Over 8,500 women’s and girls’ football teams were playing at sites that have benefitted from Football Foundation funding last season, whether that be for new goalposts, improved grass pitches or brand-new changing pavilions and 3G pitches.

“Thanks to the funding from the Premier League, The FA and Government, we’re delivering 30 pitches like this across the country to support the growing demand for football we’ve seen following the Lionesses’ inspirational success.”

Sports Minister, Stephanie Peacock, said:

“Thousands more women and girls are playing football since the Lionesses lifted the Women’s EURO 2022 trophy – so building welcoming facilities for them to get on the pitch is now more important than ever.

“As captain of the Lionesses, Leah Williamson has provided leadership both on and off the pitch and this facility in Newport Pagnell will give many more women and girls the chance to follow in her footsteps.”

Notes to editors

About the Football Foundation

The Football Foundation is the Premier League, The FA and Government’s charity that delivers outstanding grassroots facilities, more and better places to play, transforming lives and communities where it is needed most.

The Foundation’s goal is to unlock the power of pitches ensuring every community has a great place to play regardless of gender, race, disability or place.

Since its creation in 2000, the Foundation has invested more than £1.1 billion to improve grassroots facilities across the country – including 1,200 3G pitches, 13,000 grass pitches and 1,500 changing rooms. This has attracted an additional £1.4 billion of partnership funding – totalling over £2.5 billion investment in grassroots football so far.

In partnership with local authorities, County FAs and other community stakeholders, the Foundation has created Local Football Facility Plans for every local authority in England. These Plans act as a blueprint for providing the grassroots football facility improvements that each community needs and deserves across the country.

Visit footballfoundation.org.uk for more information on the Foundation and view the Plan for your local area.

About the Lionesses Futures Fund

To ensure each Lionesses Futures Fund site provides a best-in-class experience for women and girls, they will need to meet the following criteria:

  • Provide a gold-standard usage programme for women and girls, including:
    • Social and competitive sessions
    • Youth to adult players
    • Training and match play
    • Talent pathway and/or women’s football pyramid club (where applicable)
  • Prioritise access for women and girls through:
    • Women’s and girls’-only evenings
    • Priority booking
    • Peak-time slots
    • Secured usage for long-term growth
  • Ensure facilities are female-friendly by:
    • Providing basic sanitary products within the player, coach and spectator changing rooms and toilet areas
    • Keeping the clubhouse, changing facilities and site surroundings well-lit, maintained, welcoming and always suitable and inclusive for all users
  • Publicly display the site operator’s strategy to prioritise women’s and girls’ access at the site.
  • Guarantee female representation across the site operator’s committees and assign designated women’s and girls’ leads.

To find out more about the Fund, visit the Foundation’s website: https://footballfoundation.org.uk/news/history-making-lionesses-recognised-with-the-lionesses-futures-fund

Lionesses Futures Fund projects:

The following sites have been awarded funding through the Lionesses Futures Fund so far:

AFC Sudbury (Suffolk):

  • Funding: A £1.1 million grant for a new 3G pitch at The MEL Group Stadium, home to AFC Sudbury.
  • Women & Girls: The new pitch will benefit the Club’s existing 30 teams, ranging from junior teams to their women’s first team, who currently play in Tier 4 of the Women’s Football Pyramid. The pitch will also be used by Ipswich Town Foundation and Norwich City Community Sports Foundation to deliver their community programmes.
  • Other activity: The new facilities will host walking football and enable the creation of five new disability teams.

Ashford Town FC: (Spelthorne):

  • Funding: A £832k grant for a 3G pitch and the refurbishment of existing changing rooms at Ashford Town FC’s home ground, the Robert Parker Stadium to ensure the facilities are female-friendly and inclusive.
  • Women & Girls: The pitch will be home to Ashford Town’s women’s first team, who currently play in Tier 4 of the Women’s Football Pyramid. The facilities will also be used by several local grassroots teams, including Colne Valley Girls FC and Brentford FC Community Sports Trust to hosting training and match play for girls. This will take the total number of women’s and girls’ teams using the site to 18 within five years of the new facilities opening.
  • Other activity: Surrey Care Trust and Middlesex County FA plan to use the new facilities to deliver sessions aimed at refugees and introducing people to football for the first time.

Astley Cooper School (Dacorum):

  • Funding: A £693k grant towards the refurbishment of an existing 3G pitch at Astley Cooper School.
  • Women & Girls: The pitch will be used by local grassroots clubs, Hemel Hempstead Town FC and Hemel Aces FC, who are expected to create nine new female within the first five years of the facilities opening. The school will also host ‘Community Kickabout’ sessions for women interested in playing football casually.
  • Other activity: The new facilities will support people living with disabilities and long-term health conditions through pan disability sessions run by Hempstead Town FC as well as people from culturally diverse backgrounds through Dacorum Indian Society.

