Checklists · Sports courts
Sports Court & Facility Planning Checklists
Court projects are shaped by who plays, how often, and what the site allows. These checklists help an owner or club representative describe that clearly, then take the technical questions to the people qualified to answer them.
Nothing here states dimensions, run-off distances, lighting levels, gradients or surface specifications, and nothing determines capacity, crowd safety, fire safety or accessibility. Requirements vary by location, sport, level of play and intended use, and are confirmed with the relevant governing body and qualified professionals.
30 checklists in this category
What this area covers
Planning topics in this category
Each checklist prepares one specific conversation or decision point. None of them determines compliance, suitability or cost.
- Site description and intended use
- Who plays, when, and at what level
- Surface, drainage, lighting and enclosure questions
- Consent and governing-body topics to confirm
Checklists in this category
Browse by project stage
Each checklist sits at the earliest point in a project where it becomes useful. Every checklist in this category appears in exactly one stage below.
Thinking it through
Before anything is committed — working out whether the idea suits you at all.
Sports Court Project Prep →Preparation prompts for an owner or club considering a court: describing the ground, recording who would play and when, and framing surface and consent topics as questions.Tennis Court Planning →A tennis court starts with the ground, the trees and the light on it: prompts for recording all three and turning surface, enclosure and net choices into written questions.Padel Court Planning →A padel court arrives as a structure on a base somebody else designs: prompts for describing the site and the neighbours, and for what each specialist must be asked.Basketball Court Planning →Prompts for a hoop or small court: how it would really be played on, where a missed shot ends up, how the bounce carries, and what to put to a specialist.Court Orientation Questions →An orientation checklist for owners and clubs recording where the sun sits at real playing hours, what casts shade over the site, and which directions a court could run.Court Site Selection Questions →A site-comparison checklist for owners and clubs describing each possible position for a court, what the ground is doing there now, and how machinery would ever reach it.Court Drainage Discussion →A water-behaviour record for court owners and clubs noting where it stands on the playing area, where it arrives from, and what receives it once it has left.Court Noise Questions →Preparation for the neighbour side of a court project: what a court actually sounds like, who faces it, when play would happen, and which questions belong elsewhere.Court Shelter Questions →Questions to work through before adding shade or shelter at a court, covering who uses it, shadow across play, wind and driven rain, trees, roof water and local consent.Court Conversion Questions →Questions for an owner or club weighing a change of sport on an existing court: what it was built for, what the new game would ask of it, and who has to be asked.Covered Court Planning →Before a court is covered, an owner has to say what the structure is meant to change, describe the site honestly, and know which parts belong with qualified professionals.Home Court Planning →A court in a domestic garden: what the garden gives up, who at home would really play, and which questions belong with professionals and with the local authority.
Early planning
Gathering what you already know and shaping the project before drawings begin.
Multi-Sport Court Planning →Owner-side prompts for a court shared between sports: putting the games in priority order, spotting where they conflict, and preparing marking and changeover questions.Court Surface Decisions →A preparation checklist for owners and clubs describing how a court will be played on, what the weather does to that site, and the upkeep they can genuinely commit to.Court Lighting Discussion →An after-dark record for court owners and clubs covering when light is genuinely needed, what lies in the direction it would travel, and who would switch it off.Court Fencing Questions →Questions to prepare before a court enclosure is designed: what the fence is really containing, where balls leave the playing area now, and which parts belong with a specialist.Court Access Planning →A preparation record for how people, kit and machinery reach the court: the route in, where an opening sits against play, and who is expected to hold a key.Court Spectator Area Planning →Groundwork for how a court gets watched: where people already stand, what they do in the long gaps between play, and which viewing questions belong with professionals.Court Consent Conversation →Preparing for the consent conversation about a court: setting out the proposal plainly, gathering site evidence, and sorting which question belongs to whom before anyone is approached.Court Groundworks Questions →Questions to bring to the groundworks conversation beneath a court: the ground and its history, what is buried, where spoil goes, edges, and who is responsible for the formation.Court Resurfacing Conversation →Preparation for a resurfacing conversation: setting down what an existing court has been through, describing what has failed on it, and planning around the loss of play.Court Maintenance Planning →What a court asks for once it is in play: the upkeep the surface expects, who would actually do it, and which care questions belong with the specialist contractor.Court Seasonal Use Planning →A record of how court use rises and falls through the seasons: what wet and cold spells take out of play, and which seasonal questions belong with a specialist.Court Project Documentation →The paperwork behind a court project: which papers describe the land, how decisions and drawings are recorded, and what a professional will ask you to produce.
Brief & professionals
Writing the brief and preparing the conversations with qualified professionals.
Court Storage Planning →A working record of the nets, posts, machines and maintenance kit a court creates, where each item would live between sessions, and which storage questions belong with a specialist.Court Line Marking Decisions →Owner-side prompts for court markings: which games the lines are really for, how overlapping sports read on one surface, colour and contrast, and what can change later.Court Equipment Questions →Owner-side prompts for court nets, posts, sockets and goals: what each game needs, how items are fixed or moved, what wears out first and where everything is stored.Court Contractor Conversation →Preparation for meeting a specialist court contractor: what to have ready, how to walk the site together, and how to keep several separate conversations comparable.Court Specification Review →How a lay owner prepares to read a court specification or drawing set: getting the versions straight, testing it against the brief, and marking what belongs with a professional.
Before & during the work
Site logistics, coordination and the questions that arise once work is under way.
Go deeper
Related Build Design Hub guides
Explanatory guidance behind the decisions these checklists prepare you for.