Terrain Aeration

Effective swale treatment by Terrain Aeration

When Pennyfarthing Homes called on Land Products (Wessex) Limited to help resolve an ongoing problem, MD Roger Attrill knew exactly who to bring in. It may look to be not much more than a dried-up pond, but this swale plays an important role in the Alexandra Meadows estate in Lymington. Swales should hold water briefly, then soak away, but this water was retained for weeks after rainfall since the site was completed two years ago as part of the Sustainable Drainage System (SUDS. This is effectively the housing estate’s holding pond to help stop downstream flooding following heavy rain and storm conditions. It was not draining as it should.

“Naturally occurring hard gravels underlying these swales have proved too slow to drain,” says Roger, “we took the opportunity to experiment with Terrain Aeration’s machinery which in a very short period improved permeability greatly.” Land Products provides a comprehensive soft landscaping and grounds maintenance service to Local Authorities, County Councils, the construction industry and commercial clients.

Having called on the services of Terrain Aeration they used their speciality of deep penetration aeration to relieve compaction. The principle works on the basis of penetrating the very hard subsoil with a probe and fracturing it with a blast of compressed air to a maximum of 20Bar (280psi). The process is repeated in spacings so the fissures created interlink and allow full drainage. In this instance, the effect could be seen immediately with a 50mm drop in the standing water in minutes. Within two days, the water had gone completely.

“I’m confident we can make the whole SUDS system work as planned with a bit more time.” Roger says. “I have worked with Terrain Aeration before when they treated compacted gardens for us and they did exactly what they said they would, very straightforward.” Increasingly, Terrain Aeration are called upon by housebuilders and landscapers to treat gardens where during construction heavy machinery has compacted the subsoil around new-build properties.

 

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Walking on air in Greenwich Park

The oldest enclosed Royal Park, Greenwich covers 74 hectares on top of a hill where visitors enjoy sweeping views across the River Thames to St Paul’s Catherdral and beyond. There has been a settlement on the site since Roman times, and Greenwich has always had a strong association with royalty. Historic tree areas date from 1660 when Charles II was king and eleven original trees from the period can be found in the park. In 2019, the park had over five million visitors and with its view and attractions – there’s even a Saxon burial mound – it is no wonder when the pandemic struck there was a massive increase in visitors in the first year of lockdown.

“It was like bank holiday every day,” says Adam Stoter, Greenwich Park’s Technical Officer. “Greenwich Park offered an open-air space when there were few places people could go. The trouble was, the added footfall compounded the growing problem of compaction in and around the tree areas.”

The Royal Parks’ flagship project ‘Greenwich Park Revealed’ had already begun to restore the 590-year-old park to protect and share its heritage. They aim to go above and beyond in tree care and management and it was a natural progression to bring in the specialist services of Terrain Aeration’s Tree Division. The company has been treating tree areas in Royal Parks for many years and, in the case of Greenwich this year, applied their technology across 15,000 square metres. Where there is heavy compaction it is essential to break up the soil at a depth greater than the tree roots, other than the main tap roots which go straight down, to allow excess water to drain away and help stop anaerobic conditions and rotting of the root system.

The Terrain Aeration Terralift machine sends a probe to a depth of one metre where compressed air is released to a maximum of 20Bar (280psi). This blast of air fractures the soil and creates fissures which interlink as the Terralift repeats the process on a grid system of two-metre spacings. As the probe withdraws at the end of the air blast, dried seaweed is injected which sticks to the fissure walls, expanding and contracting with moisture content in the soil to keep the area ’breathing’. In most cases, the area treated will be one-metre inside and one-metre outside the canopy drip line to reach beyond the growing roots, increasing the percentage of oxygen intake and allow maximum drainage. In all, Terrain Aeration treated around 15,000 square metres to help ensure the future of the historic tree areas where visitors will literally walk on air.

Buckingham West End Bowls Club

Received from the groundsman at Buckingham West End Bowls club after heavy rain in July:

Good evening Lynda

Just an update.  We had a tremendous downpour one evening earlier this week (picture attached).  The following morning the green was playable although a bit soft.  Before you did your work, we would have had a large puddle for a few days so a big success

Regards

Ian

Terrain Aeration launches housebuilder's division

Over many years, major house building companies have called on Terrain Aeration to decompact back gardens and community areas of new-build developments. During building, the unavoidable combination of diggers, dumper trucks, bulldozers, concrete mixer lorries and parked vehicles take their toll on the soil, flattening the air out of it. Eventually, the areas that become the gardens and shared grass areas, which may already have a sub-soil layer of rubble, old bricks and general landfill waste, becomes overly compacted. The result is waterlogging and panning requiring very deep aeration to cure the problem.

