Brentwood Baseball Club - backstop update

This section of the website contains the latest news and updates on the planning, funding and construction of Brentwood Baseball Club's backstop that is scheduled to be built for the start of the 2009 season.

The most recent updates appear at the top of this page and once construction starts then photographs of progress will be included.

12th May 2009

In the last few weeks the new backstop area has been cleared of shrubs and the concrete bases and footpath removed.

Some earth has already been brought onsite to fill the area and we have heard from the council that from the week commencing 11th May a further 340 tonnes of soil will be brought onsite and compacted. This work should be completed by the 1th May.

Once this has been done the soil will need to be left to settle for a few weeks after which work can start on constructing the foundations and after these have set then work on putting up the backstop steelwork can begin.

13th April 2009

Due to a number of reasons the backstop construction work has been delayed the past two months. In order to progress the work on the backstop forward Tom Keegan and Sean Briscomb met with 2 representatives from Brentwood Council and 3 local councillors at the ground on 2nd April. The purpose of this meeting was to establish the next steps in building the backstop.

The first step is for the backstop position, home plate and 1st/3rd base lines to be marked on the field to ensure that there is sufficient distance to the road in right field and footpath in left field. Once the position of the backstop is established then the backstop area needs to be cleared of existing shrubs and concrete ready for the foundations and earth brought in and levelled over the existing footpath behind the current diamond. For the foundation work there are 2 options for this - construct the foundations initially at the current ground level and once these are completed to backfill the earth around them, or bring the earth onsite, compact this to the correct level and leave to settle for a few weeks before digging the foundations into the new earth. The best method for doing this will be decided in a subsequent meeting between Brentwood Baseball Club and Brentwood council based on structural calculations for the backstop and advice from the Brentwood Council structural engineers.

A number of actions were agreed in the meeting for the following weeks:

w/c 6th April - Brentwood Baseball Club to mark the position of the baseball diamond on the field and to provide Brentwood council with details of the contractor who will be able to provide the earth for the backstop construction and also the structural calculations for the backstop. Brentwood Council to review the structural calculations and to arrange a contractor to do the clearance work at the ground and the earth moving and compaction.

w/c 13th April - Ground clearance work to take place (removal of shrubs and existing concrete slabs).

w/c 20th April - Meeting with Brentwood Council to agree the method for the backstop work and the key dates for this work.

4th February 2009

The backstop project has progressed further and is on course for erection at the start of the season or before if at all possible.

The meeting with the Brentwood Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) went well and our application for funding was said to be a good one. This has been sent in for examination and we expect to hear back from them within a 3 week period as to whether our application for Grassroots funding is successful.

The steel fabricator has all the required elements and has indicated that a turnaround time of around 3 weeks to construct the backstop is likely from when the order is placed. The order will be placed once we hear back from the CVS about our funding application.

The build programme is being revised to accomodate verbal agreements and minor changes with Brentwood Council.

Key stages in the construction are:

• Mark out and lay foundations
• Delivery of backstop steelwork
• Erection of backstop
• Completion

Please check this page regularly for further updates and dates for each stage.