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Greentech moves to Employee Ownership

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Greentech moves to Employee Ownership: Leading sports surface specialists, Greentech Sportsturf Ltd has set up an Employee Ownership Trust to hold 100% of the leading sports and recreational surfaces firm and put it into the hands of the people who work for it – making them the direct beneficiaries of the company’s future success.

Started in 1998 by Kevin Brunton, Hugh Murray, and the late Tom Brannan (who sadly passed away in 2015) the company has grown successfully over the years and has worked on world-renowned fields of play such as Gleneagles, St Andrew’s Links, Hampden Park and Murrayfield Stadium. With Hugh Murray now retired the Directors wanted to look at an ownership succession option which secured the long-term future of the business, its employees and would work well for both clients and founders too. The co-founders were keen to avoid the potential pitfalls of traditional trade sale or merger options, keenly aware of the risks these options can present to employees and the business as a whole.  They saw many advantages to employee ownership and believe that it is the ‘win-win’ proposition for everyone – founders, employees and clients.

Greentech moves to Employee Ownership

Greentech moves to Employee Ownership

“The establishment of employee ownership through the EOT at Greentech Sportsturf will provide continued job security for all staff,” said Kevin Brunton. “It will also enable the employees to have collective control of their future, directly benefit from the ongoing success of the business and to continue to deliver market-leading projects in the design, construction, renovation and maintenance of sports surfaces.”

Employee ownership is growing significantly in popularity, with more and more companies seeing the benefits that can be delivered through this ownership model. Studies have demonstrated that employee owned firms are also more resilient and are proven to weather economic cycles better than most. This may prove to be important as firms the world-over deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Eric Carroll, Financial Controller at Greentech Sportsturf, commented: “I’m delighted that Kevin and Hugh have chosen this option for ownership of the business and I think this is great news for all the staff at Greentech Sportsturf. Everyone one of us now has a stake in the business and can share in the success and profits that are made going forward.”

Kevin Brunton believes that employee ownership is good news for clients too and will help to secure the long-term future of the company. “Employee ownership means clients need not be concerned with Greentech Sportsturf being acquired and the potential associated disruption that can lead to. They can feel secure in the knowledge we will continue to deliver the highest quality sports surfaces projects with our talented team of people and the best technologies for the job in hand.” Said Kevin. “It also gives the co-founders the opportunity to consider retirement and eventual exit from the business in a planned manner, mentoring the successor team whilst withdrawing slowly and ensuring continued growth and success. It really is a win-win all round.”

Greentech Sportsturf is a Scotland-based, leading sports turf contractor, specialising in the design, construction and renovation of all sports surfaces. The company has a diverse client base comprising world renowned fields of play including St Andrews and Gleneagles Golf Courses, Scotland’s national football and rugby stadiums, as well as smaller and regional sports facilities. Located on the outskirts of Stirling at Throsk, the company operates throughout the UK.

For further information contact Eric Carroll on mailto:eric@greentechsportsturf.co.uk

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FGM Claymore to distribute Echo and Shindaiwa

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FGM Claymore to distribute Echo and Shindaiwa: FGM Claymore have announced that it will now be the distributor of the popular Echo and Shindaiwa brands commencing on the 1st January 2022 for the UK market.

“We are delighted with this appointment which will further strengthen our position in the UK market. We have a long history of importing and distributing 2-stroke hand-held product and our aim is to build the Echo and Shindaiwa brands to significant levels through a network of independent servicing dealers.” Explains Paul Butterly, Managing Director, FGM Claymore.

FGM Claymore to distribute Echo and Shindaiwa

FGM Claymore to distribute Echo and Shindaiwa

The company will be launching a new 40V range of consumer products including lawnmowers and hand-held products which will be available Spring 2022. As well as providing the range of X Series “best in class” products with emission compliant petrol products and its 56V battery, both for use in the professional market.

In addition, the company have announced that Neil Turner will be joining the team as its new Sales Director to focus on their existing dealer network and new appointments in the coming months.

