Sport & leisure aggregates
Specialist aggregates and sands for optimal performance
We supply a wide range of specialist aggregates for the sport and leisure sectors, engineered to deliver long-term performance, athlete safety, and aesthetic value. Whether you’re resurfacing an athletics track, designing a new sports pitch, or upgrading the bunkers on a golf course, you’ll find the high-quality materials you need from Heidelberg Materials.
We also provide a Sustainable Drainage Solution (SuDS) to manage water drainage beneath sports and leisure surfaces and commercial paved areas. Incorporating our Aggflow system into your sports sub-base design enhances drainage performance, reduces flood risk, and supports environmental compliance.
Sports surface aggregates
Our specialist aggregates deliver:
- Uniform particle sizing for reliable surface consistency
- High compaction and load-bearing strength for maximum performance
We can also tailor blends to meet the specific surface requirements of your sporting application. Our range of sports aggregates is suitable for a wide variety of facilities, including:
- Football pitches
- Tennis courts
- Multi-use games areas (MUGAs)
- Athletics tracks
- Volleyball courts
Golf course aggregates and landscaping gravel
Decorative and functional aggregates from Heidelberg Materials are widely used in golf course construction, bunker sand installation, and landscaping projects.
Applications include:
- Bunker sands: For excellent drainage and playability
- Pathways, borders, and feature areas: For exceptional visual appeal
- Rootzone materials: For healthy turf development and maintenance
Contact us for more information
Sports sub-bases
A sports sub-base is the essential foundation layer beneath synthetic turf systems (e.g. an athletics track) or natural sports surfaces (e.g. a golf green). It provides stability, drainage, and load-bearing strength, ensuring that sports pitches, courts, and athletics tracks perform consistently and safely.
Without a properly installed sub-base, surfaces can suffer from poor drainage, uneven settlement, and reduced lifespan.
The role of the sub-base to a sports surface
This foundation layer offers a multitude of benefits to sport and leisure surfaces. These include:
- Acting as a structural support system for sports pitch construction
- Promoting efficient water drainage to prevent flooding and surface damage
- Maintaining surface integrity under heavy use and varying weather conditions
- Enhancing player safety by reducing unevenness and surface movement
A specialist sports sub-base is suitable for a wide range of facilities, such as:
- Football pitches
- Rugby fields
- Training grounds
- Tennis courts
- MUGAs
- Athletics tracks
- Synthetic turf installations
- Stadium surfaces
Speak to our expert team to find out more.
Aggflow: A SuDS for sport and leisure applications
Heidelberg Materials’ Aggflow system is a proven Sustainable Drainage Solution (SuDS). We designed it to manage water drainage and ensure quick and effective soak away beneath sports and leisure surfaces, commercial paved areas, and other SuDS drainage requirements.
Why should sports surfaces use a SuDS?
Using Aggflow within your sports sub-base design offers numerous advantages, including:
- Enhanced drainage performance which increases durability and improves sustainability
- Reduced surface water and flooding risk
- Wider water management system support
- Environmental compliance to a strict, multi-faceted environmental framework
- Keeping paved parking and sports surfaces usable and playable in all weather conditions
- Long-term durability
Where effective drainage is critical for performance and safety, Aggflow is ideal. Applications across the sport and leisure sector include:
- Football pitches
- Rugby fields
- Athletics tracks
- MUGAs
- Car parks
- Patios
- Pathways
Other materials for sport & leisure
In addition to aggregates, sub-base solutions, and SuDS, we supply a variety of specialist sands, asphalt products, and concrete surfaces that are ideal for the sport and leisure sector.
Sports sands
Improve the quality of greens, bunkers, and other sports surfaces with our specialist sands. All sands are washed and graded fine aggregates that we’ve engineered for ultimate performance.
- Enhance drainage systems
- Increase aesthetic appeal
- Quick to install
- Low-maintenance
- Cost-effective
Asphalt
Our asphalt products ensure year-round play across a variety of sports and leisure activities, from tennis to MUGAs.
