Good weather spurs contract progress

Final touches are being applied by leading sports turf contractor, MJ Abbott Ltd, to one of the biggest-ever projects carried out by the firm during its 49-year history.

With first-team training now underway on two of the five full-size rugby training pitches - four fibre-reinforced natural turf and one 3G synthetic surface - constructed by the firm for Aviva Premiership side, London Irish, the Salisbury-based firm is finishing off the landscaping on high-profile areas located close to the newly-constructed clubhouse and car parks.

Among the tasks being carried out are the installation of fencing and pathways and the planting of new trees and attractive shrubs, among them lavender.

Following the completion of a new fibre rootzone pitch at Hull City AFC's training ground, MJ Abbott has been working on the pump station and water storage tank that will supply the full pitch irrigation system installed by the company as part of the project.

Contracts manager, Nathan George, reports that the new training pitch has grown-in well with strong, healthy grass cover evident across the entire playing area.

Helpful summer weather has aided the successful installation of a new primary drainage system beneath a rugby pitch at Bradfield College, near Reading, while, at Somerset' s Millfield College, the company's irrigation team has replaced an ageing underground water delivery pipe around a synthetic pitch with a brand-new 180mm diameter mains pipe.

In Gloucestershire, a contract awarded by Cirencester Town Council to construct a new adult football pitch and two junior pitches on land adjacent to a newly-built school on the outskirts of the town is also approaching completion.
Commencing with 'cut and fill' earthworks to produce a level area, the team installed 100mm primary and 80mm lateral pipe drainage at 5m centres beneath the three playing areas, finishing off with sand amelioration prior to cultivations and seeding.

In the golf course sector, MJ Abbott is close to completing the construction of a new practice facility and golf school at Woburn Golf Club having won the contract following a competitive tender and interview process.
Another golf venture currently in progress started off as a straightforward stone-burying contract in a 9ha Hampshire field, carried out by them on behalf of a private client.

From simple beginnings, the contract has developed into a serious construction project involving earthworks, contouring and shaping, cultivations and seeding followed by levelling of designated areas ready for the installation by Huxley Golf of five all-weather greens and nine all-weather tees to produce a first-class golf practice and play facility.

www.mjabbott.co.uk