Educational Establishments
Work begins on the North Field Project
How have changing weather patterns affected what you do?
The main change seems to have been warmer autumns, meaning an extended growing season. I think I cut the cricket square at least once every month last winter. I made a couple of applications of Primo Maxx in September this year to slow things down a bit. The autumn growth does mean that pitches are recovering extremely well after use.
Do you take regular soil samples to ascertain what work is required?
Yes, particularly in respect of the fertiliser programme.
Artificial surfaces - what ongoing maintenance/refurbishment is carried out?
The artificial hockey pitch is brushed as often as possible, with an annual renovation carried out by a contractor. I carry out weed and moss control as necessary and keep the areas clear of leaves.
Are you working on any special projects at the moment?
We have just completed a major project to turn an ex-landfill site into natural turf sports pitches.
The North Field Project was part of the
Cleveland Land Services begin work on the site
school’s development programme when it first moved to the Ashford site in 2010. That it has taken five years to come to fruition is due to a variety of reasons, most of them associated with the previous use of the land as a local authority landfill site. Issues with the clay cap over the landfill material and soil contamination problems all had to be surmounted before the process of constructing sports pitches could begin.
After several false starts, the school employed the services of Noel Mackenzie of Sportsturf Consulting Ltd to act as consultant on the project. Noel commissioned further surveys and soil testing to ascertain the extent of the problem and, eventually, agreement was reached between the school, the local authority (Spelthorne) and the Environment Agency on a scheme that involved importing 300mm of topsoil over the entire 2.2hectare site.
At the end of 2014, six companies took part in the tender process, with north-eastern company Cleveland Land Services (CLS) being clear winners. The school worked with CLS to finalise the scope of the work and, in March 2015, the governors gave the £0.5 million project their blessing.
Approximately two-thirds of the site had been drained during one of the earlier
attempts, with 100mm drains laid at 5m centres. The problem with importing such a large amount of soil was that it took the drains that much further from the surface. It was imperative that the imported soil was as free draining as possible to connect the surface to the drains, now 750mm below the surface.
Several soils were investigated and we settled for a Bourne Amenity soil which contained 15% compost. It was at this point that the school had some good fortune. One of the governors had close ties to Rosslyn Park Rugby Club, who were taking up their Roehampton pitch to replace it with a new 4G artificial surface. The soil being removed was almost exactly as specified by Noel Mackenzie and the school could have it for just the cost of the transport. Within a couple of days of accepting the offer, over 200 tipper trucks had arrived and the school had approximately a third of its needs at a very advantageous price.
Work continued through the second half of the summer term, sometimes at odds with the exams being taken by the older boys. CLS completed the drainage work and started transporting the soil across the site. Work was stepped up as soon as the boys left for the summer holidays and, by mid-July, all of
A stroke of fortune - 200 lorry loads of topsoil became available, for the cost of the transport, from Rosslyn Park Rugby Club ...
50 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016
... which, along with a Bourne Amenity soil was used on the North Field Project
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