Job done at Mountain Ash (with a little help from our friends in the community)

Posted on: April 21, 2009 by normanmaitland posted in News

There is a saying that there is no pain without gain. Nowhere was this closer to the truth than in Mountain Ash in Aberdare where much valued recreation facilities were to be restored with the help of funding from development agency Amgen Cymru

However, this would take place at the potential price of major disruption to the local community while the work was going on. Our task was to carry out the work and keep the community on-side by liaising closely with community group Darren Las.

The project: careful planning, even more careful consultation, and rain-soaked execution!

The work to be undertaken was relatively straightforward and included spraying-off the existing sward, levelling and grading the existing ground - at all times working around the existing rugby posts since it was a requirement of the contract that they were not moved. Having been made at one of the local pits they had a considerable historical significance.
It was in fetching in the materials for the new pitch that the potential for upset existed: 3000 tonnes of topsoil and 600 tonnes of sand in over 150 lorry loads through narrow terraced streets. There would be noise and vibration, people would have to park their cars elsewhere, and as with any scheme of this kind, there were one or two people who were just waiting for us to make a mistake.

However, since the overwhelming part of the community was behind the project and thanks to very detailed liaison with Darren Las and the local police (including using the Blog area of this website as a channel of communication) the materials were got onto site with hardly a hitch.

Once the topsoil and sand were on site they were mixed, slit drains forced down the pitch, and the surface prepared and seeded. Work started in October 2008 – just as the heavens opened and didn’t seem to close again for weeks on end – and it wasn’t until April 2009 that the job could be completed.

Those historic goal posts still stand, and come the Autumn 2009 Mountain Ash will, once again, be one of the finest community pitches in that part of Wales – thanks to Inscapes, and our friends in the community.

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The Millennium Stadium Pitch now being unloaded at Bridgend…

Posted on: April 8, 2009 by normanmaitland posted in News

Hard to believe that the polyethylene plastic modules on the fork lift truck and in the trailer above are a vital part of the pitch at the Wales Millennium Stadium, but for us it’s part of the continuing project to rebuild the pitch modules for the international venue, a project spread over four years and involving the preparation of almost 8000 identical modules.

“What the layman might not know is that the pitch at the Millennium Stadium has thousands of these modules under the turf so that the playing surface itself can be removed or replaced quickly without having to dig up the area of the rootzone,” says Gareth Rees, Inscapes Chief Executive. “Our task is to prepare the modules with specially chosen rootzone material so that once the modules are in place at the stadium the playing surface can be laid quickly.”

The whole pitch system – which has worked successfully in the stadium for the last ten years - will have been replaced by 2010. The Millennium Stadium’s commitment to the system – which is manufactured in Athens for a company based in Georgia, USA, and which has been used for everything from Herb Gardens to the Birds Nest Stadium in Beijing - is testimony to its worth.

“The modular pitch system at the Millennium Stadium is unique in the UK,” says Gerry Tomms, Millennium Stadium Manager. “The ability to move the pitch system allows us the maximum flexibility to stage all forms of events including motor sport, monster jam, exhibitions and conferences The logistical task to install and remove the pitch is delivered to us by our Welsh partners INSCAPES.”

“Apart from the American and Greek connections this is very much an all-Welsh affair,” says Gareth Rees. “The modules were transported here by South Wales haulier FSEW in 5 trucks carrying 440 modules each. They were with us in less than a week although the modules will not be required by the stadium until August so they will have plenty of time to settle once they are filled. The next stage of the process will be to set the pitch out in our yard and fill them with special drainage material and then the rootzone.”

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