Prestigious Tennis Facilities Completed by Halmo Sports

Halmo Sports Ltd has successfully completed a number of major tennis court projects, at Loughborough University LTA Centre of Excellence, the Tarka Tennis Centre, Tennis World and Boston LTC.

The LTA Centre of Excellence at Loughborough University comprises four indoor Plexicushion Prestige courts, three external Plexipave courts and three external American fast-dry clay courts. The centre, which was inaugurated in the winter 2002, is under the direction of Leighton Alfred, LTA National Coach Manager for the North Midlands Region, who stated that “the indoor Plexicushion courts have provided the exact speed of play and performance requested at the project’s inception”. The courts are being used for high-level training by the Lawn Tennis Association.

The second project to be completed is the Tarka Tennis Centre at Barnstaple in Devon, handed over in January 2003. The Centre was built by Midas Construction on wasteland covering the old Corporation refuse tip and next to the tidal River Taw. To overcome the poor ground conditions, the building was constructed with over 700 concrete piles, each averaging 14 metres long and founded on the rock bed, below the accumulated rubbish. The whole site was then covered with a 20cm layer of reinforced concrete. Halmo Sports therefore needed to overcome serious engineering challenges in constructing the tennis courts. Indoors Halmo Sports installed six Plexicushion Competition courts, described as “the latest innovation in high-tech cushioned acrylic surfacing, providing a very high level of force reduction coupled with excellent playing characteristics”. Externally there are two American fast-dry clay courts with overhead irrigation, and four sand-filled, short-pile synthetic grass courts, the Pro-Bounce surface manufactured by SAPCA member Cabrita Sports Systems of Belgium. The tennis facilities are complemented by an additional area containing two Kids Zones and a practice wall.

Tennis World in Middlesbrough has now been designated a Regional Centre by the LTA. The venue now has four American fast-dry clay courts, which have been covered with a dome. The floodlighting for the clay courts was installed by SAPCA member Floodlighting Ltd. Other facilities upgraded by Halmo Sports at the centre include three artificial grass courts (again Cabrita Pro-Bounce) and three porous macadam courts.

The latest enhancement to the facilities at Boston Lawn Tennis Club in Lincolnshire include four floodlit American fast-dry clay courts complete with an automatic irrigation system. This latest development complements the splendid indoor tennis building housing four Plexicushion Prestige courts, previously installed by Halmo Sports.

Peter Hall of Halmo Sports commented: "We are very pleased with our continued involvement in high profile tennis facilities, which allows us to use the best of design combined with the latest surfacing technology from the world's leading suppliers. The most recent projects follow on from two major developments earlier in 2002, namely the White Horse Leisure Centre in Abingdon and the English Institute of Sport in Manchester."

The photographs show the fast-dry clay courts at Boston LTC, the Pro-Bounce artificial grass surface at the Tarka Centre, and the indoor Plexicushion Competition courts, also at the Tarka Centre.

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