LEADING THE CONVERSATION

SAPCA has launched its new three-year strategy which sets out a roadmap to ensure the association leads the conversation on safe, high-quality and sustainable sports and play facilities. SportsNation sat down with the association’s leadership team to find out more about the document and the association’s future plans

Dr. Kathryn Severn

As the trade association and professional standards body for the UK’s sports and play construction sector, SAPCA (The Sports and Play Construction Association), sits at the intersection of sport, construction, facilities and physical activity. It represents the companies that design, build, maintain and supply the UK’s physical activity and play facilities, everything from playgrounds and MUGAs to artificial turf pitches, athletics tracks, tennis and padel courts, to major sporting venues.

A membership organisation, SAPCA brings together more than 280 contractors, manufacturers, consultants, testing laboratories and specialist suppliers. Members are independently vetted and must meet strict criteria relating to technical competence, financial stability and professional conduct.

SAPCA also develops technical guidance, publishes industry standards, provides training and education, works with governing bodies and funding organisations, and acts as an independent voice on issues affecting sports facilities and play infrastructure. It also operates inspection and quality assurance programmes designed to ensure facilities are built and maintained to recognisedstandards. SAPCA’s role as a standard bearer for the industry is guided by its Quality System. At the heart of this sit the SAPCA Codes of Practice (CoP), which summarise the current requirements of installation and maintenance across a range of sports surfaces and associated equipment. The growing number of CoPs currently stands at 11, covering a wide range of facility types and projects – from the construction of padel courts, synthetic sports pitches and athletics tracks to the fitting of sports lighting and the design and testing of bases for outdoor synthetic sport areas.

When creating the CoPs, SAPCA works closely with the relevant governing bodies of sports and any other relevant organisations. The aim is simple: to provide guidance that ensures that sports and play facility projects are completed competently and safely from the ground up.

Crucially, each member is required to comply with the SAPCA Codes of Practice and quality assurance processes. This means that, for those looking to fund, build and develop sports or play facilities, this acts as an added guarantee.

By using a SAPCA member, those developing facilities and venues can ensure that their sports and play projects will be built according to the latest industry standards.

The industry is changing rapidly and the association and its members shouldn’t be bound by what has been done in the past. Rather, it should be directed by what the future demands

STRATEGIC DIRECTION

In February this year, SAPCA revealed its new three-year strategy. The plan represents the next phase in the organisation’s development and aims to build on the foundations established since its launch in 1997.

At the heart of the strategy is the aim for SAPCA to lead the wider conversation on sports and play facilities and to drive forward the agenda towards safe, high-quality and sustainable venues. This overarching vision is based on four guiding principles, which range from emphasising the collective strength of the SAPCA membership, and reinforcing its commitment to maintaining high industry standards to leading on key issues affecting the sector.

The strategy also recognises that the industry is changing rapidly and the association and its members shouldn’t be bound by what has been done in the past. Rather, it should be directed by what the future demands. The best example of this is, perhaps, the rapid growth of the padel sector and the way SAPCA and its members have reacted by creating the industry standards for courts.

Together, the four principles will continue to position SAPCA as the trusted, independent voice for the UK sport and play construction sector, while ensuring the association continues to champion quality, innovation and collaboration across the industry.

SportsNation sat down with SAPCA’s leadership team to find out about the new strategy, the association’s direction of travel and also their views on the wider sports and play construction sector – including the padel boom and the challenges and opportunities it presents.

People

Dr. Kathryn Severn

CHAIR, SAPCA

Could you describe the main points of SAPCA’s new three-year strategy, launched earlier this year? The new three-year strategy aims to build on the previous strategy and define how we will lead the wider conversation on sport and play. The strategy is based on four guiding principles. The first one is to recognise that we are more than the sum of our parts. Our strength lies in our collective impact — the knowledge, experience, and credibility of our members working together.

Second, we are a self-regulating professional body. We have always held high standards, but this is about leading on industry issues with authority.

Third, we want to move from custodians to leaders. Our industry is evolving rapidly and new technologies and new sports are changing expectations. We need to be proactive, ready to recognise both problems and opportunities and act decisively.

Finally, the fourth guiding principle highlights that we are owned by our members. This has always been our foundation and that won’t change, but now we’re making it even more meaningful. We will build transparency and accountability into everything we do.

How were the four guiding principles identified and agreed on? The previous three-year strategy, launched in February 2022, reflected an organisation that needed internal change – with a desire for these changes to be seen in the wider market. We have achieved that and, moving forward, we now have the internal infrastructure to be bolder, push further and do more for our members.

The four guiding principles were identified to build on the previous strategy, but with a focus on our role in the “wider world”. We want to play a more active role in driving the agenda of sport and play forward, while not forgetting the things that we have got right.

