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Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

April 20, 2022/in News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure: As far as jobs go, Eton College provides a unique challenge. As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance, the school’s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount. Since May 2020, Eton’s 38 winter sports pitches and 1,500 acres of land spanning the […]

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

April 20, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Rosie Duckworth

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has chosen 10 electric STAR EV Capella Work Machines for use at its Training Centre in North London. The Training Centre plays host to all of its teams, from the U8s through to the U23s plus both Men’s and Women’s First Teams. In addition, the […]

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

April 20, 2022/in News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

April 20, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Rosie Duckworth

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

April 20, 2022/in News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure: As far as jobs go, Eton College provides a unique challenge. As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance, the school’s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount.

Since May 2020, Eton’s 38 winter sports pitches and 1,500 acres of land spanning the M4 all the way to 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake have been under the control of Grounds Manager Lee Marshallsay.

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

His tenure has coincided with the Covid pandemic, which brought to light the number of man-hours his team spent line marking and the fact something needed to be done about it.

For context, Lee has a team of thirty. Eleven are groundsmen, with two on the college’s golf course full time and another pair dedicated to line marking. Over the summer, the line marking duo spent six to seven weeks marking out football and rugby pitches for the commencement of the school year, and in November, Lee checked his Turf Keeper records to discover his team spent over 850 hours marking.

The man-hours and pressure involved in completing this task between terms had Lee looking for alternative options. Despite being initially sceptical of a robotic line maker, he eventually turned to Turf Tank. https://turftank.com/en/

“It was also about helping the team, so they didn’t feel under pressure all the time. With the robot, where it’s taken us six or seven weeks to mark everything, we can effectively do that in a week now. Suddenly, the pressure has gone, and if we have staff on holiday or off sick, it keeps us out of trouble.

“We’ve got some projects lined up this summer that we are going to do in-house, and suddenly, that marker frees up two people, and we can put extra staff on the projects. That’s how we’ll use it as an aid and addition to the team to help plan workload and projects.”

With the Turf Tank One in place, Lee is looking to cut his marking hours by more than half. For him, this will increase pitch quality with additional aeration, cutting and finessing taking place. But choosing a robot and company that could provide everything he needed was critical.

The support from Alex and the Turf Tank team has been exemplary, with all questions answered quickly and I know that there is a full-time service engineer if I ever need hands-on assistance.”

“I think to be fair; the Turf Tank instantly ticked a lot of boxes for us. And it wasn’t just me, my team were there, and we tried other machines a week apart on the same pitch. We looked at line quality, how much paint it was putting out, how quick it was to set up, and there were similarities.

“But then we started to think about the differences. Do we want to be tied into a paint deal? Do we want an annual subscription fee? Turf Tank gave us that bit more flexibility.

“The other factor was the base station. You read a lot about the pros and cons, but to be honest as soon as I saw how it interacted with the machine, and how much more accurate the marking was, compared to those without using a base station, the whole team were like ‘it’s a no brainer, isn’t it?’ It blew us away, to be fair, and we bought the Turf Tank, and we now have base station points installed across the site, and it has worked really, really well.

“The Turf Tank records templates for initial marking and subsequent over-marking. Being able to get those templates was a significant point for us and nothing has been out of the remit of the robot. We’ve got most of the pitches loaded up now, including where the goals are actually smaller than a football goal, but we’ve managed to get the robot between the two posts and mark. Everything we’ve asked for has happened, and it has been great

“We want to teach our staff new skills and using and understanding the latest technology is very much part of Eton College’s ethos. I’m very much won-over and very impressed with the Turf Tank One line-marking robot. And if I were to move anywhere else, it is one of the first things I’d want to have in my fleet.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK) Michael@turftank.co.uk (Scotland and Ireland)

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10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

April 20, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Rosie Duckworth

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has chosen 10 electric STAR EV Capella Work Machines for use at its Training Centre in North London.

The Training Centre plays host to all of its teams, from the U8s through to the U23s plus both Men’s and Women’s First Teams. In addition, the Club regularly hosts international teams including England on numerous occasions. Head of Playing Surfaces and Estates, Darren Baldwin knew he needed a capable and versatile range of utility vehicles to rely on. All while being electric.

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

He says: “We were looking for a brand that could rival the highly productive ‘mules’ in the utility vehicles category that are petrol and diesel. It would have been a hard hit to sacrifice productivity for being electric, but with STAR EV we haven’t had to.

“These machines have brought everything we need and more to the role of what a utility vehicle support fleet should do. We have an 80-acre site and a wide range of jobs that need doing, so these machines need to perform. We haven’t had a case when they haven’t.”

The combination of a 48V 5kW AC motor, a 210Ah Lithium-Ion battery and a carry capacity of 670kg have particularly impressed Darren: “They are market-leading when it comes to towing capacity, and the amount of payload they can handle competes with all the others we’ve ever used.

“Whether it’s lugging mannequins, balls and airbed walls for training around the campus, fulfilling housekeeping duties for the 46-bedroom lodge or supporting the grounds and gardens maintenance team, these workhorses have proved they can do all we need them to. They’re easy and comfortable to use, and quick too.”

But what about the practicalities of using an electric fleet? Darren confirms there’s no need for concern about using battery-powered machinery across such a large site with the app they all have access to: “It’s really easy to tell via the app what the battery life is so there’s no chance of ever getting caught out, but to be honest the charge time is so good I highly doubt that could ever happen despite the size of the venue.

“The buggies give an easy 50 miles per charge and it’s a real selling point for us that they only need one charge per week on average. The fact that charge can be done by a three-prong 13-amp plug, with 10 buggies across three charging stations, really puts them apart from the competition.”

In fact, Darren is so impressed with the performance he and the team has experienced so far, he’s planning on placing another order to make the club’s entire buggy fleet STAR EV. He says: “We started with 10 machines, but we’re already talking about adding to that and making the whole fleet STAR.”

To talk to Reesink e-Vehicles about the STAR EV range, call 01480 226800 or go online at reesink-evehicles.co.uk

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure

Turf Tank One relieves staff pressure: As far as jobs go, Eton College provides a unique challenge. As one of the most recognisable names in education with great historical significance, the school’s reputation from students to sports pitches is paramount.

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs

10 STAR EV machines for Spurs: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has chosen 10 electric STAR EV Capella Work Machines for use at its Training Centre in North London.

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