A temporary playing surface, described as the “biggest breakthrough in hockey since the Montreal Olympic Games”, an innovative piece of testing equipment and an ambitious sports hub project have been declared as the tree winners of this year’s SAPCA Awards. The trio beat strong competition from an overall short list of 15 entries.

The SAPCA Innovation Award was given to Polytan Sports Surfaces for its Big Stadium Hockey solution. Big Stadium Hockey is a portable pitch technology, which has been designed to bring hockey back to existing, major venues. It can be installed, used and removed in a short space of time on a variety of sub-bases.

The surface was used to transform The Stoop in London – home of Harlequins RFC – into a hockey stadium, hosting England’s home matches against New Zealand.

“The SAPCA Award tops off the what has been an exciting and at times challenging process as we worked with colleagues from across industry pulling in a wide range of expertise to realise the original concept,” says Polytan MD David McCulley.

Meanwhile, Sports Labs won the SAPCA Award for Product of the Year for its Lightweight traction device. The device, which measures the rotational resistance of sports surfaces, is capable of providing results with a resolution ten times greater than that of a conventional device

The Project of the Year award was given to TGMS for its work to create an ambitious Sports Hub project at Berkhamsted School.

Now in their fifth year, the Awards are organised by the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA) to celebrate achievements in the sports and play facility construction industry.

“With a record number of entries this year, and so many outstanding achievements, our judging panel certainly had a tough job,” said SAPCA CEO, Chris Trickey. “The three winners – and all of the finalists – exemplify the breadth of technical expertise and innovation across the industry.”