Tag Archive for: Abbott

MJ Abbott take delivery of Kubota RTV’s

MJ Abbott take delivery of Kubota RTV’s: Reported as the first vehicles on site and the last to leave any project, a fleet of RTV’s from Kubota have been described as pivotal in the delivery of works by one of the UK’s largest specialist contractors.

MJ Abbott purchased their very first Kubota RTV back in 2006, and now have a total of 29 units supporting operations around the country – with some of their older models clocking up more than 15 years and over 4000 hours of reliable service!

MJ Abbott take delivery of Kubota RTV’s

MJ Abbott take delivery of Kubota RTV’s

MJ Abbott are renowned for delivering unrivalled expertise in all areas of sports turf contracting – from golf course reconstructions and irrigation installations to natural, hybrid and artificial pitch constructions and renovations. Over their near-on sixty years of trading, it’s not just the team and list of services that have grown but their machinery fleet has also expanded at a similar rate to keep pace with the requirements of their long and varied list of clients.

“Our requirements are unique and very different to that of most of our customers” explains Technical Director Adrian Abbott. “Any equipment we purchase has to deliver on a very demanding schedule, cope with challenging ground conditions and give us the ongoing reliability we need to complete works on time. That’s why, when we find something that ticks these boxes we will be very loyal to the brand and that’s exactly what we have with our RTV’s from Kubota.”

Among the 29 units are four RTV 900’s, nine X900’s and thirteen X1110’s – three of which were delivered in February 2023 by local dealer and long-term support partner E G Coles. “The majority of our fleet are running on turf tyres and are equipped to utility spec, with lights, which suits the variety of landscapes we work on. They’ll be the very first thing loaded onto the truck and delivered to site, where they then become the go-to method of transporting both the workforce and the equipment around.”

“As well as them being heavy duty, another big thing we like about the Kubota is the hydrostatic transmission. Compared to other methods, this makes for a smoother drive and is a much more robust mechanism when operating over uneven terrain. In addition, they also have power steering and full hydraulic tip, instead of an electric actuator, which we make full use of.”

With a fleet of that size, comes the necessity to service them effectively which Adrian says is successfully managed in-house with the support of E G Coles and Kubota when required. “When we’ve needed parts or advice, we have always had the support we need both locally and on a national level from the comprehensive Kubota network when we’re out on jobs around the country.”

“It’s testament to the quality of Kubota that we continue to get fantastic performance from RTV’s we purchased over 15 years ago. You can guarantee it will have spent half of its working life axle deep in mud and yet, will still give us everything we ask of it which is why we continue to choose Kubota now and moving forwards” he concludes.

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MJ Abbott Expertise At SALTEX

MJ Abbott Expertise At SALTEX: Specialist contractor, MJ Abbott, are bringing their construction expertise to Saltex 2018 after a year of both large and small-scale projects.  

As one of the UK’s leading specialist contractors to the sports turf industry MJ Abbott Limited, established in 1965, has developed its expertise in a wide range of products and services and now operates throughout the UK and Europe.

MJ Abbott Expertise At SALTEX

Over the years the service portfolio has grown to incorporate sports facility construction and renovation, golf course construction, reconstruction and remodelling, irrigation, water management, land drainage, water and wastewater engineering, landscaping, civil engineering, and a number of other specialist services.

Throughout the last 12-months, the company has completed projects from hybrid pitch construction at Premier League football clubs through to sports pitch construction at schools and colleges. The varied nature of these projects has highlighted MJ Abbott’s ability to provide the best solution possible to meet customer requirements and budgets when working on construction, drainage irrigation or landscaping.

This has led to a number of diverse projects being successfully finished including the construction, installation of drainage and cultivation of four pitches ready for seeding at Zeals Football Club and Alderbury Football Club. Dauntseys School, Wiltshire, also had a football pitch constructed, complete with primary drainage and sand topdressing into re-used topsoil as well as a cricket square renovation.

