SAPCA Awards 2024

The 2024 winners of the industry’s leading awards include a sustainable floodlight system and an inclusive approach to building multi-use games areas

The winners of this year’s SAPCA Awards were revealed at a gala dinner held at the Mattioli Woods Welford Road stadium in Leicester on 29 February. The winners in the six categories were chosen from 12 finalists (two in each category) by a judging panel consisting of SAPCA chair Kathryn Severn, SAPCA’s Technical Lead, Colin Corline, and a selection of industry professionals.

The SAPCA Awards 2024 winners are:

Fantastic facilities

Blakedown Sport and Play won the large project award for the Shoreditch Park Sports Hub, which was a collaboration with Land Use Consultants (LUC) and Hackney Council. The £2 million project, which was completed in March 2023, transformed Shoreditch Park into a versatile recreational space.

Designed according to input from the local community, in particular young people, the Sports Hub offers accessible sports facilities, ensuring it caters to the needs of the entire community in an inclusive way. The revitalised park boasts a refurbished children’s play area, a new outdoor gym, a multi-use games area, a beach volleyball court and improved informal sports pitch areas. Beyond the visible enhancements, sustainable elements like rain gardens and wildflower meadows contribute to biodiversity, drainage and climate resilience.

The small project award was won by Play Innovation for the redesign and redevelopment of two derelict spaces (Pocket Park play area and the Silwood Street Ball Court Zone) in South East London. The previously unused areas had become hotspots for anti-social behaviour, before Play Innovation – working in partnership with Axis Europe and site owner, housing association L&Q – transformed them into inclusive, safe and friendly spaces. As a result, local residents and communities now have a space to enjoy and be proud of.

The project included the installation of multi-sports goals, inclusive play and sports equipment, a new outdoor gym and a personal training zone. The new facilities are designed to tackle inequality and to inspire people to become physically active in a fun, engaging way, as part of L&Q’s commitment to creating thriving neighbourhoods and sustainable communities.

Innovative products, great people

Redexim won the Product of the Year award for its Verti-Top TTB machine – a completely independent maintenance machine. It has its own engine and can be driven, a big change to the traditional system of this type which, historically, have relied on larger machines (such as tractors) to power them. The innovation allows end users to use the machine themselves, rather than rely on contractors, to undertake pitch maintenance.

Meanwhile, Lumosa won the Sustainability Award for its Lumosa Touch solution – an app-based floodlight control system. Lumosa Touch allows clubs and facilities to only use the energy they need, when they need it. The system allows the user to dim down the level of lighting to only use what is required at any given time – for example, due to the time of day or only part of the pitch being used. The system can be used for any pitch configuration and for any sport.

This year’s SAPCA Person of the Year award went to Jamie Blamire, Managing Director of Sportex Group. Described as someone who has the “industry in his blood”, Blamire has driven change in the industry, establishing Sportex as the UK’s first 360 degree sports surfacing company to recycle 100% of end-of-life synthetic sports pitches.

Meanwhile, the Young Person of the Year award was given to Connor Freeman, Shift Supervisor at TigerTurf. Since joining TigerTurf, Freeman’s approach and dedication has seen him being identified as someone with a bright future in the industry.

Bigger and better

For 2024, the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA) significantly revamped and upgraded its annual awards. While the awards were already recognised as the sector’s leading awards, the purpose of a refresh was to build the profile of them to those outside of the sector too.

“The awards were launched in 2015 to celebrate the quality and excellence of SAPCA members and their work, SAPCA Chief Executive, Richard Shaw says. “They have always been a great way to showcase the very best in sports and play construction to those working in the industry. The emphasis has very much been on recognising great facility projects, products and services which show the wide range of innovation, technical excellence and reliability held across the SAPCA membership.

“The awards have grown in prestige each year within the industry, but as they are now approaching their 10th anniversary, we thought it was time to ramp up their significance even more and to extend their recognition to the wider sports, play and physical activity sector.”

To take the awards to the next level, SAPCA made a number of changes to the way winners are chosen and celebrated. The changes were designed to increase both the visibility and impact of the awards.

As an example of the changes, Shaw highlights the increased importance placed on how the winning projects, services, products and people were chosen based on the positive effect they had on both the industry and the end users.

“The awards will now increasingly highlight the social value generated by the facilities and services our members create and provide,” Shaw says. “This is important because, to make the case for increased funding for facilities, we need to show how our projects deliver outcomes in health, education and social cohesion. SAPCA members – and those working in the sports and play construction industry – already know and recognise the positive impact they have on communities, as they see it on the ground through their work. Our mission, now, is to demonstrate it to the wider world too.”

For 2024 and beyond, there has also been a big change in the way the awards ceremony is delivered. Previously forming a part of the SAPCA Annual Dinner – which was attended mainly by SAPCA members – the event has now been made available to the wider public as a stand-alone event. The first ever SAPCA Awards Dinner – held in conjunction with the SAPCA Conference – was hailed a great success.

“It was great to see our members and their clients being able to celebrate their successes together, picking up their awards as a team,” Shaw adds. “That’s the message we want to send – the most successful facility projects are always a team effort.”