With the £7 million refurbishment of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds gathering pace, Goole Town Council and the Goole Town Deal Board have offered an insight into the busy programme of work planned for the weeks ahead.

Last week, the main contractor, Scunthorpe-based Britcon, which is responsible for the development of the new pavilion and car park, completed the final excavation work and installed a pile mat (a working platform that provides a stable surface to support piling rigs) in preparation for piling work to begin immediately after the Easter bank holiday weekend. At the same time, the installation of the necessary drainage infrastructure has also been progressing.

The piling work will take around two-and-a-half weeks to complete, with work to install a ground beam (a reinforced concrete beam providing structural support) and the rest of the concrete substructure getting underway during the week commencing 12 May. This process will take around five weeks, so should be finished by mid-June.

Meanwhile, S & C Slatter, the specialist artificial grass contractor, has begun preparing the base for the 3G artificial turf pitch and compact athletics facilities.  Five truckloads of gravel – 100 tonnes in all – were delivered to the site last week for drainage backfill purposes, ready for work to install the drainage infrastructure to commence immediately after Easter. This means that there will be fewer deliveries to the site between now and the end of April. However, from the end of the month, a further 500 tonnes of stone – the equivalent of 25 truck loads – will be required to build the base of the 3G pitch and athletics facilities. The final deliveries of stone are expected to arrive during the week commencing 5 May, so that the surface can then be levelled, rolled and compacted.

Brian Robertson, Clerk to Goole Town Council, said: “Whilst we’re making every effort to keep noise, mess and disruption to a minimum, we’d like to thank local residents for bearing with us during what’s likely to be the busiest phase of the refurbishment project at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds.  

“The two contractors are working side by side on the different elements of the refurbishment project to try to ensure that we not only hit our deadlines but also keep the period of disruption to a minimum.”

He added: “Where possible, the team of contractors have been re-using demolition rubble as the base for the piling mat, reducing the amount of material that we need to transport into the site. They have also been damping the rubble down to reduce dust and mess.”

Phil Jones, Chair of the Goole Town Deal Board, said: “It’s incredibly exciting to see the rapid rate of progress at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds, where the refurbishment work is now very much in full swing. We’ll continue to do our best to keep the local community informed of progress on site, and we thank those living nearby for their patience and understanding during this particularly busy phase of the project.”

The new-look Victoria Pleasure Grounds will boast a full-size, artificial 3G pitch; compact athletics facilities; a two-storey pavilion with a 160-seat conference and hospitality suite capable of hosting sporting, corporate and social events; and extra on-site parking. In addition to the Goole Town Deal funding allocated to the refurbishment project, the Football Foundation is contributing more than £2 million.