Footes Lane redevelopment on track

Friday 30 August 2019

The Footes Lane redevelopment is going to plan, with contractors now working to lay the new bright blue track.

They are working seven days a week to meet the October 2019 completion target, which was set when plans were announced earlier this year.

Although local workers have been used for the redevelopment where possible, the States have brought over UK contractors to lay the track, which is a specialist task.

"The process they're doing at the moment is the final surface coating," explained Phil Keeley from Labosport UK, which is overseeing the project. "It's a bit like making a Christmas card with glitter on, you throw the glitter on the glue and then sweep off the excess, then they'll use that again as they work their way round the track.

Pictured: Workers laying the new blue track.

"It follows a process of installing a black rubber base layer and sealing it with a red coat on top. That's only taken a couple of weeks."

Mr Keeley visits the island every couple of weeks to provide consultancy services for the facility, which needs to match up with national requirements.

"We helped build a specification for the works. We went through the design process deciding to increase the number of lanes, put the synthetic grass down, colour schemes," he said. "We went through that process with the States of Guernsey and then they invited us to keep an eye on proceedings during the jobs.

Pictured: The excess material will be swept off before the white lines are marked.

"I carry out various technical checks to make sure we're going to achieve what we said in the specification. At the end of September we'll be coming back over to carry out some performance tests on the surface, which involved dropping various weights and measuring how hard or soft it is from the athlete's point of view.

"We'll provide a certification process so they can get all the line markings measured etc and then UK athletics can appreciate that it meets the competition standards. They will give a licence to hold a certain level of events, including the Island Games in 2021."

The facility is still on track to be completed in the next couple of months, with some extra time factored in to allow for bad weather.