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Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s

November 6, 2019/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s: Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Blackburn, aim to increase the use of their sports field using new primary and secondary drainage from Duncan Ross Ltd. The pitches on the field are used every day throughout the school year and are home to two local football teams at the weekends, consisting of […]

New to the UK – GrasPro

November 6, 2019/in News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

New to the UK – GrasPro: GrasPro is a simple pitch management tool that gives users the ability to record pitch data, generate visual reports and gain a greater depth of understanding about their pitches. During the development of GrasPro, making it a time effective, accessible tool for groundsmen was vital. The task of keeping […]

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s

November 6, 2019/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

New to the UK – GrasPro

November 6, 2019/in News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s

November 6, 2019/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s: Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Blackburn, aim to increase the use of their sports field using new primary and secondary drainage from Duncan Ross Ltd.

The pitches on the field are used every day throughout the school year and are home to two local football teams at the weekends, consisting of two adult teams and one junior section.

In the two years before the work, the pitches began to hold water during the winter months, preventing students using them regularly and causing fixtures to be called off.

Having recognised the issue, the school, through director of business and finance, Paul Atkinson, enlisted Professional Sportsturf Design (PSD) to carry out an initial survey of the site.

Paul explained: “There was an existing drainage system that had been installed several years ago, but it was no longer doing the job, and as a result, the pitches started to become unplayable in the winter. That then began to affect our students who couldn’t use them regularly and our income at the weekends because the fixtures would be called off.

“Now the pitches are looking fine, and we’re confident that they’ll be ready for the new school year. We did all the work in one go with a view to having them in operation for the academic year, which is the 2nd September 2019, and we’re confident that will be the case.

“Working with Duncan Ross has been very smooth. They stuck to the programme of works and kept us informed with what was going on. They worked well with our groundsman, and he was also kept informed about everything. He’s very happy, and he’ll start to mark the pitches out in the next couple of weeks, and he’s very confident that we’ll be playing on them in September. We’re looking forward to using the pitches all year round, especially throughout the winter months.”

The initial survey was done by PSD project manager, Mark Higgs, who recognised the need to install new pipe drainage to replace the older pipes that had become capped off over time. Secondary slit drains were also installed to make the pitches better equipped to deal with downpours and ensure water drained efficiently from the surface.

As well as the drainage work on the entire field, particular attention was paid to Pitch 1, the main match pitch, which had a layer of thatch. This pitch was fraise mowed with the Koro Field Topmaker to remove 85-90% of the existing vegetation before the pipe and slit drains were installed and the surface seeded.

Mark has now worked with Duncan Ross Ltd on a number of projects and commends Duncan’s ability to think on his feet and offer quick solutions when issues arise.

He said: “Duncan went to the site prior to the drainage installation and he had to dig down and prove some of the existing drainage. He phoned me straight away to tell me he’d found something that meant we had to adjust our specification slightly. What’s good when you’re dealing with Duncan is that he’ll improvise, he doesn’t just phone you up and say ‘that won’t work’, he’ll say ‘I’ve found this, it isn’t ideal, but I’ve thought about it, and this is how I think we can achieve the finish on the job’. That proactive approach makes the process a lot quicker and reduces any downtime, which means we’re able to meet our deadlines.”

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New to the UK – GrasPro

November 6, 2019/in News, Press Release/by CharmianRobson

New to the UK – GrasPro: GrasPro is a simple pitch management tool that gives users the ability to record pitch data, generate visual reports and gain a greater depth of understanding about their pitches.

During the development of GrasPro, making it a time effective, accessible tool for groundsmen was vital. The task of keeping daily spreadsheets or paper notes has been replaced by an online system that can be accessed anywhere and used by multiple team members, with administration access to pitches at the discretion of the primary account holder. Ensuring your pitch information remains your own is an essential aspect of GrasPro, and with no third-party involvement, your data is never shared.

With GrasPro, simplicity is key. Users can track their daily activities such as mowing, fertilising, aeration and marking as well as pitch usage in a fast and convenient way. All registered activities are then summarised and visually presented with statistical reports available for N-P-K calculations, water usage, playing hours and more.

Photographs and comments can be attached to work logs, so any out of the ordinary conditions, like grass disease, can be tracked visually as well as statistically. Sophisticated weather reports at three-hour intervals join all of this to give a full picture of how pitches are performing in certain conditions.

By using this information, users can generate visual reports that highlight how the usage of pitches and maintenance practices are impacting the turf. In turn, this allows groundsmen to collate information for budget projections and accurately forecast the amount of paint, fertiliser and staff-hours they need.

The result of being able to harness all of this information is a deeper understanding of your surfaces, allowing for increased pitch usage and detailed information for future planning. Already, groundsmen, consultants and football governing bodies around the world have benefitted from using the system on individual pitches and in a tournament scenario.

For a free demonstration of the GrasPro Pitch Management System or to find out more about how it could benefit your site, visit www.gras.pro.

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)

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s

New to the UK – GrasPro

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s

New to the UK – GrasPro

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s

Duncan Ross at Queen Elizabeth’s: Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Blackburn, aim to increase the use of their sports field using new primary and secondary drainage from Duncan Ross Ltd.

New to the UK – GrasPro

New to the UK – GrasPro: GrasPro is a simple pitch management tool that gives users the ability to record pitch data, generate visual reports and gain a greater depth of understanding about their pitches.

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