Draft. Not approved for publication.
The figures on this page are a working shape, not Lewis Gill's costed prices. They are grounded in published UK market ranges so the page can be reviewed with realistic numbers in it.
Draft bands based on published UK market ranges (Checkatrade 2026 cost guide; Horse & Hound owner reports). Replace with Lewis Gill's costed figures before publication. This page is set to noindex and the homepage shows no figures until PRICING_CONFIRMED is set to true in src/data/arena/pricing.ts.
Guide prices
What a riding arena actually costs.
Lewis has built arenas for his whole working life and has never seen a firm in this trade publish a price. We checked the two best known companies in the region: fifty one pages between them, and not one carries a price, a range or a starting figure. One of them calls an arena "a big investment" and then never says what the investment is.
You are entitled to know roughly what you are getting into before you invite anyone onto your land. So here it is.
By size
Guide price
20m × 40m outdoor arena
£28,000
typically to £38,000, excluding VAT
The standard British arena and the right size for most private yards. Big enough for a full dressage test, schooling over a course of fences and general flatwork.
Included
- Site strip, cut and fill to level on reasonable ground
- Perimeter and lateral drainage connected to a designed outfall
- Compacted stone sub-base with geotextile membrane
- Silica sand and fibre riding surface, laid and levelled
- Post and rail perimeter fence with a single gate
- Site clearance and reinstatement on completion
Guide price
20m × 60m outdoor arena
£38,000
typically to £52,000, excluding VAT
The full international dressage size. Half as much again in ground, drainage and surface, so the cost difference is real rather than cosmetic.
Included
- Everything in the 20m × 40m specification, at 60m length
- Additional lateral drainage runs across the extra span
- Proportionally larger stone and surface volumes
Guide price
Refurbishment and resurfacing
£11 per m²
typically to £28 per m², excluding VAT
- 20m × 40m · 800m²
- £8,800 to £22,400
- 20m × 60m · 1200m²
- £13,200 to £33,600
An existing arena that has stopped riding well. Sometimes it needs a top up, sometimes the surface is finished, and sometimes the real problem is underneath.
Included
- Survey of the existing sub-base and drainage before anything is quoted
- Removal and disposal of spent surface where required
- New surface supplied, laid and levelled
- Drainage jetting or replacement where it is the actual fault
What moves the number
These are the additions that turn one quote into another. We itemise them rather than folding them invisibly into a total, because the total is where surprises live.
| Addition | Typical range |
|---|---|
Wax coated fibre surface, in place of sand and fibre Rides consistently in a dry summer and a wet winter, and needs far less watering. It is the single upgrade most people are glad they made. | £8,000 to £14,000 |
Difficult ground: heavy clay, high water table or significant slope Cut and fill on a slope, or a drainage design that has to work against clay, is real engineering and real cost. We would rather price it than absorb it and cut corners. | £4,000 to £12,000 |
Poor or restricted access An arena is several hundred tonnes of material. If a lorry cannot reach the site, everything has to be transhipped, and that is the cost nobody mentions until the quote arrives. | £2,000 to £8,000 |
Floodlighting Columns, luminaires, ducting and the electrical supply. Usually the part of a planning application that attracts objections, so it is worth deciding early. | £6,000 to £11,000 |
Upgraded fencing, mirrors or a second gate Specified to what you actually ride rather than as a standard package. | £1,500 to £7,000 |
Planning application, drawings and supporting statements Handled for you where you would rather not deal with it. Deducted from the build price if the application is approved and you proceed. | £1,200 to £3,500 |
What a web page cannot tell you
- Ground conditions decide more of the final figure than the size of the arena does.
- Every band above assumes a site a lorry can reach and ground that is workable in the season we are building.
- None of these figures include VAT.
- A site visit is the only way to turn a band into a number, and it costs you nothing.
Guide prices are exactly that. They exist so you can decide whether to have the conversation, which is the thing a website should tell you and the thing this industry refuses to.