Basildon sport has received a shot in the arm following the opening of a near £1m scheme at Everyone Active’s Eversley Leisure Centre.
Witham-based ETC Sports Surfaces has installed new 3G football pitches and floodlights for 11-, nine-, seven- and five-a-side football, while contractor Morgan Sindall focused on the centre’s internal development.
The sports hall has been transformed into a state-of-the-art gym to add to the Basildon Sporting Village base of South Essex Gymnastic Club (SEGC) that has turned out star members, including Max Whitlock, Amy Tinkler and Brinn Bevan.
Basildon Council has invested £570,000 in the first outdoor all-weather pitch in Pitsea, combined with £230,000 from SEGC and £123,900 from the Veolia Pitsea Marshes Maintenance Trust.
The full size 3G football pitch allows play all year round and provides players with the look and feel of natural turf and all the benefits of a hardwearing, weather and stud-resistant surface.
ETC worked alongside Zaun Ltd, who manufactured and supplied its Duo8 Super Rebound sports fencing system and gates to surround the pitch.
Duo8 Super Rebound forms a robust play area that is highly durable, low maintenance and ‘graffiti-proof’, with great rebound properties similar to a wall and rubber inserts between panels and posts to keep ‘rattle’ during play to a minimum.
Councillor Kevin Blake, Basildon Council’s chairman of the leisure, culture and environment committee, said: “The development of a second gymnastics hub for the borough is a great opportunity for young people to try the sport for the first time.
“Together with the new 3G pitches they will help boost participation in sport and tackle local health inequalities.”