Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Boom Construction Ltd and Durant Cricket collaborated to create a state-of-the-art cricket facility at Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood, honouring the memory of alumnus Julian Hill. The installation was meticulously designed to align with the school’s commitment to sporting excellence and the specific principles outlined during the consultation phase.
The primary goal was to build a facility that caters to students of all cricketing levels, from novices to academy prospects. Featuring five distinct cricket lanes with varied surfaces, the centre offers a dynamic environment for skill development. Beyond benefitting students, the facility also supports Middlesex Country Cricket Club, highlighting the strong partnership between the school and the club.
Merchant Taylors' Timelapse
Our timelapse captures the gradual evolution of Merchant Taylors’ Cricket Centre, in tribute to Julian Hill. This facility has been meticulously designed to provide a diverse range of opportunities for students with varying cricketing backgrounds. From novices to potential academy prospects, every aspect has been crafted with thoughtful precision. At the heart of the centre are five distinct cricket lanes, each intentionally equipped with different surfaces. This intentional variety serves as a testing ground, tailored to challenge and foster the development of the students at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Installed Flooring
DCI Pro Playing Surface
DCI Pro Surface seamlessly recreates the experience of outdoor cricket in an indoor environment, allowing for authentic practice sessions at any time. The surface delivers a consistent, true bounce that simulates outdoor playing conditions with our GeoPad shockpad. The system has a 12mm Wilton Woven Surface, with additional customisations we can offer to add more spin or seam depending on the customer’s needs. Manufactured to any length, at 3.65m wide.
Specialist Woven Spin Carpets
Bringing the outdoors indoors, DuraWeave facilitates realistic practice sessions at any time. It delivers a true and consistent bounce, mimicking outdoor match conditions effectively. The specialised flooring caters to both batters and bowlers alike. We offer customisable variations in the system, allowing for adjustments in spin or seam according to specific requirements. With a standard width of 3.65m, we can manufacture DuraWeave to your desired length specifications.
Fielding Area Carpet
Our Geo Roll Down surface is a versatile surface that is perfect for both indoor and outdoor use. Ideal for simulating a match-accurate fielding area, with a consistent bounce on a compatible sub floor. The surface comes at a standard 2m wide but can be customised to any length to meet customer requirements where necessary. Supported by a built-in shockpad element for reduced impact during training sessions for both batters and bowlers.
1. Shock Padding & Foundations
After Boom Construction completed the foundational work for the indoor centre, enough time was allowed to pass before we proceeded with the installation of shock padding. The decision to install shock padding was driven by the recognition of padding's reliability in preserving performance, ensuring safety, and preserving the longevity of the facility.
Shock padding not only mitigates wear and tea on the facility and safeguards foundations against long-term deterioration but also delivers a vital cushioning effect. This effect helps reduce the impact on players' joints and muscles during play, thereby substantially decreasing the risk of injuries, particularly those affecting the knees and ankles.
2. Non-Turf & Flooring
After the shock pad installation, Boom Construction turned its attention to implementing lighting designed specifically for superior indoor cricket performance. Our subsequent task involved the installation of our specialised non-turf surfaces and flooring. With Merchant Taylors' aspiration for an elite facility to assess their youth prospects, we implemented a range of surfaces, showcasing surfaces that would be reminiscent of the final days of a test match.
3. Netting
The subsequent phase involved the installation of the netting. Merchant Taylors' School chose a 5-bay system, aligning with their preference for varied surfaces whilst ensuring consistent play opportunities for their abundance of enthusiastic young cricket players.
Our process of installing Merchant Taylors' netting involved the following steps: identify and secure attachment points on the ceiling, ensuring they are anchored to the building's structure and capable of supporting the weight and force of cricket balls. Hang the netting from these ceiling attachment points, ensuring proper stretching and secure fastening. Then position the netting to establish clear 4 metre wide batting lanes, the designated bowling area, as well as Merchant Taylors' large bespoke fielding area approximately 20 metres in width.
4. Markings & Final Touches
After meticulously measuring, installing, and verifying the nets, our team proceeded to delicately apply markings for each lane. Our specialised white paint, designed to dry quickly and resist gradual friction, was chosen to withstand regular use and the potential impact from Middlesex CC's fast bowlers. Along each bay, creases 22, 21, and 20 yards from the batting-end were painted down the bowling-end which were meticulously etched, along with a standard crease at the batting end. Simultaneously, comprehensive cleaning, maintenance, and quality checks were carried out across the entire facility.
This thorough approach was undertaken to ensure that every aspect met the highest standards, guaranteeing a top-tier environment in preparation for the upcoming usage of the cricket facility.
5. Completion
Once we had been notified that the rest of the Julian Hill Centre was complete, two members of our team did a final site visit to ensure the facility still met our high standards. After some further hoovering, ensuring any debris or dust was removed we were then satisfied and removed any remaining scaffolding.
The successful completion of the project marked the culmination of meticulous planning, dedicated effort, and craftsmanship. With the installation of shock pads, non-turf surfaces, dedicated fielding area, netting, and the careful application of lane markings, the indoor cricket centre at Merchant Taylors' School reached its final form.
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