Premiership performance gives turf a second life
League champions Chelsea led the way from day one last season, so it’s no surprise to discover they are leading the way in other areas too.
José Mourinho’s young protégés will become the first players in a top flight academy to compete on a 4G surface when it is installed later this year.
However, the 3G pitch being replaced at the club’s youth training facility in Cobham, Surrey, won’t go to waste – thanks to a winning performance by Sports Maintenance Services (SMS).
The company’s professionalism in keeping the surface in tip-top condition has ensured a ‘second life’ in at least two other locations.
A sports centre in Rotherham and a school in Hertfordshire are set to benefit from the champions’ decision to upgrade.
SMS director Tim Gallagher explained, “We have taken care of the Chelsea Academy surface for the past seven years and kept it in excellent condition. So when the club announced its plans to upgrade to a new infill-free 4G pitch, we wanted to avoid a negative waste story and ensure a positive environmentally-friendly outcome for all concerned. The product and infill were found to be in good condition and fit for reuse, so it made environmental sense to find a new home for the system.
“Already a sports centre in Rotherham has taken 2,500 square metres of carpet plus infill for four five-a-side pitches, and negotiations are at an advanced stage for a further 5,000 square metres plus infill to be re-used at a school in Hertfordshire.
“All in all, this is a great example of the value our maintenance programmes can generate. The positive residual values that were verified facilitated the reclamation and re-purposing of this all weather pitch”.
On site pitch reclamation is the future and if good regulated maintenance programmes are followed significant residual and environmental values are achievable through such a process – SMS now endorses ON SITE pitch reclamation.
Such processing not only reduces the carbon footprint linked to transportation it also opens the opportunity to move away from the current linear approach of waste disposal associated with off site field tips and land fill.
In many cases, on site reclamation will enable clients who have followed SMS maintenance programmes to save money on the overall cost of the project by re-using independently-tested infill material as well as repurpose the X-synthetic carpet.
