Public Parks Feed

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 18th 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 Sophie Ryder  Sitting  2007. Courtesy the artist and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photo © Jonty Wilde  courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park


Terrain Aeration visit Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Cambridge University Botanic Garden welcomes 300,000 visitors a year, making it the most visited university botanic garden in the UK. Situated in the centre of Cambridge, the Grade II listed Heritage Garden covers 40 acres and is home to a collection of over 8,000 plant species to facilitate teaching and research. Equally, since its foundation it has provided a beautiful and tranquil place for everyone to enjoy. The Garden boasts four show lawns and the combination of foot traffic, marquee trucks and ride-on mowers leads to compaction. The Garden has been using Terrain Aeration’s decompaction services since as far back as 2013 and chose the deep aeration treatment for the high-profile area of the Main Lawn in front of the majestic glasshouses.
“We know Terrain Aeration’s work from years ago when development had been done at the Station Road Entrance and the lawn at the back of Cory Lodge,” says Adrian Holmes, Landscape and Machinery Supervisor at the Garden. “The lawns had been re-built after the work but were found to be compacted and the soil was not good. We had a waterlogging issue for a couple of years. The Terrain Aeration treatment rectified the problem and we know from experience it’s a long-term solution.”
This year, the Garden’s Main Lawn area was cordoned off, the machine operation creating considerable interest amongst students and visitors, and Terrain Aeration’s Terralift set to work. The weather was very good and dry, and the ground was worked easily without the need to use the Terralift’s JCB hammer drill. The machine’s probe is driven down a metre deep and highly compressed air released up to a maximum of 20Bar (280psi) to fracture the soil, opening it up for aeration, drainage and to get oxygen to the roots of the plant. On the tail end of the air blast, dried seaweed is incorporated which sticks to the walls of the fractures and fissures created by the main air blast. As pressure drops, the seaweed is mixed in the hopper unit where it swirls around with the remaining air and is then released. The seaweed swells in wet weather and keeps the fissures open. On the Main Lawn the same process was repeated in two-metre spacings, so the underground fracturing is thoroughly linked. In some extreme cases this is demonstrated by water fountains appearing from previous probe holes. In this instance the ground was found to be not as compacted as expected and the 2,500sq metre area was completed in two days, not the original three as had been expected.
“The Terrain Aeration guys were very good, prompt and efficient and quite knowledgeable,” says Adrian, “they backfilled the probe holes with Lytag, lightweight aggregate and it was as if they had never been there. It was great to have everything back to normal so quickly.” The aeration treatment completed, the lawn area was immediately open for unrestricted access to the fountains, glasshouses and horticultural and National Plant Collections.

Terrain Cambridge University Botanic Garden IMG_4671 - Copy 2


Decompaction of turf after winter snow and ice

Looking out of the window now, there is little by the way of a reminder that only a couple of months ago, most of the United Kingdom has been brought to a standstill by severe winter conditions: a blanket of deep snow and ice covered the countryside and as a result, public parks and sports pitches became unplayable.

Turf professionals, despite now having the sun on their backs, will still be working their magic on the rootzone to repair the ravages of the big freeze.

Most turf compaction problems are caused by man or beast walking or playing on the grass. However, sometimes there are other recreation activities that lead to severely compacted surfaces.

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Kickstarting baked hard sports pitches after drought

Windsor racecourse aeration We have seen a long period of dry weather with very little rain or moisture in the South and East of England which has meant that local authorities have been forced to cancel football matches following the late summer drought as the ground is too compact.

It will require only a modest level of sustained rainfall to render sports pitches unplayable. This is because the water cannot percolate down and reach the drainage system. Aeration is the solution - but penetration is not easily achieved by many ‘top surface’ machines.

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Decompaction of sports turf and root-zones across Europe

Decompaction of rugby and football pitchWe have the machinery and we will travel to most of mainland Europe to assist turf and tree care professionals with the aeration of compacted soil on sports surfaces, including rugby and football pitches, golf courses, tennis courts and bowling greens.

We can also treat the root-zone areas of fruit orchards and vineyards to a depth of one metre by injecting compressed air under high pressure to break up soil pans or to relieve poor drainage.

If you would like more details then please email us

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Terrain Aeration in South Wales

We will be despatching a team into South Wales in the week beginning 4th May 2009.

If you have a need for our de-compaction service treating turf or tree roots with compressed air to a depth of one metre then please email us asap.


De-compacting a public football pitch

Bradley stoke football pitchBy fracturing the soil with compressed air, our main aim is to re-instate a 'two way street' by removing the 'road block' of compaction thus allowing water and nutrients to flow and at the same time allowing the essential air to circulate.

There are so many positives that come out of our rootzone treatments that it is difficult to name them all, or perhaps even put them into any kind of order of importance; I suppose it depends on the use of the ground we are treating and the objectives of the management team that have called us in to respond to their specific problem.

One of the greatest joys for Terrain Aeration is probably being able to ease a problem in community sports pitches, where local young people come to play and train, but are often curtailed because, due to a mixture of overuse, lack of money to do maintenance or poor historical rootzone structure, football or rugby is often called off when surfaces become unplayable.

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Treating public parkland for soil compaction

St James' Park - Queen Victoria Memorial Being a park manager is not an easy job at the best of times. Grass cutting and maintenance operations have to be carried out when park users are enjoying their surroundings.

Keeping the grass in tip top condition is always a challenge for grounds staff and with parks also getting a funding boost for restorations and improvements the facilities are seeing increased activity.

In August 2008, St James' Park in London held the Olympic handover ceremony concert. As a result the grass areas of the park were left with severe compaction caused by foot traffic, the stage area and vehicles used for delivering staging and outside broadcasting units.

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