Tag Archive for: surfaces

GKB Machines delivers top class artificial surfaces

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GKB Machines delivers top class artificial surfaces: A suite of equipment from GKB Machines has been entrusted with prolonging the longevity and boosting the performance of five artificial playing surfaces at Ipswich School.

Installed by dealers Ernest Doe in September 2024, a Quick Brush, Rotobrush and GKB Deep Clean are bringing new-found time-savings and efficiency to both routine and more intensive maintenance.

GKB Machines delivers top class artificial surfaces

GKB Machines delivers top class artificial surfaces

Rated the number one independent school in Suffolk and Norfolk, sport forms a major part of the curriculum for the students at Ipswich School. Keeping an array of natural and all-weather surfaces in top-flight condition for cricket, hockey and winter sports is a team of eight headed up by Grounds Maintenance Manager Syd Townsend. “The all-weather pitches across our Westwood campus and Rushmere Sports Centre have been installed over a number of years and the time was now right to invest in equipment to optimise their performance and protect our investment” he explains.

“We previously didn’t have any mechanised attachments or equipment, so we were drag brushing the surfaces manually which was labour intensive and restricted us from being able to conduct operations as often as we’d like.” For a solution, Syd spoke with local dealers Ernest Doe who brought in a selection of machines from the GKB synthetic portfolio for the team to trial on their facilities. “It was important that anything we purchased would work with our existing tractors. Of the four machines we demoed, we purchased three of them and in a short period of time, they have already proven their worth.”

“The Quick Brush and Rotobrush are in use regularly, standing up the fibres and redistributing the sand dressing. The Rotobrush does a fantastic job of the perimeter areas, in particular, agitating any moss and bringing it to the surface for collection with the Deep Clean.” Syd continues, “We’ll be using the Deep Clean during school holidays to give the pitches a more intensive renovation, on top of the more routine collection of leaves and other detritus.”

“A large proportion of our synthetic pitches are surrounded by overhanging trees. The days of using a blower or manually raking up leaves have gone, and we can now quickly and effectively collect these and other smaller particulates in a more sustainable way.”

While each machine has been well received, Syd considers the combination of equipment to be the golden ticket to perfecting the performance of the playing surfaces. “Not only has the kit delivered exactly what we hoped, the service and training we received from Ernest Does and GKB was outstanding. Despite having to reschedule our training day due to unpredictable weather and staff holidays, both companies were incredibly flexible. On the day all eight operatives had the opportunity to ask any questions and undergo full training to ensure they were confident with the equipment which will all help us to achieve the very best results.”

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Perfect Playing Surfaces Start with Mansfield Sand

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Perfect Playing Surfaces Start with Mansfield Sand: Visitors to Mansfield Sand’s stand (242) at BTME 2025, taking place from 23 to 25 January at the Harrogate Convention Centre, will have the chance to explore an exceptional range of sand-based products designed to elevate the performance and health of sports pitches.

With over 170 years of industry expertise, Mansfield Sand leads the way in premium silica sand solutions. Their products cater to diverse applications in sports, landscaping, and equestrian industries, including professional stadiums, championship golf courses, and world-class equestrian arenas.

Perfect Playing Surfaces Start with Mansfield Sand

Perfect Playing Surfaces Start with Mansfield Sand

At BTME, Mansfield Sand’s knowledgeable team will be on hand to discuss how their innovative range can transform your turf projects. Featured products will include:

Reinforced Rootzone

Mansfield Sand’s Reinforced Rootzones are crafted to enhance natural turf surfaces while meeting the high demands of today’s sports industry. These products offer superior stability, drainage, and durability, ensuring consistency across surfaces.

The range includes:

Fibre Reinforced Rootzone – reinforced with polypropylene fibres for added strength.

Fibrelastic Rootzone – combines polypropylene and flexible Elastane fibres for enhanced surface resilience.

Fibresand – perfect for maintaining surface integrity during periods of heavy use or winter wear.

Sand Soil Rootzones

Ideal for renovation or new construction, Mansfield Sand’s Sand Soil Rootzones blend high-quality Mansil 40 Silica Sand with screened topsoil to create an optimal foundation for healthy turf growth.

