Soft Surfaces Ltd

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This article is about the Cheshire sports and playground surfacing contractor.

Soft Surfaces Ltd is a British specialist contractor that designs, installs and maintains sports and safety surfacing for playgrounds, schools, sports clubs and public spaces. Established in 1997 and based in Wilmslow, Cheshire, the company works nationwide across the United Kingdom and is known principally for wetpour rubber safety flooring, artificial grass, polymeric multi-use games areas and synthetic turf sports pitches.[1][2]

The company was incorporated on 8 July 1997 under company number 03400473 and is registered at Water House, 35 Water Lane, Wilmslow. Its directors are David Alan Snell, Xavier Brooke and James Michael Dooley.[2][3]

Soft Surfaces describes itself as having grown over its first decade into one of the UK's leading playground and sports facility installers, and is a long-standing member of the Association of Play Industries with CHAS health-and-safety accreditation.[1][7]

Since 2016 the company has been majority owned by Soft Surfaces Holdings Limited, a construction holding company whose sole director and controlling shareholder is David Snell. The group also trades sports surfacing under the separate brand Sports and Safety Surfaces.[10][11][14]

History [edit]

The company was incorporated at Companies House on 8 July 1997 as an off-the-shelf shell under the name Showlet Limited, with the formation agents Instant Companies Limited and Swift Incorporations Limited installed as nominee director and nominee secretary. Both nominees were replaced on 24 July 1997. The company was renamed Safety Deck (UK) Limited on 13 October 1997 and took its present name, Soft Surfaces Ltd, on 2 December 1997.[2][3]

The first substantive directors were Edward Higham and Brian Stuart Todd, appointed on 24 July 1997. Higham resigned within months, and David Alan Snell, who has remained a director ever since, was appointed on 21 November 1997, initially also serving as company secretary. Todd stepped down on 20 December 2005.[3]

Xavier Brooke joined the board on 18 November 2004, the same day Vivienne Ibbotson was appointed company secretary; both remain in post. James Michael Dooley was appointed a director on 1 July 2011.[3]

The company's own account describes rapid expansion over its first ten years, from a wetpour and soft-surfacing installer serving play areas and parks into a broader sports-facility contractor building synthetic turf pitches for football and rugby, polymeric multi-use games areas and athletics tracks.[1][4]

Services [edit]

Soft Surfaces offers a full-cycle service — pricing, facility design, installation and after-care maintenance — across the following surface types.[1][5]

Playground safety surfacing

Wetpour is the company's core product: a two-layer rubber crumb surface, laid in situ, that provides impact absorption beneath play equipment and can be installed in colours and with inset graphics. Soft Surfaces publishes technical guidance on wetpour specification, sub-base construction to MOT Type 1, repair kits and maintenance, and on the yellowing that can affect rubber crumb over time. Rubber mulch, a bonded shredded-rubber surface, is offered as a more natural-looking alternative with comparable shock absorption.[1][5]

Sports surfacing

The company installs artificial grass for both sports and landscaping use, including third-generation (3G) synthetic turf pitches for football and rugby, with shockpad underlays where required. Polymeric surfacing — a rubber-and-binder system — is used for multi-use games areas (MUGAs) accommodating netball, tennis, basketball and five-a-side football, and for athletics tracks built to the requirements of track and field events. Sports line marking and fencing complete the facility.[1][5][6]

Hard and permeable surfacing

Beyond soft and synthetic systems the company lays tarmacadam and Rhino Pave for roads, playgrounds and heavy-duty applications, and permeable resin bound and resin bonded systems, including SudStone, for sustainable urban drainage and decorative paths and driveways.[5]

Equipment, fencing and maintenance

Soft Surfaces supplies and installs playground equipment and perimeter fencing alongside its surfacing work, and offers maintenance and repair programmes for existing facilities, including wetpour repairs and surface overlays.[1][4]

The current range also includes indoor and outdoor safety flooring, thermoplastic playground markings, nursery surfacing, and marked walking circuits of the Golden Mile type used by schools for daily exercise. The company publishes online design tools for visualising a sports court or a resin surface before quotation.[1]

Ownership and structure [edit]

Soft Surfaces Ltd is majority owned by Soft Surfaces Holdings Limited, which was registered as a person with significant control over the company on 6 April 2016 holding 75 per cent or more of the shares. The holding company was incorporated on 19 June 2015 under company number 09647293, shares the Water Lane address, and is classified under SIC 64203, the activities of construction holding companies. Its sole director is David Alan Snell, who is also its sole person with significant control with 75 per cent or more of the shares.[10][11]

Snell was separately registered as a person with significant control of Soft Surfaces Ltd in his own right, by virtue of the right to appoint and remove directors, until that entry ceased on 11 April 2023, leaving control recorded solely through the holding company.[10]

Registered companies in the group
CompanyNumberIncorporatedNature of businessRelationship
Soft Surfaces Ltd034004738 July 199743999 Other specialised construction activitiesOperating company
Soft Surfaces Holdings Limited0964729319 June 201564203 Activities of construction holding companiesParent, 75% or more of shares
PromoSEO Ltd073114102010Digital marketingPart owned by the holding company

