MOTHERWELL will become the fourth Scottish Premiership side to install a hybrid surface at their stadium with work set to begin this week.
Celtic, Rangers and Hearts have laid similar pitches at their grounds in recent years.
The current pitch will be completely cleared to make room for the new turf - 95 per cent of which will be grass, while the remaining five per cent will be synthetic stitched fibres.
Construction will begin on Thursday and the process of laying the pitch is expected to take five weeks, at which point the turf will be 'stitched'.
Speaking to the Motherwell website, chief executive Alan Burrows predicted that the new surface would be of a higher quality than the current one and would save the Lanarkshire club money in the long term.
“For the last decade or more, the club has spent considerable cash, each summer, patching up the pitch to try and get us through the following season,” Burrows said.
“Owing almost exclusively to the skill and talent of Paul Matthew, our current head groundsman, and his deputies, we have seen a marked improvement over the last few years, albeit the root problems continue to persist under the surface and maintaining a reliable, stable pitch is becoming increasingly more challenging, particularly through the winter months.
Work will begin on a new hybrid pitch after the final home game of the season.
— Motherwell FC (@MotherwellFC) May 10, 2022
“We are throwing away good money every year by not fully fixing this issue.
“So the board have decided to do just that, which will not only provide an enhanced and reliable playing surface, but will also materially reduce the annual maintenance costs and allow us to further commercialise the pitch and the stadium, much like we have done in the past, but have been unable to in recent times because of the poor pitch construction.
“As a part of that rebuilding process, we also plan to reduce the slope of the pitch, which runs from the Cooper/Hunter Stand corner at its highest point, to the McLean/O’Donnell Stand corner at its lowest, by half of what it is now.
“That will improve the playability of the pitch for players, whilst significantly enhancing the sight lines in both the Cooper and McLean stands lower corners.”