SAPCA will act as a coherent, independent voice for the industry – one that shapes rather than reacts

One of the principles is to shift the association’s mindset from custodianship to leadership. What does that mean in practice? Because our industry is evolving rapidly, we can’t be bound by what’s been done in the past – we must be directed by what the future demands. SAPCA will act as a coherent, independent voice for the industry – one that shapes rather than reacts.

We aim to put in place work streams that respond to challenges within the industry – through the launch of leadership courses, linking to education and also through our Women in SAPCA networking group. In addition, we want to position SAPCA as the association for the play construction industry. We also want to see facility operator-led working groups when we create codes of practice, to ensure we include the end-user voice within them.

The purpose is to be able to speak with authority about the size of our industry, the impact that we make to the nation and the return on investment of money spent within the industry.

The strategy also calls for SAPCA to utilise its collective strength to influence decision- makers. How do you look to implement this? We will use this strength to influence the wider agenda of sport and play — engaging more closely with purchasers, showing them the true value of the SAPCA badge, and deepening our partnerships with governing bodies who can rely on us as a key strategic partner. We will proactively approach companies who we deem to be desirable to have within SAPCA and work with NGB’s at a strategic level as a partner in their development plans. The aim to be the go-to voice for sports and play construction, regularly quoted and commented upon by national media and consulted and engaged with national government.

People

Richard Shaw

CEO, SAPCA

How would you describe the past four years for SAPCA, since you were appointed CEO in June 2022? I think the first two years of my time at SAPCA was a time of making sure there weren’t any holes in the ship, followed by the last two in setting a new course for it. The fundamentals of SAPCA will never change, it’s an amazing organisation whose influence is of great benefit to its members, the industry and the country.

We need to, however, consistently challenge ourselves to ensure we use this influence. The new strategy is to do exactly that – to keep driving forward change without compromising what makes SAPCA great.

What are the biggest changes the association has undergone in the past four years? I think the perception was that SAPCA was an old boys’ network for contractors. From what I have seen, this was never actually true, but people’s perception is their reality – and in order to overcome those views we’ve become more inclusive, more welcoming to new members and also become more transparent.

If you have nothing to hide, then hide nothing, so I think the association is now more open. This makes relationships with our wider sector partners – such as the NGBs – easier, as there is now a clear criteria for membership and clear processes in place.

SAPCA has grown significantly in the past four years. What do you put that success down to? The vast majority of members want to join SAPCA as a quality mark – and then they find out all of the work we do “behind the badge”, to ensure that the badge stands for quality.

Although we have grown 40% when compared with four years ago, it is important to contrast that with our rejection rate, which is currently about 80/90% of applications. So we only let in a small percentage – around one in 10 – of those who apply. This is entirely due to the standards we have set.

Young people are increasingly spending less time in pubs and see sport and leisure as their ‘third space’

At the same time it would also be wrong to not point out how the market conditions, which mean more money is being invested in sports, both old and new (like padel), has helped. We sit at an interesting time for how people spend their leisure time. Young people are increasingly spending less time in pubs and see sport and leisure as their ‘third space’. This is a fantastic opportunity for SAPCA to play a huge part in ensuring our members are able to provide for the demand.

When it comes to padel, how has SAPCA reacted to the boom? In reflection I think we weren’t really geared up well for padel as it is fundamentally different in its set up than other sports we deal with. While we did the things that have worked well in other sectors such as Codes of Practice, the investment in padel comes from the private market rather than our initial expectation that it would be tennis club-led.

This has meant SAPCA dealing with operators and investors far more than we would in other sports, which adhere more to the guidance of NGBs and other sector organisations. We have had to make the case for quality and our Codes of Practice in terms of return on investment, rather than simply on facility quality. We have a lot of work still to do in padel and there is much being built that we are concerned about but the market is maturing and we need to continue to make the case for good practice being adopted.

What are the benefits that member companies gain from SAPCA? While most applicants come for the quality badge, they stay for the information, networking, events and updates. What I think they don’t often see are the harder parts to talk about.

Our members directory on the website is an easy to use guide for clubs/operators and developers to use to get details of companies that they can trust. This gets a lot of hits and we know we drive business to our members through this.

Our dispute resolution system ensures that unhappy customers can get an opinion on issues they believe they have. We are able to advise on issues and are able to stop many issues at source through advice and mediation.

We also increasingly engage with sporting bodies to set standards external to SAPCA. A recent example of good has been the work we have done with Sport England on end of life turf where we engage with DEFRA, environment agencies and governing bodies to represent the views of our members and the wider sector.

What is the process for companies wanting to join SAPCA – what are the requirements? The process for membership is an initial form, which can be accessed via our website. Following this there is an informal conversation followed by a number of forms to be completed.

From these forms and the information provided, we check companies house, credit checks, director checks and compliance alongside ensuring all of the SAPCA criteria is satisfactory. Once that is done, we organise a visit to see the company in person, alongside assessing projects that the company has been involved in. The nature of the visits depend on the membership category applied for. At the same time we take references from previous clients and ask for SAPCA members that have worked with the applicant for their views.