Both Foxhills Golf Club and Torquay Golf Club had short game areas constructed, consisting of earthworks, green and bunker construction, drainage, irrigation, cultivating and seeding. A specialist irrigation project took place at Abridge Golf Club with a Perott irrigation system being installed. This involved new mainlines pipework and the installation of a controller into the pump station for the irrigation to greens, approaches, tees and partial fairways.

These projects have been joined by hybrid pitch constructions using two different systems. Brighton and Hove Albion FC had their fibrelastic pitch removed at the AMEX Stadium and had the levels graded before a new sand and rootzone layer was added and a SISGRASS hybrid system installed.

 

The Premier League club also installed SISGRASS on two and a half pitches at their training ground, with the construction including the addition of new undersoil heating on the goalkeeping area and work on pitch surrounds.

The increasingly popular hybrid system was also installed at Bearwood Park, the new training base of Championship team, Reading FC, along with a fibre sand pitch, fibre sand goalkeeping area and six topsoil based pitches. This work generally included cut and fill earthwork and trimming, gravel drainage layers, lower sand and upper rootzone levels plus the addition of full drainage and irrigation systems and the installation of camera ducting to each pitch.

Rugby has also been an important sport for MJ Abbott this year with a pitch construction project to facilitate a HERO hybrid mat system at Gloucester Rugby’s Kingsholm Stadium, which was laid by County Turf. This involved removing vegetation, cutting and filling existing pitch levels, installing new primary and secondary drainage and adding a new rootzone layer.

MJ Abbott Expertise At SALTEX

A renovation project at Paris Saint-Germain’s training ground had the MJ Abbott team making their now regular trip to the French capital whilst projects at Newcastle United FC and Chelsea FC continued MJ Abbott’s continued relationship with both clubs.

All of these projects are only a selection of examples that MJ Abbott completed in 2018 and a number of key staff who worked at these venues will be representing the company on stand B102 at Saltex. They will be available to give help and advice on projects across every contracting discipline.

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Rain Bird Award For MJ Abbott

Rain Bird Award For MJ Abbott: MJ Abbott Limited, a golf and sports turf contractor based is Wiltshire, was recognised at Rain Bird’s distributor and contractor awards ceremony held at the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio.

Contracts Director Steve Briggs and Contracts Managers Nathan George and Jim Price were there to accept the ‘Top Flight’ award for exceptional growth on the company’s behalf.

Rain Bird Award For MJ Abbott

The presentation of awards is a celebratory conclusion to Rain Bird’s training and education event for golf contractors and distributors, which takes place at the show each year.

“2017 was a busy year for us,” Nathan George explained. “Many of our golf customers upgraded their central controllers, weather stations and rotors to provide the greatest efficiencies and levels of control. Our construction teams are currently building the brand new course at Royal Norwich where a fully-integrated Rain Bird IC system is being installed. It was great to hear all about global developments at the training event and to receive this award in recognition of our achievements as an Approved Rain Bird Contractor.”

Rain Bird’s Regional Golf Sales Manager for the UK, Ireland, Iceland and Scandinavia, Jimmy Sandison, said: “It was fantastic to see a UK contractor recognised at our annual awards ceremony. MJ Abbott had a superb year working with us to grow their golf business. As a company, we are grateful for their installation expertise, and for the first-class support they continue to provide to Rain Bird system and Global Service Plan users across the country.”

For more information, visit: www.rainbird.eu/golf

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MJ Abbott Return To BTME

MJ Abbott Return To BTME: MJ Abbott will be returning to BTME 2018 in Harrogate, bringing with them over 25 years of experience in golf course construction, renovation maintenance and irrigation.

Over this period the company has gathered invaluable experience across all aspects of golf course construction and maintenance, but also the art of first-class customer service and delivering exactly what clients request.

MJ Abbott Return To BTME

This ethos has seen some major recent projects including Royal Norwich Golf Club’s new £10 million course and club house, with MJ Abbott undertaking the £4.5 million land redevelopment. This project is joined by works at Skipton Golf Club, Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, Sunningdale Golf Club and Queenwood Golf Club to name a few.