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Air2Root turn to Redexim

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Air2Root turn to Redexim: It’s been 18 months of expansions for the team at Air2Root Turfcare Limited – new larger premises, more staff and an even bigger bank of equipment from Redexim!

Amongst their recent purchases are a Verti-Quake 2521, a SpeedSeed and a Verti-Drain 1513 complete with Carrier, which will sit proudly on their fleet alongside their OxyShot air injection unit and will help the company in their aim to become a ‘one-stop shop’ for maintenance services at venues nationwide.

Air2Root turn to Redexim

Air2Root turn to Redexim

Air2Root Turfcare pride themselves on using market-leading machinery, technology and products to deliver the very best results to facilities from across the sporting spectrum. Alongside developing their own performance-based fertiliser products, they’ve also recently become distributors for DLF Seeds and Boughton Loam. “It’s been an exciting time and the range of services we can now offer our customers has grown massively” explains Director Jamie Moult. “But to ensure we continue to deliver the quality of results our clients now expect, we must have the right machinery at our disposal. The combination of reliability and performance, along with the working relationship we have with Andy O’Neill from Redexim and their dealer network, is the reason we keep coming back.”

Unlike other contractors that run large, heavy tractors and kit, Jamie attempts to keep the majority of his equipment relatively lightweight to minimise compaction and give him complete versatility. “Our new Verti-Quake 2521 is flat out at the moment, in use on football pitches, rugby surfaces and golf fairways on a daily basis. The rotary action of the blades creates a wave motion which breaks through compacted ground down to depths of 10” – leaving very minimal disruption in its wake. We’ve had a lot of feedback from customers on the clean and tidy work the Verti-Quake has been doing, complementing the routine aeration that will have taken place throughout the year.”

“We’ve got such fantastic flexibility when it comes to completing aeration work, with the selection of Verti-Drain’s, the Verti-Quake and OxyShot we now have at our disposal. As we head into the new year, we then have our Redexim SpeedSeed and a Rink DS800 topdresser to optimise new season growth and assist with spring renovations.” Jamie concludes, “With Redexim, we know what we’re going to get and that’s equipment that consistently delivers the desired result.”

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Planning the pathway to net zero

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Planning the pathway to net zero: On Thursday, 11 November, representatives from golf and beyond came together at Scotland’s Climate Ambition Zone in Glasgow to discuss several important issues around the sport and climate action.

After opening remarks from Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at Visit Scotland and Jonathan Smith, Executive Director, GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf, event host David Garrido from Sky Sports teed off the discussion. In-studio guests joined virtual speakers from all areas of the game, including facilities, tournaments, developments and golf tourism.

Planning the pathway to net zero

Planning the pathway to net zero

The opening panel session sparked a wide-ranging discussion with Richard Holland, Director, Operations and Network Development with international NGO Wetlands International, Hugh Salway, Head of Markets with the Gold Standard and Kelli Jerome, Executive Director at GEO Foundation, joined virtually by Sam Barratt, Chief of the Youth, Education and Advocacy Unit in UNEP’s Ecosystems Division, Julie Duffus, Sustainability Senior Manager at the IOC from Lausanne, and, from Oslo, Suzann Pettersen, professional golfer and Sustainable Golf Champion who memorably holed the winning putt in the 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles.

This conversation covered several critical topics focused on how golf and society can come together to take meaningful action. Whether that’s protecting ecosystems and habitats in general, encouraging more athletes to get involved in advocacy or just doing one thing in your role to get the momentum started.

Suzann Pettersen spoke about her commitment to sustainability since retiring from the game, “I feel I’ve got an important role here. Sport is such a great arena to raise awareness. We inspire and influence so many millions of people every day.”

You can watch the entire Driving for Net Zero event below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWwpumQQ-fY

The following session focused on climate action by grassroots facilities at GEO Certified clubs in England, Finland and New Zealand with Jason O’Malley, Managing Director at Woburn Golf Club, Janne Lehto, Course Manager at Hirsala Golf Club and Spencer Cooper, Superintendent at Remuera Golf Club sharing insights into their journeys to reduce carbon emissions.

