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Mixto Installation and Maintenance for Peterborough FC

Peterborough United Football Club
Peterborough United Football Club | 2018 |

Hybrid turf installation

In April 2018, idverde was approached by Peterborough FC to supply, install and maintain two Mixto pitches, which is a reinforced natural hybrid surface. From there to carry out pitch maintenance for fixtures to ensure a Premiership-Standard Pitch.

Background

Since the summer of 2018 idverde sports surfaces team have maintained the pitches at Peterborough United Football Club stadium and training ground. This followed idverde’s successful installation of two hybrid surfaces at the Club.

Alongside maintaining these surfaces, we also maintain the natural grass playing surfaces on site, as well as the 4G pitch. Our team of three grounds people, who are contracted specifically to this contract, work each day producing top quality surfaces for the club and were nominated for Grounds Team of the Year for Leagues 1 and 2 in the first year of maintenance.

Our team has built strong relationships with coaching staff who are both our customers and colleagues in this new way of working. We play an active part in training sessions and match preparations to ensure customer satisfaction whilst maximising the playability of the pitch.

At the end of each season the idverde sports surfaces team come in and renovate the pitches so they are ready for the new season. With a full fleet of sports turf renovation equipment, we can renovate all pitches in house and are experienced in delivering to tight deadlines working around concerts and corporate football.

Specialist Equipment

At the start of our involvement, there was no specialists equipment. In just a week we fully equipped the operation, this included:

  • Honda Rotary Mowers:To remove all unnecessary material keeping the surface as clean as possible
  • Dennis Cylinder Mowers:For match day preparation
  • Trimax Mower:Keep up the quality and cleanliness of cut. The double roller on the machine helps with the presentation
  • Campey Raycam Rake:For removing lateral growth, algae and organic build up on top of the carpet. It also keeps the fibres in play and allows them to stand up
  • Team Sprayer:For the liquid fertiliser program. It’s also light weight for transfer between sites and allows us to eliminate unnecessary weight of a tractor mounted sprayer
  • Torro Procore:Softens the surface before matches, creating a perfect texture and after matches to relieve compaction. This machine also creates air pockets to allow roots to dive further into the ground
  • Sisis Quadraplay:On our conventional pitches we breakup the top inch of surface, ease surface moisture, and groom the surface, helping with presentation

More than maintenance

One of the first things was to bring the housekeeping up to idverde’s standards. All machinery is locked away in a clean unit at the stadium. Machinery is subject to idverde’s rigorous maintenance and inspection regime. Minor repairs and daily maintenance are carried out in-house by the team. Equipment is examined by the relevant manufacturer annually. We have a dedicated vehicle for the contract with joint Peterborough United and idverde branding, allowing us to move equipment between sites.

We are connected to the company’s IT system that runs on Citrix. All ordering, time sheets, HR, invoicing and accounts are carried out online and we are currently implementing Turf Keeper as the principal service delivery software for all of our professional sports clients. Part of our ambition is to organically grow team members internally; we believe in developing their skills and knowledge as much as possible in order to help their development.

For entry level grounds staff we can enrol them onto our in-house Academy Apprenticeship Scheme, which gets completed within a year and gives them Pa1 and Pa2 Spraying Licences as well as a Level 2 in Horticulture.

We have the surfaces tested independently each month, collecting data to not only satisfy our customers, but also to further educate our staff so that they can react to these reports ensuring surfaces of the best possible quality.

“Everyone involved with the maintenance has done a truly fantastic job which idverde colleagues can be proud of. Feedback from the Stadium Manager was simply ‘I don’t have to worry about the pitch anymore.’ I don’t think there could be a better compliment for the team!” – Doug Graham, idverde CEO