Being able to meet the needs of the customer is important for all jobs, but none more so than building a new course. All of MJ Abbott’s qualities as a contractor were required when it came to being awarded this contract, and Peter Todd, estates manager and director of Royal Norwich Golf Club Limited explains what contributed to the Norfolk club awarding the work.

“We looked at level of resources, how much labour was in house and how much was sub-contracted, financial stability of the company, their track record and reputation,” Peter said. “So, there was a whole host of measures in place and it was scored by a professional panel.

“A major benefit for MJ Abbott was that they could offer the irrigation along with drainage and construction, because it meant we only needed one contractor on the course and kept everything within the one team.”

Being able to offer every service allows MJ Abbott to work with clients large and small, with greenkeepers from all courses welcome to speak to our experienced staff on stand A49.

For more information, visit: www.mjabbott.co.uk

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Newcastle Receive Best Pitch In 15 years With MJ Abbott

Newcastle United Football Club Receive Best Pitch in 15 years, working with MJ Abbott: Newcastle United’s stadium manager, Eddie Rutherford, has hailed the new SIS Grass pitch at St James’ Park, installed by MJ Abbott and Premier Pitches, as the best in his 16-years at the club.

St James’ Park sits in the centre of Newcastle as a monument to football, with progress being made under Rafael Benitez after bouncing back from The Championship at the first time of asking in 2016/17.

Newcastle Receive Best Pitch In 15 years With MJ Abbott

Results on the new pitch have been promising through to the end of October, seeing three wins, a draw and one loss, but the decision to install a new irrigation system and playing surface was taken at short notice and required swift planning and cohesive team work between MJ Abbott and Premier Pitches, with the result delighting Eddie and the club.

“We are extremely happy with the pitch, it’s played really well,” Eddie said. “It’s probably the best the pitch has been since I’ve been here, and I know it hasn’t gone through the winter period yet but at the same stage in the last 15-years it hasn’t been any better.

“We did the job at very short notice. We decided to put the SIS Grass pitch in with only four weeks’ notice, so considering the time they had to get everything organised and put in place I couldn’t fault them.

“My only worry was that when you put two companies together, will they work well together. But they were both spot on throughout the project. When one is getting towards the end the other needs to be ready and mobilised and that worked really well, it couldn’t have worked any better.

“MJ Abbott come as a partnership with Premier Pitches when installing SIS Grass pitches. Premier Pitches have done a lot of work in the past with us and do our end of season renovations, but I know MJ Abbott are good contractor so I was quite happy to work with the two combined”

Nathan George, Contracts Manager at MJ Abbott explained “The project comprised removing the existing fibre sand surface down to a suitable depth as to expose the existing drainage slits. This operation had to be very carefully completed as to not destroy the integrity of the retained drainage.”

“A new fully automatic pitch irrigation system was installed and an imported rootzone laid to re-establish the original pitch levels. Premier Pitches completed the preparation and seeding of the new pitch, which delivered the project a week ahead of the proposed programme”

“The SISGRASS stitching was installed following grass establishment, a process that took 7 days”

The quick planning required for the project was helped by Premier Pitches’ experience at the city centre venue, and director, Russell Latham, commended the work of the design team in the build-up to the start date.

“The design team needs to work well together from the outset, especially on this project because of the time scale, but more importantly the men on the ground need to work in harmony from start to finish.

“Newcastle United have been a long-standing client of Premier Pitches so the pitfalls of working at a city centre Premier League stadium were well known. Nevertheless, without the rigorous planning and logistics from the outset things still could have gone wrong.

“The logistics of plant deliveries, material removal and material deliveries all had to be scheduled to the second to ensure that the project ran smoothly.

“We have worked with MJ Abbott on our prestigious pitch construction projects for over five years now. Their efficient and meticulous way of approaching a product from design and planning to delivery is everything that our key clients want to see but it doesn’t stop there. The back-up and support and knowledge is second to none.”

For more information, visit: www.mjabbott.co.uk

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