Covering sports fields: everything you need to know

We will give you a complete overview of everything you need to know about covering your sports facilities, covering all the options and describing the greatest advantages, as well as some of Veldeman’s highly successful achievements.

We are experts in temporary structures for the most diverse of sports facilities, ranging from football and tennis to riding stables. Let us know what we can do for you. We will be happy to arrange a meeting with you to get to know each other.

Overview:

1. Covering sports grounds: the options are endless
2. Covering your tennis court with a fabric structure: the advantages
3. Covering football pitches under a fabric structure: the advantages
4. Covering sports fields: the working method
5. Veldeman’s success stories

1. Covering sports grounds: the options are endless

Covering sports grounds is a matter of customisation. To that end we offer a range of different solutions depending on location, activity, aesthetics, … What are the determining factors in your final project design? Here is an overview.

Three roof designs
First and foremost: which roof design will you opt for? Our product range comprises three standard roof designs: Tensio, Trium and Arcus. With your help we assess the most suitable design for your project. Aesthetics, the desired interior roof height for your specific sporting activity, and local prevailing standards are key in this regard. You don’t need to worry, we advise and support you in the optimum choice for your club.

Various fabrics
For an indoor sports hall, such as the football hall of Lokomotiv Moscow, a translucent roof fabric is an important asset. Are you looking for a covering without sidewalls? If so, we also have a sunblock roof fabric to offer. This is frequently deployed in more southerly located countries, for example. We run through the assorted options with you, and propose the ideal fabric that perfectly reflects your needs and wishes.

Sidewalls in your club colours?
There are many options in terms of sidewalls too. For example, these can be supplied in fabric, steel or wooden cladding. Moreover, we offer a range of solutions in providing optimally smooth sidewall opening and closing. Even an automatic curtain of 30m+ wide is included in our solutions. That way you can create the ideal outdoor ambience in the summertime, whilst staying sheltered from the worst weather conditions during the winter months.

Or, why not go that step further, like KRC Genk football club, for whom we created an indoor football hall, with the walls decorated in their club colours and their logo. The result? A practical indoor football hall with a highly professional look&feel.

The finish: what did you have in mind?
Covering sports grounds is also about the finish you desire. We are open to all challenges! An additional spectators’ area? A passageway between the pitch and dressing room? Unique boarding? Adjusted sport lighting?

Challenge us with your challenge

We could go into further detail, but where would we stop? Would you like more information about covering sports grounds? Or additional clarification on the options available to your club? Let us know how we can be of help.

2. Covering your tennis court with a fabric structure: the advantages

Your club wants to make year-round use of their facilities. Your tennis courts cannot be used in bad weather? Your investment is going to waste. So you look for a solution. Covering your tennis courts with a fabric structure offers several advantages.

Natural light
As a keen tennis player, you know that good lighting is vital for a good game. Our fabrics are translucent and thus guarantee excellent, uniform light. Not only does this feel more natural than artificial light, it also cuts your electricity bill. Do your courts have to be used at night? No problem; we can install artificial lighting.

Inside, but still outside
People enjoy the feeling of being outdoors. The same principle applies when covering your tennis court. You cut out the cold and rain and the club members don’t have that hemmed-in, sports hall feeling. It is very easy to open and close the fabric structure’s side walls. This means you can enjoy a game of tennis in either the summer or winter and in the warmer months you have the best possible outdoor experience.

Excellent finishing touches
Our halls have a very high level of finish and this gives them the appearance of a permanent structure. We can build clear spans of up to eighty metres. To give you an idea, this is the size of a football field. The side walls can be personalised with your (club) colours and/or logo and provide you with a covered court that is made to your exact requirements.

Fast construction time
We saved the best for last. The great advantage of your covered tennis court is that it can be built quickly, very quickly. Wherever possible, we work using standardised materials and this means the lead time for your project is massively reduced. We carry out as much of the assembly as possible in our workshop so that we can immediately get to work on the installation on site. To give you an idea: covering a tennis court takes barely a week. That is a rate of work that not even industrial sport hall builders can match, let alone a new build.

Covering your tennis courts: would you like to know more?
Is our system of covering your tennis courts something your club would consider? Just let us know and we would be pleased to provide you with more details. That way, you can be sure of making an informed choice for your club.

3. Covering football pitches under a fabric structure: the advantages

Bleak rainy days and snow storms can spoil the fun of playing football. Unless… you choose an indoor football pitch with a fabric structure. We will list the benefits here.

Fast, modular and flexible
When covering a football pitch, we build an aluminium or steel structure, which is then finished with roof, side and facade covering with durable fabrics. These types of semi-permanent buildings can be built quickly and modularly, and their design can be very flexible in terms of dimensions and form. We can provide these types of structures with high roofs and side walls.

No corner kick will be too high
One huge benefit of this is the guaranteed possibility of practising corner kicks on the indoor football pitch, which isn’t always necessarily possible at many other indoor venues. Moreover, the side walls of our indoor structures can be opened; guaranteeing football fun whatever the weather.

Multifunctional masterpiece
An indoor football pitch is an investment for the club. To enjoy the return on your indoor football pitch investment, deploy the structure multi-functionally. Permit other (recreational) clubs or schools to utilise it, ensuring the structure pays for itself when your club has no need for it. Our references only serve to endorse this.

