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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HTS Group Invests In Toro

HTS Group Invests In Toro: At SALTEX 2017, Toro’s LT-F3000 triple flail mower stood out from the crowd to Harlow Council-founded facilities management company, HTS Group Limited. In fact the company, which deals with grass cutting and landscape maintenance for the postcode, was so impressed it promptly invested in two machines.

As Andrew Bradley, landscapes manager at HTS Group, explains: “The LT-F3000 not only stood out with its signature Toro red, but for looking professional and robust. After making some enquiries, it was clear that it would tick all of our boxes, too.

HTS Group Invests In Toro

“Post-show, I got in touch with our local Reesink Turfcare representative, Danny Lake, who took me on a tour around the Spellbrook Toro Factory in Bishop Stortford. Seeing machines hand built before my eyes convinced me that for quality and robustness, Toro was the way to go.”

Two LT-F3000 flail mowers join HTS Group’s fleet of 19 grounds machines and replace a 12-year-old cylinder mower to maintain medium-sized open spaces across the Essex district too small for a tractor-drawn mower and too large for a rotary.

Another box ticked for Andrew is that the LT-F3000 is road legal. He says: “With most sites six miles away, and their proximity to busy roads making parking a nightmare, being able to drive our machines to jobs is a must. A bonus with Toro’s triple flail is that it has a good road speed of 15.5mph.”

And the machines are proving their worth in action too, meaning Andrew’s show instincts were well-founded: “The wet spring has made grass grow like mad, but the flail mowers are chewing through it effortlessly. This would have been too much for our cylinder mower,” he says.

“The Toros, however, make light work of the grass and even leave a beautiful striped finish to really top it all off,” Andrew concludes.

To find out more about Reesink’s groundscare range, tailored to the needs of the UK groundsman, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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New Ifor Williams Sales Person

New Ifor Williams Sales Person: Fraddon based machinery dealership, Vincent Tractors & Plant has appointed Tim Crewes-Hartland as their new Ifor Williams sales person.

With a background in sales and agriculture and a working knowledge of Ifor Williams Trailers, Tim brings a wide range of expertise to the company.  He will be responsible for sales of Ifor Williams Trailers from the Fraddon depot, as well as looking to expand sales of the well-known trailer manufacturer within the other depots.

New Ifor Williams Sales Person

Tim joins the company just as the current sales person for Ifor Williams Trailers, Trevor Readwin, will be moving to work at the new Holsworthy depot.

Paul Vincent, Managing Director of Vincent Tractors & Plant said “The company is currently going through an exciting and challenging period, with the opening of two new depots in Devon.  With Trevor transferring to Holsworthy to be responsible for Groundcare Sales in North and Mid Devon, we needed a new Ifor Williams sales person, with a strong background in sales, to join the team.  I am delighted to say that Tim is the person who will fill that role”.

Fraddon based Tim said “I am delighted to be joining Vincent Tractors & Plant as they are a well-known and respected company, going through an exciting expansion process at the moment”.

“Ifor Williams have announced the launch of two new horse boxes, the HBX and HBE, which will be arriving in the New Year, in conjunction with the opening of their new production facility in Flintshire.  All in all, it is exciting times ahead all round”.

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New Face In The North For DLF

New Face In The North For DLF: To support their continued investment, growth and increase in sales, DLF Seeds have announced the appointment of Alistair Eccles. Joining the amenity team as Regional Technical Sales Manager for Scotland and the North, Alistair’s new role will see him working closely with both customers and distributors, providing advice and support on the Masterline and Johnsons Sports Seed ranges.

Alistair has a wealth of industry experience in many different areas of agronomy, grass seed and turf production. He joins DLF on the back of 12 years spent at Germinal Seeds where he worked closely with a range of customers including golf courses, sports stadia and landscapers. Prior to this, Alistair spent 18 years in several roles in the crop protection industry. He is a BASIS and FACTS qualified advisor and is now looking forward to putting his expertise to good use in his new role with DLF Seeds.

New Face in the North for DLF

“Over the years I have been fortunate enough to work alongside some fantastic turf managers and I look forward to furthering acquaintances old and new, delivering technical advice and support in my new role.  DLF are continually researching and developing exciting new breeding innovations which I’m excited to be working with in the golf and sports turf sectors.”

A keen golfer himself, Alistair can often be found out on the course in his spare time.

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Milton Jones To Perform At IOG Awards

Milton Jones To Perform At IOG Awards: The 2018 IOG Industry Awards will feature several high achievers although it won’t include scheduled comedian Tom Allen – who regrettably now has filming commitments with the Great British Bake Off.

No worries though, the IOG has signed up an incredible replacement, Milton Jones – the wild-haired ‘Prince of Puns’ who, fresh off his UK tour, will be sharing gags to a sell-out audience at the IOG’s annual Awards night at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on the first evening of SALTEX next week.

Milton Jones To Perform At IOG Awards

Milton is a previous Perrier Best Newcomer, the winner of two Sony Awards, and a British Comedy Award nominee. His TV credits include Live at the Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Mock the Week, and Dave’s One Night Stand.

One of the UK’s most successful ‘one liner’ stand-ups, Milton’s acclaimed live shows have all played to more than 100,000 people, all of whom laughed themselves silly at lines such as: “About a month before my grandfather died we covered his back with lard. After that he went downhill very quickly.”

Commenting on the new act, IOG CEO Geoff Webb says:

“Milton Jones is excellent and his one liners will no doubt have our audience in stitches. We can’t wait to host our 10th edition of the IOG Awards celebrating a decade of achievement in groundsmanship.”

For more information about the IOG Awards please visit https://www.iog.org/awards

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