Benjamin Britten Academy (East Suffolk):

  • Funding: A £964k grant to Hartismere Family of Schools Trust for a new 3G pitch at Benjamin Britten Academy.
  • Women & Girls: This project will support the largest club in Suffolk, Waveney FC to grow to seven female teams. The pitch will also be used by Ipswich Town Foundation.
  • Other activity: Everyone Active will partner with Waveney FC to deliver walking football sessions and with Involve Active to run holiday sessions for people with additional needs. The project will also deliver new cricket nets, which will be used by the school and Lowestoft Cricket Club to build a coaching and player pathway.

Birmingham County FA Football Development Centre (Sandwell):

  • Funding: A £623k grant towards a new 3G pitch at Birmingham County FA’s headquarters, Ray Hall Lane.
  • Women & Girls: 15 female teams from local grassroots clubs, Walsall Women FC and FC Premier, will use the new pitch. It’ll also be used by Birmingham County FA to deliver Wildcats sessions, female walking football and fitness sessions for female officials.
  • Other activity: Within five years of opening, over 350 people are expected to use the new pitch each month for recreational activities, including sessions aimed at preventing anti-social behaviour and supporting people with dementia to get active.

Chadderton FC (Oldham):

  • Funding: A £1 million grant towards a new 3G pitch and improvements to the existing car park and changing rooms at Chadderton FC’s home ground, the Firefox Stadium, to ensure the facilities are female-friendly and inclusive.
  • Women & Girls: Chadderton FC expect to grow to 14 female teams within five years of the new facilities opening. The pitch will also be used by Oldham Athletic during a women and girls-only evening and will be a central venue for the North Manchester Girls League.
  • Other activity: The new pitch will host sessions aimed at helping asylum seekers and people with disabilities and long-term health conditions to get active.

Hickings Lane Recreation Ground (Broxtowe):

  • Funding: A £1.4 million grant to Broxtowe Borough Council and Stapleford Town FC towards the refurbishment of the existing facilities at Hickings Lane Recreation Ground, delivering two 3G pitches (one full-size and one small-sided) alongside a refurbished community building.
  • Women & Girls: The new facilities will be used by Stapleford’s existing 31 teams and enable the Club to establish an additional nine female teams within five years of opening. The pitches would also host a monthly women’s football festival, run by Nottinghamshire County FA.
  • Other activity: The community building will be used various sports other than football, including fitness, dance and yoga classes.

Laurus Ryecroft High School (Tameside):

  • Funding: A £748k grant to Laurus Trust for a new 3G pitch and toilet block to ensure the facilities are female-friendly and inclusive as well as improvements to the existing car park and relocation of cricket wickets at Laurus Ryecroft High School.
  • Women & Girls: The pitch is expected to be used by over 100 teams within five years of opening, including 19 female teams through Ashton Pumas Girls FC.
  • Other activity: The site will enable Curzon Ashton to significantly expand their provision to the wider community by hosting military veterans, disability and mental health sessions, delivered by the Club’s community foundation. The site will also be used for rugby union through Aldwinians RUFC, who already have an existing partnership with the Trust.

Moss Farm Leisure Complex (Cheshire):

  • Funding: A £715k grant to Cheshire West and Chester Council & Cheshire FA towards a new 3G pitch and refurbishments to Cheshire FA’s headquarters at Moss Farm Leisure Complex.
  • Women & Girls: The site is already a hub for women’s and girl’s football in the area, but these new facilities will enable Cheshire FA to expand through hosting the Cheshire Girls League as well as training and match play for several local grassroots clubs, including Northwich Victoria FC and Barnton FC
  • Other activity: The new facilities will enable the expansion of the Cheshire Disability Social League, which currently operates once per month, as well as the disability schools festivals held at Moss Farm.

Myra Shay Playing Field (Bradford):

  • Funding: A £784k grant to City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council for a new 3G pitch the refurbishment of existing changing rooms at Myra Shay to ensure the facilities are female-friendly and inclusive.
  • Women & Girls: The new facilities will allow local grassroots club, Athletico FC to create a full female pathway, with teams ranging from Under 8s all the way to their first team.
  • Other activity – Athletico’s charitable arm, Athletico Sports Foundation will run various community programmes specifically targeted at helping people with disabilities and long-term health conditions as well as walking football.