Sand Compost Rootzones

For surfaces requiring organic-rich foundations, Mansfield Sand’s Sand Compost Rootzones provide a premium blend that retains nutrients and enhances drought resistance, ensuring robust and healthy turf.

Top Dressing

Mansfield Sand’s Soil Top Dressing, tailored for fine turf surfaces, combines superior silica sands with sterilised and screened top-quality soils for a smooth, stone-free finish. Custom blends are available to meet specific turf management requirements.

Mansil Silica Sand Sports Range

Sourced from Mansfield Sand’s renowned Two Oaks Quarry, the Mansil range of silica sands is essential for constructing and maintaining sports surfaces, including golf courses, bowling greens, and winter sports pitches.

Visit Mansfield Sand at Stand 242 to see how their expertise and product range can help you achieve a perfect playing surface.

For more information visit www.mansfield-sand.co.uk

You can also follow the company on Twitter – @MansfieldSand and Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MansfieldSandSportSurfaces/

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Redexim proves the solution for safe synthetic surfaces

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Redexim proves the solution for safe synthetic surfaces: A combination of the RTC plus and Verti-Top® TB from Redexim have been entrusted with protecting and preserving the lifespan of the synthetic surfaces – along with the health and safety of the students – at Emanuel School.

With the recent addition of an all-weather pitch at their Blagdon sports ground, the school opted to purchase a maintenance set-up for both this and the main site in South-West London to retain performance and keep the surfaces clear of contamination.

Redexim proves the solution for safe synthetic surfaces

Redexim proves the solution for safe synthetic surfaces

Sport plays an integral part of life for students at Emanuel School, reflected in the ongoing investment into the quality facilities available to pupils and a number of clubs and organisations in the wider community. Estates Director Chris Wright heads up a number of teams responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the grounds and sports surfaces across the three sites. “With one artificial surface at the main school, our second at the Blagdon site came online in September 2023 which really made us look at how we were going to maintain these, along with the synthetic lawns we’ve introduced into our ornamental areas” Chris explains.

“The maintenance was previously contracted out, but from a cost and practical perspective, it became logical to invest in equipment that would give us the flexibility to conduct regular brushing and a more intensive deep clean more frequently.”

After speaking to local dealers Lister Wilder, Chris and the team opted for two RTC plus brush units and two Verti-Top® TB cleaning systems from the award-winning Redexim synthetic range. Powered by a 22hp petrol engine, the RTC plus features a 2.7m wide underslung, winged brush to make routine brushing a breeze. This is then complemented by the more intensive cleaning delivered by the Verti-Top® TB which lifts and separates contaminants from all types of infill material using a combination of vacuum and sieve.

“This partnership gives us flexibility and effective cleaning for the shorter-pile, sand-dressed surfaces as well as the ornamental carpet which has a longer pile. The RTC plus is out once a week and then we can affix the Verti-Top® TB to the RTC for a thorough clean once a month.” Chris continues, “The Verti-Top® has really impressed us with the amount of detritus it collects – everything from paper clips to jewellery which are removed in a single pass.”

The purchase also means the maintenance teams have eliminated contamination risks when switching equipment between natural and synthetic turf. “We don’t want to be putting a tractor with muddy tyres onto the artificial pitches which could then go on to cause other playability or safety problems.” He adds, “We’ve been really pleased with the performance and results to date, and as we’ve come to expect from Redexim it’s a well-built, well-designed solution which will help us to present good, clean surfaces for many years to come.”

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Boost your surfaces with Mansfield Sand

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Boost your surfaces with Mansfield Sand: Visitors to the Mansfield Sand stand (OSA260) at GroundsFest can expect to see a wide range of sand-based products that are vital to the overall health and performance of a sports pitch.

Mansfield Sand has pioneered the development and production of premium silica sand-based products for over 170 years. The company provides a wide range of innovative products for sports, landscaping, and equestrian uses. These include stadium and training ground facilities; championship golf courses and world class show jumping arenas.

Boost your surfaces with Mansfield Sand

Boost your surfaces with Mansfield Sand

The company’s leading experts will be on hand at GroundsFest to explain how some of the following products could make a difference to your sports turf projects.