The large virtual audience then heard from golf tournaments and tours. This session began with comments from Alex Armas, CEO of the Ladies European Tour, and Mollie Marcoux Samaan, Commissioner of the LPGA Tour and how they are working together on shared goals. Philip Russell, Assistant Director of Sustainability at The R&A, outlined many practical examples of how the organization embraced sustainable tournament staging through initiatives such as The Open Water and increasing renewable energy use on-site.

Lee Spivak, Managing Principal, Sports and Entertainment at WM, sponsors of the WM Phoenix Open, shared a glimpse into the principles and practices which have resulted in the event becoming the first-ever to achieve GEO Certified status five times.

Further contributions came from Ben Cowen, Chief Tournament Business Officer of the European Tour and Chris Chandler, Head of Sports at Dow, who runs the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational on the LPGA – also a GEO Certified tournament in the US.

The penultimate session honed in on manufacturing, tourism and golf development. This included Toro’s Andy Brown discussing electric mowers and sustainable irrigation. Jeremy Slessor at European Golf Design highlighted the importance of sustainable golf developments and their path to net zero, and Peter Walton, Founder and Chief Executive of IAGTO, provided insights into the world of golf tourism and carbon emissions.

A final discussion between Maggie Kim, CEO, The Gold Standard and GEO Foundation’s Jonathan Smith explored the importance of credible carbon mitigation. It showcased some of the sustainable golf tools available to the sport to help individuals and organizations take climate action.

Jonathan Smith, Executive Director, GEO Foundation, said: “The team at GEO Foundation were pleased to be able to pull this important conversation together – to enable such a large audience to hear the perspectives from within and outside golf. We’d like to thank the Scottish Government, all speakers and the audience, plus those that have helped promote and share the event. Now we look to the post-COP26 landscape to see what we can do best with partners and programme participants to help accelerate climate action in and through golf.”

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Parkway turns to GKB

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Parkway turns to GKB: Within 48 hours of it being added to their fleet, a VStrong from GKB was put straight to work by Parkway Ground Maintenance, as the team looked to complete a busy cricket renovation season.

Delivered in conjunction with two other GKB machines – a Deep Tine Aerator (DTA) 160 and a Combiseeder 120 – Managing Director Dean McDermott estimates that their VStrong 120 scarified in the region of 300 wickets this year!

Parkway turns to GKB

Parkway turns to GKB

Parkway Ground Maintenance in the Midlands were formed in 2000 and look after a wide variety of sports surfaces, spanning both natural and synthetic turf. Their trio of new machines, delivered in June 2021 complements a large fleet of equipment, which already includes a number of solutions from GKB. “We’ve got an EcoDresser and Sandspreader from GKB, along with their QuickClean and Brush for artificial surfaces and, for us, it’s the build quality that keeps us coming back” explains Dean. “In our opinion, it is built better and stronger than equipment from any other manufacturer and, over the years, that quality of construction has remained consistent.”

“Another big positive about the GKB range is how simple the equipment is to use” adds Operator Tony Besent. “When it comes to scarifiers, over the years there aren’t many makes and models I haven’t tried, but the blade configuration of the VStrong makes it the most effective one I’ve used.” The GKB VStrong features a unique CombiRotor equipped with heavy duty steel blades which rotates against the direction of travel, accurately scarifying down to depths of 40mm.

With renovation season at a close, the demand now turns to the DTA. “As we head towards the winter months, it’s going to be aeration on the agenda. Our DTA 160 is already on double figures since we’ve had it and is pretty much fully booked to conduct pre-winter work on a number of winter sports pitches in the area.” When temperatures begin to rise, Dean and his team are looking forward to utilising their brand-new CombiSeeder – the versatility set-up making it ideal for work on all types of surface.

Dean concludes, “Because of the variety of work and tight schedules we have to work to, we need equipment that is reliable and that is backed up with fast support when required – and that’s exactly what we get with GKB.”

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