Our Services
We want golf to flourish at every level, from the grassroots public pitch and putt to the best Members’ courses in the country. However, they all need to be sustainable as businesses to flourish. Our many years’ experience means we can conduct feasibility studies that quickly and accurately determine whether your project is viable on several levels and we can also advise alternatives.
We have many years’ experience of the planning process and its requirements including producing, managing and submitting planning applications, which ensure that each project is presented to its full potential.
Normal planning requirements include detailed course grading and landscape design, cross-sections and planting schedules, as well as a detailed supporting statement covering site and project description, golf course construction, methodology, impact assessment and landscape management.
Larger projects have the potential to require a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). We will prepare the necessary details required to determine whether an EIA is necessary.
If a full Environmental Statement is required, we will undertake the Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment and co-ordinate the preparation of studies from other consultants such as ecology, traffic impact assessment and hydrology, as well as liaise with all the different parties involved.
Detailed colour artwork, photomontages and computer-generated views can be produced either for planning or marketing purposes.
Following planning submission, Weller Designs Ltd will manage the provision of further information to the authorities as required, either during the consultation phase or for the discharge of planning conditions following approval.
Grants and match funding
Public bodies like Sport England, London Marathon Charitable Trust, Entrust, The Football Association, British Cycling and local councils are keen to fund or match-fund local sports and leisure projects that meet certain criteria.
Grant applications require specialist skills and Weller Designs has successfully accessed funding for over 130 projects that might otherwise not have been viable or that have been more ambitious than originally imagined.
Using recovered soil to fund sports and leisure projects
Weller Designs has experience accessing funding through soil recovery; soil is a non-renewable resource and the UK Government and Environment Agency are keen that it does not end up in landfill.
Soil can be taken out of construction sites and used in sports- and leisure-based schemes, offsetting or covering the costs by commanding a royalty for allowing soil hauliers to deposit their soil at an approved site.
This royalty varies from project to project and each scheme has its own planning and Environment Agency requirements.
Private investors
Weller Designs also works with investors and other private funding organisations who could be introduced to schemes.
It can be in the best interests of the club to relocate – financially as well as for the game. We have extensive experience in this process and can quickly evaluate whether your club is a candidate.
For previous relocation projects, we have overseen the entire process, from sales negotiations, planning, acquisition of an alternative space and course design and build.
Giving over an amount of golf club land to housing can generate financial gains.
Smaller residential projects can be a quick solution. Weller can work with architects and independent, local housing developers to design plans and gain permission relatively quickly and come up with solutions for your golf course remaining in use during all stages of project delivery.
Larger housing projects, including course relocation to facilitate housing development, can have the potential for significant financial gains.
Including:
- Golf course appraisal
- Safety auditing
- Hole and bunker appraisal
- Hole relocation
New golf courses are an exciting part of our business.
For over three decades Bruce and David Weller have been designing golf course projects both in the UK and internationally. Our portfolio of work has seen successfully completed projects in the UK including the Marquess Course at Woburn Golf Club and internationally; projects have been completed or are in planning/construction in Spain, France, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Ireland and Israel.
Remodelling of courses has been a big growth area of business over the last ten years.
In a competitive marketplace, golf clubs, pay-and-play courses and driving ranges have to be increasingly aware of the standard of their facilities, both in terms of the quality of their courses, but also the diversity of facilities they offer.
Remodelling can be employed to make a course, or a specific part of a course, more attractive, more easily maintainable, resource-efficient, safer and suited to the demands of the modern game, whilst also raising the opportunity to reassess the overall experience being offered.
We have many years of combined experience designing and project managing practice,sports, leisure and recreation facilities provision for golf courses, local authorities, schools and sports clubs. We have worked on projects including:
- Practice facilities – from driving ranges to short game areas and practice nets, these facilities can enhance footfall during bad weather and help time-poor members keep their hand in.
- Multi-surface sports pitches – these can attract new client bases and regular income and can also attract clients to your other leisure facilities.
- Pump tracks and bike trails or cycle circuits – building a cycling track around your golf course can bring in revenue via an on-course bike shop and from increased footfall in your clubhouse or café.
- Spas and gyms – open to club members and non-members, can be built onto existing buildings and can require little additional space. They can be a source of reliable, year-round revenue and attract a new market to your golf club.
- Adventure Golf – this phenomenon has proved unanimously popular with children and families as well as schools, youth groups and corporate team building events.
- Ornamental putting greens – an opportunity to attract an older, affluent client base while enhancing the plant interest and aesthetics of your golf course.
- Catering and restaurant facilities – with many golf clubs gaining revenue from family functions and business bookings, enhancing catering, restaurant and hospitality functions can be a way to increase this revenue.
Many of these types of projects are candidates for funding and/or grants.
Weller Designs employ two landscape architects and therefore undertake all the landscape design and visual impact assessments for golf course planning applications in-house. Using the latest landscape software (Keyscape) and 3D modelling services, Weller Designs can accurately represent to the client the landscape element to a golf course; this is a vital part of a golf course quality and should not be overlooked.
Detailed planting plans are provided for every scheme along with landscape management plans, specifications and planting schedules.
The landscape design of the clubhouse areas and creating sense of arrival is also a very important part of the overall quality of the golf facility. Weller Designs are currently looking at re-landscaping all the clubhouse and arrival areas for GetGolfing which include Pyrford Golf Club, Sherfield Oaks Golf Club, Mill Green Golf Club, Redlibbets Golf Club and Ansty Golf Club.
Sherfield Oaks Patio Area Concept Plan
Weller Designs Ltd will assist with the tender process to appoint a golf course construction contractor.
We have the experience to offer the full range of plans and specification documents for tender, as well as contract administration, project management and site supervision for the full term of the development. We undertake regular site visits to check progress, conduct meetings with the contractor to review progress and liaise with the client.
For ongoing development of the golf course, Weller Designs Ltd produces management plans for course maintenance and landscape development.
Weller Designs Ltd will assist with the tender process to appoint a golf course construction contractor.
We have the experience to offer the full range of plans and specification documents for tender, as well as contract administration, project management and site supervision for the full term of the development. We undertake regular site visits to check progress, conduct meetings with the contractor to review progress and liaise with the client.
For ongoing development of the golf course, Weller Designs Ltd produces management plans for course maintenance and landscape development.
Weller Designs Ltd is leading the way by incorporating sustainable thinking into all its design, construction and management processes.
Two features which we successfully use in a number of golf courses are appropriate inert soil importation and the implementation of rainwater harvesting as part of an irrigation system.
When applied to a golf course development, sustainability involves the conservation and enhancement of landscape and ecosystems, the efficient use of resources and the integration into the community by the design, construction and operation of a successful facility that leaves a lasting, positive legacy for people and the environment.
With Weller Designs Ltd covering all facets of golf course development from concept to completion, we are well placed to greatly influence how sustainability is integrated into and managed throughout the life of a project’s development.
Weller Designs is actively involved in the EIGCA’s Raising the Standard of Sustainable Golf Course Development which was launched in April 2013 and based on the Golf Environment Organisation’s Sustainability Guidelines for Golf. The programme involves a series of webinars on landscape and ecosystems, water, energy, products and supply chains, environmental quality, people and communities.
We can also advise on the use of solar panels, heat exchange pumps and biomass energy generation.