Newport Pagnell Town FC (Milton Keynes)

  • Funding: A £775k grant towards a new 3G pitch at Willen Road.
  • Women and Girls: The new facilities will enable Newport Pagnell to establish a full female pathway by creating 11 new women’s and girls’ teams within five years of the pitch opening. The pitch will also work with Berks and Bucks County FA to provide the first women’s pan-disability session in the region.
  • Other activity: This project will support diverse communities from a range of backgrounds, including through a weekly LGBTQ+ session ran by local charity, The Q: Alliance, as well as ‘turn up and play’ sessions and low-cost Premier League Kicks sessions to support people from socio-economic backgrounds

Peacehaven & Telescombe FC (Lewes):

  • Funding: A £949k grant for a new 3G pitch and improvements to the existing changing rooms at Peacehaven & Telescombe FC’s home ground, the Sports Ground, to ensure the facilities are female-friendly and inclusive.
  • Women & Girls: Thanks to the new facilities, the Club is expects a fivefold growth in women’s and girls’ teams, from three to 15. Sussex County FA will also use the new pitch to deliver coaching support and referee courses for women and girls.
  • Other activities: The facilities will host holiday courses ran by Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation as well as walking football, an employability programme and asylum seekers sessions.

Portishead Town FC (North Somerset):

  • Funding: A £840k grant towards the refurbishment of an existing 3G pitch at Portishead Town FC’s home ground, Bristol Road.
  • Women & Girls: Portishead Town currently have a total of five women’s teams, one of which plays in Tier 4 of the Women’s Football Pyramid. Thanks to the new facilities, this number is predicted to grow to 11 (two adult and nine youth) within five years. Somerset County FA will also use the pitch host a girls’ league for Under 8s and Under 10s.
  • Other activity: The Portishead Wellness Partnership, who are linked to Portishead Town Council and work with partners such as Age UK, the NHS and Voluntary Action North Somerset, will use the facilities to run targeted community programmes.

Presdales School Academy Trust (East Hertfordshire):

  • Funding: A £824k grant for a new 3G pitch at Presdales School.
  • Women & Girls: Local grassroots club, Star Bury Rangers FC, will use the new pitch for both their training and match play. This will support the Club to grow by 20 teams in the first five years of the site being open, 19 of which will be female teams. Hertford Town FC and Stevenage Women FC, who currently play in Tier 3 of the Women’s Football Pyramid, will also play at the site.
  • Other activity: Supporting people with disabilities and long-term health conditions will be a key focus for this project.

Testwood School (New Forrest)

  • Funding: A £399k grant for a 3G pitch and improvements to the existing cricket facilities at Testwood School.
  • Women & Girls: The site will be used by PACE Youth FC who’ll host a women and girls-only evening, enabling the Club to grow to add an additional eight female teams.
  • Other activity: Tottonians Rugby Club and Totton & Eling Cricket Club also plan to use the new facilities to grow their respective sports.

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SIS Pitches announce Saudi Arabia ambitions

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SIS Pitches announce Saudi Arabia ambitions: The team behind the World Record-breaking Kingdom Arena pitch, SIS Pitches, has shared its ambitious long-term plans to expand into Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

SIS Pitches, which produces premium hybrid, synthetic and natural pitches for an array of sports, including football, rugby, golf, tennis and cricket, made its first foray in the Middle East in 2011 in Dubai UAE.

SIS Pitches announce Saudi Arabia ambitions

SIS Pitches announce Saudi Arabia ambitions

Recognising a growing appetite for high-level professional sports, and the growing need for cutting edge surfaces, the sports surface specialist established a Saudi Arabia office in July last year. Within weeks, they undertook one of the world’s most ambitious sporting infrastructure projects to complete the Kingdom Arena – the world’s first fully indoor hybrid pitch, famously built in just 21 days – in partnership with Sela.

So far, SIS Pitches has invested more than 1.3M SAR ($370,000) into the region – with Saudi Arabia now firmly established as a country key to the business’s long-term plans.

The company has opened three maintenance depots across the country in Tabuk, Jeddah and Riyadh, all designed to cater to local professional teams, including Neom FC, Al Ahli-FC and Al-Hilal FC. Those will also enable SIS Pitches to undertake major maintenance and pitch care projects in the Kingdom, which have previously included the Italian and Spanish Super Cups at King Fahd Stadium and Al-Awwal Park.

Additionally, two new turf farms have opened in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, joining the already established UAE site, to grow high-resilience turf, guaranteeing efficient costs and turf health to support major projects in the region. This includes high-level pitches and surfaces for a range of sports – from rugby and football to equestrian sports and cricket – as well as commercial landscaping.

The current team, which is 40 people strong, is also expected to grow to 60 people in the next year.

David Ball, Managing Director at SIS Middle East, said: “Over the past five years, Saudi Arabia has clearly established itself as a key destination for some of the world’s biggest athletes. People’s love of sports here is apparent, and there’s been a real appetite for the high-standard facilities to rival those of major European teams.

“The opening of our Saudi Arabia office last year reflects our commitment to establish ourselves in the region, bringing our experience working with some of the most recognisable names in sports to the Kingdom’s professional teams and supporting them as they step onto the international stage. Being local also means we can offer a speedy, domestic solution throughout a full season of sport.