Once we are satisfied with all of that, we send out a message to all existing SAPCA members for comments. The last stage is for the SAPCA Board to assess the application for final approval.

Throughout the process there is a back and forth as questions arrive to ensure that the Board are informed as possible in making their decision.

What are SAPCA’s priorities over the next 12-24 months? To demonstrate leadership around a number of issues within the industry and show that SAPCA and its members can self-regulate, are responsive to public concerns and mature enough to adapt to change. End of life turf, recycling, infill mitigation and planning concerns will all feature heavily in this.

People

Using SAPCA contractors that are part of an annually audited quality system means that their construction work and their professional expertise are regularly assessed

Colin Corline

TECHNICAL LEAD, SAPCA

SAPCA is the industry standard bearer for sports and play construction. Could you describe the Quality System which sits at the heart of it? The SAPCA Quality System ensures that only specialist companies that consistently deliver high standards of sports and play facilities can join SAPCA and then remain as members. The Quality System underlines the benefits of choosing members of SAPCA for sports and play projects and gives greater peace of mind to clients that their funds have been invested wisely in companies with a proven track record in delivering high- quality products and projects in this area.

The main elements of the Quality System are: ● Strict membership criteria which ensures that only specialist contractors with a proven track record and trading history can be admitted. ● High level of customer service and good business practices. ● Inspection of principal contractors’ projects and working practices. ● Financial stability checks made by SAPCA.

SAPCA carries out an inspection programme on members’ construction projects. How many checks do you carry out each year? The SAPCA Quality System, developed in 2014, assesses the quality of work undertaken by our 72 principal contractors across all elements of sports construction including football, rugby, hockey, tennis, padel, netball and multi-use games areas (MUGA) to name but a few. Originally set up through the tennis contractors division, SAPCA now carries out an audit of our principal contractor members which ensures that all 72 members work is audited over a three-year rolling period. The inspections assess the quality of sports facility construction and include a programme of site assessment inspections to ensure that companies continue to meet the requirements for membership in relation to their standards of work and to ensure that all facilities are constructed in accordance with SAPCA’s Codes of Practice.

The programme also assesses the company’s internal quality process in relation to each project, thus ensuring all relevant information is supplied and documented for each project and that clients and purchasers do not only end up with an excellent facility but that throughout the process the service they have received is excellent.

What happens if the quality of work is deemed not up to SAPCA standards? And does it happen often? The assessment process includes a defined number of criteria that are assessed and critiqued to ensure that a standardised approach of projects and internal quality processes is made. If a member was found to be constructing facilities below the required level, then this would be flagged with them and discussed to ensure that the standard of work was improved. As a follow up, the member would be inspected again the following year to ensure that the working practices had improved to the required standard.

Fortunately, this rarely happens, which highlights to SAPCA that the level and standard of work being undertaken in the sports and play construction industry is at a high level.

People

SAPCA also offers a Mediation and Advisory Service for Complaints, which allow clients to approach SAPCA directly when they think that they have an issue with the technical quality of work being delivered by a SAPCA member.

The UK is experiencing a padel boom. How has SAPCA reacted to it? We reacted quickly at the start by developing guidance and a set of minimum standards for our members involved in padel court development and construction. During 2020, we worked with a number of SAPCA members and the sport’s governing body, The LTA, to oversee the development of a Code of Practice for Padel Court Construction to set the standards for construction of padel in the UK.

The CoP was published in 2021, initially as a minimum construction standard which, among other areas, highlighted the need for site specific foundations for the enclosure along with the more basic design guidance for our members to adhere to. It should be taken into consideration that in 2020 there were less than 100 padel courts, whereas in 2026 the number is around 2,000 courts. As the market has developed and the type of facilities have developed, SAPCA has moved with the market and has enhanced the CoP to its fifth edition. The annual update of the document has included additional information on things like: ● Better guidance on the requirements for planning applications including noise assessments, ecology assessments, lighting pollution and consideration for Biodiversity Net Gain.

● Enhanced information on the use of canopy structures to cover courts and their potential impact on the environment. ● Maintenance requirements for the padel enclosures and, covered structures and the playing surface. ● Enhancements to the details outlining the need for site specific, structural engineered foundations for both court enclosures and canopies, in the light of structures failing in UK coastal locations during storms. This year (2026) will see a sixth edition of the document, based on discussions with padel court suppliers and contractors working in the UK.

What do you see as the biggest threat posed by the padel boom Probably the biggest threat to the development of padel in the UK is that SAPCA’s reach can only directly influence SAPCA members. That’s why expanding our reach to the private investors and facility operators in the padel world can really extend our influence to ensure that everyone is investing in the correct, high-quality, fit-for-purpose padel enclosures, court covers and lighting systems.

Furthermore, using SAPCA contractors that are part of an annually audited quality system means that their construction work and their professional expertise are regularly assessed, along with holding a strong financial position.