Mansil Silica Sand Sports Range

Sourced from the company’s Two Oaks Quarry in Mansfield where the Mansil range of Silica Sands is produced. These products are predominantly used in the construction and maintenance of a wide range of sports surfaces – from winter sports pitches, golf courses, bowling greens and all amenity turf areas.

Fibresand

A pure sand and polypropylene fibre reinforcement product that is particularly advantageous when grass cover has been reduced due to heavy usage and wear during the winter period. Incorporated into an upper sand soil rootzone and consolidated to provide a stable divot-free environment.

Fibre Reinforced Rootzone

A range of Fibre Reinforced Rootzones developed to obtain greater use from natural turf surfaces whilst maintaining the high standards demanded by today’s sports industry and meeting the expectations of ground staff at all levels. Mansfield Sand’s fibre reinforcement technology provides stability and durability to all sand dominated Rootzones allowing the pitch to remain free draining and consistent over the whole surface.

Sand Soil Rootzones

Mansfield Sand understands exactly what is needed to achieve the surface that turf managers require week-in-week-out and that is why their rootzones contain only the best quality materials to meet that demand. For renovation or construction, the company’s superior rootzone blend Mansil 40 Silica Sand with a quality screened topsoil, guarantees the perfect start.

Sand Compost Rootzones

A range of premium quality sand organic material blends which are perfect for creating a rootzone where an organic rich material is required within the profile, aiding in the retention of nutrients whilst providing increased drought resistance.

Top Dressing

Produced for the fine turf market, Mansfield Sand’s Soil Top Dressing is a manufactured homogenous product made from their own premium silica sands combined with top quality soils. All passed through a sterilising unit, over a 3mm screen to produce an easy to spread, stone and pebble free dressing.

Mansfield Sand can also produce bespoke dressing blends and combine soil amendments into any product.

For more information visit www.mansfield-sand.co.uk

You can also follow the company on Twitter – @MansfieldSand and Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MansfieldSandSportSurfaces/

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Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

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Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®: With drought-like conditions becoming more common, turf managers can begin future-proofing their surfaces now with deep-rooting, drought-tolerant grasses such as 4turf® tetraploid perennial ryegrass from DLF.

Research conducted at DLF’s RadiMax root-screening facility has shown 4turf® to deliver deeper rooting and a better visual appearance when starved of water, compared to the performance of traditional diploid perennial ryegrasses.

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Where most plants or trees form new shoots at the top of the plant, grasses develop new shoots very close to the roots – highlighting the unique and important role that roots have in helping the grass to survive in stressful conditions. In situations of drought, soil always dries out from the top. As drought progresses down the soil, the first line of defence will be its deep root mass, which needs to be strong enough to enable the plant to continue taking up required water and nutrients.

In the trials, plants were assessed based on the root profile and above-ground tolerance. Roots were compared on their depth and how much colour the plant retained when starved of moisture. The results showed that 4turf® varieties had quicker root growth and a higher root mass in deeper soil layers, outperforming the diploids under the same trial conditions. Incorporation of the highest performing varieties into a spring overseeding mix aids in the establishment of a deeper rooting sward, better equipped to cope with spring drought – where some moisture remains in the deeper profile – and summer drought – where water is used up throughout the profile.

During prolonged periods of severe drought, the risk of restrictions or bans on drinking water being used to irrigate amenity grass becomes a real threat. That is the reason why many turf managers are looking to alternative water sources like reclaimed or recycled brown water but, in these situations, salt tolerance then becomes a major consideration. Foreseeing the issue, DLF also conducted screening of turf cultivars for salt tolerance where, again, 4turf® tetraploid perennial ryegrass came out on top.

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Safeguard surfaces from drought with 4turf®

Choosing 4turf® also means you are assured of the highest disease resistance and quickest establishment – helping to keep weed ingress at bay.

It is also important to note that sustainable solutions don’t have to mean a compromise in quality. The latest 4turf® cultivars from DLF, like Fabian, are fine, dense and have excellent wear tolerance providing an attractive sward with fantastic environmental credentials. With the economic and climatic challenges ahead switching to 4turf® means that, come the next drought, the one thing you won’t be sweating over is your turf!

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