Educational Establishments Right hand man
Guy Jones is Alan’s right hand man for turf maintenance duties at the school’s nearby Green Lane and Aislaby sportsgrounds.
The futuristic design concept extends to the new boathouse
Multi-million pound project creates major sporting hub
CLS Sports were selected to deliver “an outstanding new hockey and rowing facility” at Yarm School late last year, along with a complete car park and landscape refurbishment. Located on an environmentally sensitive site on the bank of the River Tees, Yarm School finally gained planning permission to boost its existing rowing facilities and hockey pitch facility under a multi-million pound project that included a new boathouse, new sand-dressed synthetic surface and extensive landscaping works, showcasing the construction and installation expertise of contractors CLS Sports. Opened by former pupil and Olympic gold
medal rower Katherine Copeland MBE, the innovative rowing facility presents students with a great opportunity to excel at one of Britain's worldleading sports. The school had faced a major battle over
several years to gain planning consent. The boathouse’s impact on surrounding trees - all holding preservation orders and set within a conservation zone - as well as the river frontage were key factors in the local authority’s considerations in giving the green light. Following a detailed public consultation,
preparation of architectural models and PowerPoint presentations, consent was granted in 2014 through delegated powers. “A flexible and collaborative approach was
essential for success,” said the company’s director Stephen Miller, the third generation of the family to work for the sports and landscaping concern. “This was one of our largest projects to date,”
he added, “and includes construction of a full- sized floodlit synthetic hockey pitch installed with pozi-drain system, reduced fines sub-base, grit layer, Tarmacadam engineered base, shockpad and Domo Hockey Xtreme 18mm sand-dressed carpet.” The new synthetic pitch bolsters provision for the school, replacing the original two-thirds sized hockey pitch, whilst also included in the development was the extension of the car park and new school entrance. The pitch, constructed on a significant incline, involved CLS undertaking extensive earthworks and installing a sheet pile retaining wall before it could be laid. “Yarm School enjoys a strong rowing
tradition in the North of England as well as an academically high one,” said Estates Manager Alan Hodgson, tasked with project managing the works. “What were once basic facilities have been transformed into superb ones that include a new jetty and slipway.”
60 I PC JUNE/JULY 2016 The futuristic cedar clad boathouse, which
includes leading edge training, changing rooms and office, features a large cantilever structure overhanging the river. The Juliette balcony offers excellent riverside viewing for spectators, whilst a large platform on the other side presents a grandstand view of the new hockey pitch; large enough for twelve tennis courts in summer. Fully funded by the school, the project
presented a major boost for Yarm’s pupils among its three to 18-year-old age range spanning nursery, pre-prep, preparatory, junior and senior levels. The school also opens its doors to the community with a 750-seat auditorium that hosts numerous school and external events. “This presented a huge challenge in
completing, what was, a logistically highly complex project,” Alan adds, “and relied on close co-ordination with CLS Sports, which we appointed due to their wealth of experience and expertise in the sports construction sector and their success with several other projects here.” Stephen Miller added: “Because the new
pitch extends on to the flood plain, a 480m3 attenuation tank was included in the works as a requirement of planning consent. The floodlighting was tailored to the site due to the close proximity of neighbouring properties and varying external ground levels. “CLS Landscape and Earthworks provided major soft and hard landscaping that involved tree removal and planting of deciduous and evergreen species, drainage and earthworks, construction of resin-bonded parking bays, with a sustainable drainage system installed beneath it and planting and turfing around the entrance and car park area.”
www.cls-sports.co.uk
What’s in the shed?
Guy’s machinery policy is to run “two of everything” to ensure he always has the right kit for the job.
Massey Ferguson M5425 and 5610 tractors. “I’ve always had a Massey.”
Trimax Pegasus rotary deck mower for the rugby pitches to cut height of 75mm (approximately three inches). “A major improvement on cylinder alternatives as it avoids the damage they can cause.”
Toro 7490, seven gang mower for cutting the cricket outfield and the football pitch.
Toro LT3340 mower for the cricket outfield and tidying up the edges of the field.
Linemarker for summer sports, such as rounders and shot put.
Two Hayter LT324 triple mowers for lawns and cricket pitches. Ransomes Auto Certes 21in for cutting strips. Sisis spiker.
Wiedenmann Terra Spike. “I bought it in 2001 and used it first at Yarm School.”
Charterhouse Verti-Drain. “Given the heavy clay soil, what would I do without it?”
Also handling hedgecutting and lawn reseeding on campus, Guy has been working with Yarm School for some fifteen years. Specialising in natural turf maintenance, he is eminently qualified to tend the twenty acre provision - eight rugby pitches of varying sizes for varying age groups, plus a cricket square and athletics track at Green Lane; two full-size rugby pitches, with one football surface at Aislaby, three miles away.
Although regional in remit, Guy services enough sportsgrounds to notice trends forming part of national shift in provision - one of them the decline of cricket in schools. “Much of the sport has disappeared because schools do not have the money to maintain them,” he says. “Yarm runs a square with nine strips and is committed to providing cricket for pupils.”
Guy, 47, runs a five-strong team of grounds professionals, including those he brought on as apprentices at Askham Bryan College. He entered the turfcare industry through agriculture nearly twenty-five years ago and grass cutting remains the biggest slice of his business, he notes - everything from schools fields to village greens.
For the square, he applies a cricket mix seed, overseeding the rugby and football areas with perennial ryegrass mix.
“We have wet, heavy clay here and the pitches can flood, becoming saturated through the winter,” Guy explains, so he is busy during the week preparing the playing surfaces for Saturday fixtures, Cup games and rescheduled games.
The team mows every week throughout the year, spiking fortnightly during the autumn and winter.
In spring, Guy applies a 9:7:7 outfield fertiliser, a summer application of 5:0:12, whilst an autumn 5:12:12 completes the feeding programme. A high iron fertiliser is put on the cricket square in spring to rid it of moss.
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