Concrete surfaces
Coloured concrete is perfect for sports and leisure spaces. It delivers durability for high-traffic areas while adding vibrant colour to paths, courts, and outdoor facilities. With a range of shades available, you can create attractive, long-lasting surfaces that enhance the experience for every visitor.
Contact us
Choose the right aggregate, Aggflow SuDS solution, or specialist sand for your sport or leisure application with the help of our experts.
Contact your local aggregates team using the details provided on the right of this page. Alternatively, please complete the contact form located at the bottom of this page.
Leisure and sport aggregates FAQs
- How do you choose the right sports surface for different activities?
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Choosing the right sports surface involves a careful assessment of several factors, from the activity itself to the budget, timescale, and installation location.
- The primary driver is the intended sport. The surface will be engineered to meet specific requirements, whether that’s ball bounce for a tennis court or the impact absorption and slip resistance of an athletics track.
- Budget is a secondary driver. Some high-performance materials cost more upfront, but may only need minimal maintenance for a long lifespan.
- The installation location is another important consideration, as this dictates requirements from drainage and UV resistance to temperature tolerance.
For expert support with choosing the right materials for your sports surface or application, please contact our team.
- What is the role of aggregates in sports surfacing solutions?
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Specialist aggregates play a fundamental role in sports surfacing solutions, forming the essential structural foundation beneath surfaces like running tracks and football pitches. They ensure surfaces are level, stable, durable, properly drained, and meet the specific performance criteria of the sport being played.
Crushed stone and larger aggregates create the sub-base
This provides necessary stability, load-bearing strength, and the primary layer for water drainage.
Finer aggregates, like silica sand, are used as infill in artificial turf
These aggregates are ideal for adding ballast and enhancing shock absorption.
- What is silica sand?
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Silica sand is a naturally occurring material. It’s composed of silicon dioxide and is usually light in colour and fine-grained. Silica sand is used in sports applications because of its desirable characteristics, including:
- Consistent particle size and shape
- High purity
- Resistance to weathering
When used in artificial grass, silica sand acts as the infill material, where it’s layered between the synthetic grass blades. Its weight helps to hold the turf carpet down, preventing wrinkles and shifting. The granular structure of silica sand supports the synthetic fibres of the grass blades, too, helping them to stand upright and mimic the look and feel of natural grass.
- What type of sand is best for tennis court surfaces?
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A high-quality and very fine grade of silica sand is most appropriate for traditional acrylic-coated hard tennis courts. The sand is often mixed with an acrylic paint system to create the non-slip, textured surface. It regulates ball bounce and friction, controlling the speed of the game.
Silica sand can also be applied to synthetic clay or artificial grass tennis courts, where it’s used as an infill for stability and performance.
Regardless of the court type, it’s vital to choose a silica sand that is:
- Specifically graded
- Clean
- Free of impurities
For help selecting the best sand for your court’s surface, please contact our team.
- What considerations should be made when selecting an athletics track surface?
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When selecting the surface for an athletics track, you need to balance high-performance and long-term durability with athlete safety.
The level of competition is one of the primary considerations you must make. International standards require certified systems that offer highly uniform shock absorption and energy return. Permeability is also vital, as tracks need excellent drainage to remain usable in wet conditions (although some high-performance tracks are non-porous).
The track surface must provide consistent spike resistance without being too abrasive - for instance, minimising the chance of wear and tear on athletes' equipment.
You also need to account for track longevity and maintenance costs. Synthetic surfaces are a significant investment, and they require regular cleaning and repairs to maintain optimal performance properties.
- How does sand for bunkers differ from other types of sand used in sports?
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The type of sand used in golf course bunkers is highly specialised, even when compared with the sand used in other sport applications (for instance, infill in artificial turf or in acrylic court surfaces).
Bunker sand is selected primarily for its playability characteristics, which include particle size, shape, colour, and ability to resist compaction. It must be:
- Clean
- Light-coloured (white or near-white for contrast with the greens)
- A uniform grain shape (to allow the golfer's club to slide through easily)
Silica sand used for artificial turf is usually finer - it’s chosen because of its ability to stabilise the turf and act as ballast.
