Bamber Bridge Leisure Centre in the South Ribble District secured planning permission to build 4 new, all weather, 3G, floodlit football pitches to serve the local community. JME Consultants were instructed by Steve Wells Associates and Halliday Lighting to undertake the structural design and detail for the fence and floodlight foundations. Due to the proximity of the pitches to the M6 motorway, the design of these items also required approval from Highways England before construction could commence. There was a concern from Highways England of either a floodlight toppling and landing on the motorway or of stray footballs finding their way onto the motorway.
JME Consultants were instructed to undertake the design and detail of a 4.5m high fence and their associated foundations surrounding the entire perimeter of the pitch with a 3.5m safety net extension on top of the fence to the Southeast elevation. The floodlight foundations were requested to be designed as an unreinforced concrete foundation with a flange mounted column (i.e., the column of the floodlight secured to the concrete via a baseplate). The fence columns were requested to be supported via a concrete root mounted solution (i.e., the column of the column encased in concrete and buried in the ground). There was also a requirement to issue CAT 0 Design Check Certificates to Highways England before the final design could be signed off. JME Consultants worked diligently with all parties involved to ensure that there was no delay in the design approval process and work on site could commence as quickly as possible.
