Article code: 34-088
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PanStadia International Quarterly Report: Volume 3 No 4, September 1996.


[TURF PROTECTION]


SIDE BY SIDE


KENJI SUEHIRO
describes how two turf
protection systems
came to be tested
side by side.



What better way of comparing two turf protection systems than using them on the same grass for the same event? Just such an occurrence took place at the Tokyo National Stadium on 29th June for a concert by the Three Tenors.

The situation arose quite inadvertently when turf protection was needed for the event. Only 8,500 square metres of Terraplas was available in Japan and Hong Kong leaving the organisers some 6,000 square metres short. The balance was made up using 6,000 square metres of Rollaway turf protection.

The Terraplas achieved all that was required of it. It looked good, was safe and totally protected the turf. By comparison the Rollaway was found lacking in crucial areas.

Kenji Suehiro writes from Tokyo, Japan.



Picture captions:

The Rollaway had to be unloaded by hand and then reassembled on the floor before delivery to the field. The unloading alone took 20 people 12 hours to achieve.

8,500 square metres of Terraplas being unloaded. The Terraplas comes on pallets which can be moved with a forklift truck. Each pallet holds 144 square metres. It took four people three hours to get all the Terraplas unloaded.

Top: The fitting of 6,000 square metres of Rollaway was scheduled to start at eleven o'clock at night on the 27th June, finishing by five o'clock the following morning. The project started on time but did not finish until ten o'clock the following evening. It had taken a minimum of 20 people 23 hours to fit.

Above: The fitting of the 8,500 square metres of Terraplas did not start until seven o'clock in the morning of the 28th June. Up to 12 people helped fit it with the project being completed by five o'clock that afternoon.

The two products side by side. The surface of the Rollaway is uneven and potentially hazardous. Unlike Terraplas the Rollaway does not have a non-slip surface and so it can be slippery when wet.

Terraplas is quick and easy to lay. It looks good when it is down with no gaps, no trip hazards and has the finest non-slip surface available.

After the event. The turf that had been protected by Terraplas is shown in the top half of the photograph. The bottom half of the photograph shows where the Rollaway had been.