Terrain Aeration

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

Image: Sophie Ryder, Sitting, 2007. Courtesy the artist and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Photo © Jonty Wilde, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

2021 News from Terrain Aeration

David and Lynda would like to wish everyone a safe 2021.

This is our update on our position during lockdown and to say as soon as the B&B’s start opening we will get on with our backlog of work that requires overnight stays. We are pleased to say we are able to resume day work within travelling distances and these are starting up.
We like everyone else have been caught out with the Covid-19 pandemic and its mutations.
We have been unable to work away from base as this requires us to night stop in Bed and Breakfast places, as well as needing somewhere to eat in the evenings. Travelodge are very proud and pleased that they are able to stay open to have beds available for the NHS staff but we feel that the extra risks involved sharing this sort of accommodation for some of our staff who are “shielding” vulnerable family members is not safe despite the efforts put in by the hotel staff to keep the virus at bay.

In November 2020 when lockdown was eased and infection rates were low, we took on more staff in order to be able to work our way through the backlog of work which has been accumulating. The new variant of the Coronavirus and the repeated lockdowns meant that even with extra capacity we could not treat any areas because of the lack of safe accommodation.

The staff are being kept upgrading our machinery for when it is safe for them to go out and work.
The extraordinary efforts to get those who are most vulnerable vaccinated will be a welcome relief, once our staff are able to get their jabs – unfortunately this could well be as late as September!

We have ear-marked our work on a map and will do the work in “batches” to save us running up and down the country doing a garden or sports field here and there. With the new staff, we can double up on our work and hopefully with totally rebuilt machinery, get the work done quickly. Once suitable accommodation is found, we will be able to use it as a base, so our staff are reduced in their exposure to the virus, which will unfortunately, still be around.

All safety precautions will be taken by our staff – there is no need to come into contact with our clients: phone calls and photos will suffice. We have all the PPE required – no chances will be taken.

On a new note of caution – with our machines working in gardens, more people are staying at home and on “Zoom”. We must remind them that our machines do make a great deal of noise and that they will be unable to hear any Zoom meetings.

We are on a pretty tight schedule and having to switch off the machine and stop work for the homeowner to use “Zoom” will have a knock on effect and delay our schedule – perhaps even making us stay over another night to get the work completed and delaying all other work for the rest of the week.

Rest assured that Terrain Aeration are not closing their doors but are simply staying safe.

There is no area of grass however revered and loved that is worth the life of a Terrain Aeration member of staff or one of their vulnerable family members.

We thank you for your patience and we will get around to treating your ground.