Personalized covering fabrics
A number of large clubs have already opted for Veldeman’s indoor football pitches. One great example is the Belgian football club KRC Genk, for whom we have constructed a 40 m x 70 m football sports hall, with a side height measuring 8.40 m. By using light-permeable fabrics natural daylight is guaranteed. We personalised the side and gable fabrics in the club’s blue colour.

Snow bearing
So too, Lokomotiv Moscow, a Russian first-division club that asked us to construct an indoor football pitchwith a steel fabric structure measuring 60 m x 100 m. In Russia we have been able to prove our structures can cope with snow, where one such structure can bear the weight of centimetres of snow, without any problems!

Short construction time
We work as much as possible with standard materials, which reduces the turnaround time for your project greatly. We also preassemble as much as possible in our workshop so that we can proceed with the installation on the site right away.

Veldeman for your total concept

Upon your request we can handle everything for you in the realisation of an indoor football pitch. We offer a total concept in which we genuinely handle everything, from the roofing right down to specific details such as the correct lighting. Naturally, personalising your sports hall is also possible.

Are you interested in an indoor football pitch? Are you particularly keen on attaining problem-free football throughout the year? If so, please contact us without delay to discuss the many options available to you.

4. Covering sports fields: the working method

Covering your sports fields with a fabric structure, what does this actually involve? How does it actually work? We will go over the various steps, from design to delivery. In this way, you will have a good idea of how Veldeman would go about covering your sports fields.

Plenty of good natural light, side walls that are easy to open and close and quick construction. We have already listed the many advantages of using fabric structures to cover sports fields. But you might perhaps have a few questions concerning the technical side of things.

What challenges do you have in store for us?
Everything starts with that first call or email. You can then provide us with an outline of the challenge. What sport is involved? Do you want to cover football fields? Tennis courts? Perhaps it is a riding school or a padel court? Are the grounds in the planning stage or already being used? And how many? Do the fabrics have to let light through?

The preparatory work
In order to provide a concrete proposal for covering your sports fields, we pay a visit to your site. This way, we can get the full picture of your situation, we can explain how we work and discuss various options with you. When we have all the information, we can get down to work. We draw up a technical plan of the structure, which we send to your architect. The architect then uses these plans to submit the building permit application. We recommend that you get an architect involved in your project at an early stage.

If we reach an agreement and your building application gets the green light, then our Project Manager takes care of everything. The Project Manager is your primary contact. He or she sees to all practical matters and coordinates your project.

The real work
How does the actual work of covering your sports fields take place? Initially, the ground works are carried out and the foundations are laid. Then the steel or aluminium frame is installed and the fabrics are put in position. Finally, the doors, gutters, lighting, ventilation etc are installed.

We are ready for your challenge
You now know all the advantages. You have seen the practical steps needed to cover your sports fields. Ready to take the first step? Then we can work together to see what opportunities there are for your football field, tennis court or other (sporting) venue.

 5. Veldeman’s success stories

Super Bowl winner trains in Veldeman facility

On 4 February 2018 the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl, the most important sports event in the US.  The Philadelphia Eagles triumphed over previous year’s winners, the New England Patriots, by 41-33 after a thrilling close to the game. Although this was the third time the Eagles had reached the NFL finals, it was the first time they managed to land the Vince Lombardi Trophy. And Veldeman joined in the celebrations too, as the Super Bowl winners have been training in a Veldeman indoor facility! Our subsidiary, Universal Fabric Structures, designed and installed this indoor training facility in 2002. Since then the facility has played a key role in the Eagles’ training, whilst withstanding the severe weather conditions known to south-eastern Pennsylvania. The steel structure that is covered by a PVC fabric, is 60m wide and 90m long, and is equipped with a complete HVAC system that guarantees optimum comfort throughout the year. A world apart from the air-supported structure the Eagles used before, that was always cold and damp!

Veldeman tennis hall awarded SAPCA Award for Excellence

SAPCA (Sports and Play Construction Association) is a British organisation that each year hands out awards for innovative sport projects. In 2018 Ellesmere College, a Rocklyn partnership, scooped the prize.

Ellesmere College lies to the south of Manchester and has had a tennis academy for quite some time now. One issue though was that training on the tennis courts was out of the question in bad weather – and England is known for being inclement.

In seeking a solution to this problem the school stumbled across Rocklyn, Veldeman’s partner in the UK. Further to their brief we set to it and designed the span structure for the tennis facility.

Green fabrics
We fabricated a Trium structure measuring 38 x 70 meters, that could cover four hard courts. We supplied the fabric structure and dispatched our assemblers to assist in erecting the tennis facility.

The intention was to blend the new tennis centre as subtly as possible with the school’s rural setting. Which is why we opted for green fabrics. The facility is also a gem to behold on the inside too. Tennis in England is often played on hard courts, making a range of colours an option. Rocklyn creatively opted for a blue and green combination, that also appealed to the SAPCA jury’s taste.

Brendan Wignall, director of Ellesmere College, is delighted with the outcome: “The tennis centre is a high-quality addition to our facilities and ensures that Ellesmere stands out from other education establishments. We look forward to attracting more students over the coming years, to join our excellent tennis programme.”