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Water-based hockey pitch for the new merged club “Oranje-rood” in Holland

2016-10-11

The club and the municipality opt for a remake of the blue pitch of Kampong

During the past months, a brand-new hockey facility was built in Eindhoven for Brabant's largest hockey club "Oranje-Rood", a merger between the two Eindhoven clubs Eindhovense Mixed Hockey Club (EMHC) and Oranje-Zwart (Orange-Black). At the start of the new hockey season, the brand-new water-based pitch from producer Lano Sports was used for the first time. 

The municipality opted for a "management delivery" of the pitch, which means that the client, not the contractor, is responsible for choosing the pitch. A major role was reserved for the hockey players themselves . Rob van der Horst, involved with the former Oranje-Zwart club and member of the construction team responsible for the new facility, explains: "The players had already played on many different fields. When we asked them which top coat they preferred, they told us they liked the blue field of Kampong from Utrecht the most. They especially appreciated the ball speed this pitch ensures. We blindly followed their preference, without knowing who had produced the field." The producer of the trendy "blue field" is Lano Sports from the Flemish city of Harelbeke. This producer of pitches for football, hockey, tennis and other sports is relatively unknown in the Netherlands. However, various sports players play on pitches made by this company without knowing so. The water-based pitches of Lano are sold under the brand name 'Hockey Solutions', offering a wide range of field varieties.

Tender

Although the players showed a clear preference for the pitch produced by Lano, the project was not awarded to the company just like that. A number of pitches with similar characteristics were compared during the tender process. Van der Horst: "When the pitch by Lano turned out to be competitive in terms of price, the contract was awarded to the Flemish company. This way, we had the pitch the players wanted most at the price we wanted to spend."

Some minor adjustments were made to the pitch of the Eindhoven club. The pitch of Oranje-Rood is not blue like that of Kampong, but traditionally green. It is characterised by density and high stability, so they say at Lano Sports.

 "The most important feature is the user experience: the increased ball speed the players liked so much about the Kampong pitch and the excellent ball roll, the top coat not having any impact on the game."

First experience

In Eindhoven a lot of money and work was put in the realisation of the professional sports facility. An innovative irrigation system was installed, with groundwater being used to irrigate the water-based pitch. Furthermore, the modern and streamlined club house was designed by the prominent architect firm Diederendirrix Architecten.

According to Van der Horst, one of the most exciting moments was the first time the pitch was used. "However beautiful the sports facility may be, featuring food and beverage outlets, a business club, etc., if the pitch is bad, the project has failed. Fortunately, the first reactions of the players were very positive."

 

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