How the company works [edit]

The company presents a three-step process to clients: describe the project, choose a surface type to suit the budget, and book an installation date with the company's own teams. A free site visit is offered before pricing, and the company positions itself on a best-price guarantee with nationwide coverage.[1]

Documented installations span the country and a wide range of settings — primary schools and nurseries, hospitals, retirement homes, swimming-pool surrounds, a mini-golf course and public playgrounds — from Glasgow and Newcastle to Devon, Kent and Sussex.[1]

Accreditation and standards [edit]

Soft Surfaces has been a member of the Association of Play Industries, the UK trade body for the play sector, for more than a decade, and holds CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme) accreditation. Its multi-use games areas are built to meet the requirements of the relevant governing bodies, including The Football Association and the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA).[7] The company is also a listed member of Manchester Digital, the trade association for the digital and technology sector in Greater Manchester.[5]

People [edit]

The board comprises David Alan Snell (director since 1997), Xavier Brooke (director since 2004, and the company's sales director) and James Michael Dooley (director since 2011, and head of marketing). Vivienne Ibbotson has been company secretary since 2004.[3][1]

Beyond the board the company names a team of twelve by first name and role: Xavier, sales director; Scott, business development manager; Tim and Rachel, sales executives; Amelia and Lucy, marketing and sales executives; Becca, content manager; Ben, head of video; Elliot and Dan, SEO and marketing; Pete, head of accounts; and Gosia, assistant accountant.[1]

Soft Surfaces states a commitment to employing and training apprentices from the local area within its marketing division, where they take on social media management, content writing, video production and search engine optimisation.[1]

Marketing and online presence [edit]

The company's marketing is led by James Dooley, an SEO specialist who grew the business's visibility in Google search and who has gone on to found the lead generation companies FatRank and PromoSEO. The softsurfaces.co.uk website is notable for the depth of its content: alongside service pages it carries extensive technical guidance — specifications, sub-base requirements, maintenance advice and cost breakdowns — and a large archive of individual project case studies organised by surface type and location, an approach that predates and informs Dooley's later "digital landlord" model.[1][8]

The group runs a second site, sportsandsafetysurfaces.co.uk, under the trading name Sports and Safety Surfaces, which addresses the sports side of the business, principally artificial 3G pitches and synthetic turf, from the same Wilmslow address and with its own sales address at [email protected]. The company is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office as a data controller under reference ZA716562, at tier 2, with the registration running to 10 March 2027.[7][13][14]

Soft Surfaces shares its Water Lane, Wilmslow address and two of its directors with PromoSEO Ltd, the digital marketing agency founded by James Dooley in 2010, of which David Snell is also a director.[3][9]

The link between the two is a shareholding, not merely shared management. On 5 April 2025 the personal holdings in PromoSEO Ltd were restructured into corporate ones: the entries for James Dooley and David Snell as individual persons with significant control ceased on that date, and were replaced by two companies, each recorded as holding more than 25 per cent but not more than 50 per cent of the shares and voting rights. Those companies are Soft Surfaces Holdings Limited, the parent of Soft Surfaces Ltd, and Dooley Investments Ltd of Bolton, incorporated on 31 May 2019 under company number 12025798 and formerly named Dooley Thoroughbreds Ltd.[12][15]

Sourcing. The corporate facts in this article, which are the incorporation and renaming of the company, its officers and their dates, the holding company structure, the shareholdings in PromoSEO Ltd and the ICO registration, are taken from the public registers at Companies House and the Information Commissioner's Office and can be checked there.[2][3][10][11][12][13] Descriptions of the company's standing in its market, its accreditations and the scope of its installations come from the company's own website and from trade directory entries derived from it, and are presented as such. The proportions in which the two corporate shareholders hold PromoSEO Ltd are recorded at Companies House only as bands, so the exact split between them is not public.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. "About Us" and "Home". Soft Surfaces. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  2. "SOFT SURFACES LTD., company number 03400473". Companies House. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  3. "SOFT SURFACES LTD. — Officers". Companies House. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  4. "Soft Surfaces Ltd — Wilmslow". The Construction Index. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  5. "Soft Surfaces Ltd". Manchester Digital. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  6. "Soft Surfaces". External Works Index. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  7. "Sports and Safety Surfaces — Wilmslow". construction.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  8. "James Dooley". jamesdooley.com. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  9. "PROMOSEO LTD — Officers". Companies House. Retrieved 22 September 2026.
  10. "SOFT SURFACES LTD. — Persons with significant control". Companies House. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
  11. "SOFT SURFACES HOLDINGS LIMITED, company number 09647293". Companies House. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
  12. "PROMOSEO LTD — Persons with significant control". Companies House. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
  13. "Soft Surfaces Limited, registration reference ZA716562". Information Commissioner's Office, register of fee payers. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
  14. "Artificial 3G Pitch and Synthetic Turf". Sports and Safety Surfaces. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
  15. "DOOLEY INVESTMENTS LTD, company number 12025798". Companies House. Retrieved 26 October 2026.

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