“This is a pivotal moment for sports in the region,” David added. “We’re looking forward to helping the Kingdom make history.”

SISGrass, which offers hybrid playing surfaces using a small percentage of polymer fibre stitched into a natural grass pitch, is part of the SIS Group, a fully international business with offices around the world, including UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Turkey and the Middle East. The product forms part of SIS’s wider portfolio of sports surface solutions, which includes the artificial variant SISGrass Synthetic, made with a choice of monofilament or fibrillated yarns – or a mixture of the two – plus thatch support yarn and surfaces developed specifically for athletics tracks.

For more information on SISTurf, visit: www.sispitches.com/services/synthetic-turf-manufacturing

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SIS Pitches expands production capabilities

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SIS Pitches expands production capabilities: The UK’s leading synthetic turf manufacturer, SIS Pitches has made a major investment at its Cumbria manufacturing facility and in the growth of its team as the business targets further strategic growth across a number of international markets.

SIS Pitches produces premium hybrid, synthetic and natural pitches for an array of sports, including football, rugby, hockey, padel, Gaelic sports, multi-use games areas, tennis and cricket.

SIS Pitches expands production capabilities

SIS Pitches expands production capabilities

The company has spent over £500,000 on two new tufting machines at its factory in Maryport, which will more than double the site’s capacity to produce elite level sports surfaces from new and existing clients including Celtic Football Club, Rangers Football Club, Saracens Rugby Club and Loughborough University.

The major investment follows three years of controlled growth, which has seen SIS Group – the business comprising SIS Pitches as well as specialist machinery and undersoil drainage divisions – grow turnover by an annualised 30% over recent years. This growth has seen the company increase the size of its team by over 25% during the same period.

Last month saw SIS Group open a new office in Warsaw, Poland, from which a new business unit will be based with the remit to expand the company’s presence across Central Europe. This move followed a similar investment in Saudi Arabia, where the opening of a new office in Riyadh coincided with SIS Pitches recent installation of the world’s first fully indoor hybrid pitch in just 21 days at Riyadh’s iconic Kingdom Arena.

Over the last 12 months alone, SIS Group has experienced significant growth in other emerging international markets. The business grew its footprint in Georgia significantly following the successful installation and ongoing maintenance of 11 hybrid pitches for the UEFA under-21 European Championships. Similarly, it has also diversified its offering in the UAE through the provision of Padel courts in addition to baseball and equestrian surfaces across the country. Two new turf farms, in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, were also purchased to facilitate the production and transportation of SIS’s own turf to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The newer, more powerful tufting machines in Maryport will be used to manufacture SISTurf, SIS’s synthetic pitch product used by some of the world’s biggest sports teams, as well as schools, colleges and universities worldwide.

With the new machines capable of reaching up to 600 RPM, SIS will now be able to design and manufacture product at a much quicker rate while using 20% less energy. The global sports surface specialist will also be able to prepare new turf designs as separate orders are being completed, made possible by the double creels fitted on each machine. As well as increasing SIS’s own output, the move will also enable further sales to third-party installers.

In anticipation of further growth for versatile sports surfaces from its global client base, SIS Group has also made six senior appointments.

Dan Meredith joins as Group Marketing Director with a focus on executing a first-class marketing, advertising and communications strategy, with Lucas Poen taking up the role of Operations Director with the aim to scale the operations of SIS Grass while increasing efficiencies.

Simon Drury is taking on the role of Sustainability Manager to strengthen SIS Group’s B-Corp certification as well as steering it towards achieving Net Zero by the end of 2028. Also joining the business is Duncan Drury as Head of IT to foster innovation and implement standardised IT procedures, while Dan Ramsdale has been recruited as SIS Project Manager for its specialist maintenance contracts service.

Finally, Rafal Abel joins as the company’s new Business Development Representative for Poland and will be based at the company’s new office in Warsaw.

George Mullan, CEO at SIS Group, said: “We are committed to the development of exceptional playing surfaces using the latest materials and manufacturing techniques. Our latest investment will make us more efficient and is a signal of our intent to grow, just as we experience sustained interest from some of the most recognisable names in sport.

“But this is also a commitment to our future as a UK-based manufacturer,” continues George. “With these new machines, we will be able to complete more projects at home and abroad. This will have a real impact at both elite and grassroots level, giving people more opportunity to participate in their chosen sport.”

SISTurf is made with a choice of monofilament or fibrillated yarns – or a mixture of the two – plus thatch support yarn. This provides exceptional performance and durability, making it easier for facilities teams and groundspeople to maintain a consistent, high-quality playing surface. The product forms part of SIS’s wider portfolio of sports surface solutions, which includes the hybrid variant SISGrass made using a small percentage of polymer fibre stitched into a natural grass pitch.

For more information on SISTurf, visit: www.sispitches.com/services/synthetic-turf-manufacturing

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

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