Terrain Aeration has provided the solution to this for some of the UK's biggest builders including Barratt, Taylor-Wimpey and Persimmon. The Terrain business has grown in the sector to the extent they have formed their Housebuilder'' Division, headed by Elly Fletcher. Three new staff join her to form the specialist team that will concentrate on the house builders' needs. Terrain Aeration's Managing Director, David Green, has built different types of machine to enable access to the gardens through single gates and garages. He says:

"Our Terralift machine has proven itself over the last 30 years in aerating and decompacting soils. It is the ideal way of getting oxygen back into the soil structure, non-invasive and no mess. This does not replace the: "no need for drains issue" but it is cost effective and works. Putting in new drains will still leave you with compaction panning in-between the drains, so using Terrain Aeration in the first place is a step in the right direction. Once a garden has been aerated using Terrain Aeration's machinery, nature will be able to help with the rejuvenation of the soil structure - so this treatment would not be required again."

Under normal circumstances, Terrain Aeration works nationwide and their teams are available, subject to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, to carry out deep aeration relief for waterlogging and flooding for house builders, sports grounds, amenity areas, golf courses and public spaces. Enquiries from house builders are welcomed with a new email address: aerationterrain292@gmail.com and by calling Terrain Aeration 01449 673783 www.terrainaeration.co.uk

Terrain’s deep aeration in Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Situated near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an open-air gallery that showcases work by world-class British and international artists, including Yorkshire-born Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Damien Hirst. The park has one of the largest open-air collection of Moore’s bronzes in Europe. Spread over 500-acres of 18^th century designed landscape of Bretton Hall, YSP opened in 1977 and was the first UK sculpture park based on temporary open-air exhibitions that were organized in London parks from the 1940s to 1970 by the Arts Council and London County Council.

Today, the ‘gallery without walls’ has an ever-changing exhibition programme and preparing to reopen after lockdown presented an opportunity for remedial work to be done. Following a site visit by hydrology consultants inspecting a waterlogged area, they brought in Terrain Aeration with their deep aeration treatment system. The area in question was an important part of the Lower Park and a popular area for visitors and curators. It suffers from compaction due to footfall and the weight of sculptures, resulting in the build-up of standing water.

 “It is unusual for the area to be cleared,” says Mark Chesman, Head of Estates and Parks at YSP, “but the sculptures in that area were removed for conservation work, and we seized the opportunity as part of a wider project. In all, it took two-and-a-half days and they treated 4,000 square metres of land.”

Terrain Aeration’s Terralift hammers a hollow probe one metre into the soil using a JCB road breaker gun. At depth, the ground is usually so compacted it needs the hammer to break through. Compressed air is then released to a maximum of 20Bar (280psi) to fracture and fissure the soil and the process is repeated in two-metre spacings, to ensure the fissures interlink. On the end of the air blast, dried seaweed is injected which sticks to the fissure walls, expanding and contracting with moisture content in the soil and keeping the area ‘breathing.’ The 1.5-inch probe holes created by the Terralift machine are backfilled with aggregate to provide a semi-permanent aeration/ventilation shaft, helping to keep the whole aeration process working. The park’s groundkeepers then overseeded the area to finish.

We tend to take trees for granted, in our parks, public spaces and estates but they are often subjected to stress as a result of several factors, such as nutrient shortage, surface compaction due to foot traffic, and waterlogging where water drains off hard surfaces. Yorkshire Sculpture Park features lime trees, beech and Atlas cedar amongst others and these were given Terrain Aeration treatment as well. Breaking up the soil around the roots, and beyond, means excess water will drain away from the roots to help stop anaerobic conditions and rotting of the root system. “We’re confident with what’s been done,” says Mark, “and will be looking at further areas to be treated, probably in the autumn.”

Terrain Aeration 01449 673783 www.terrainaeration.co.uk

Image: Sophie Ryder, Sitting, 2007. Courtesy the artist and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Photo © Jonty Wilde, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park. View this photo