Hagley Outfield Reshaping

Twelve years after Mexted Sports Turf first built Hagley Cricket Oval, our construction crew of Chris, Dale and Sean were back in Christchurch last week to take the top off the outfield – a major renovation to deal with organic build up and improve surface drainage, to meet International Cricket Council percolation standards.

Watch us in action here:
https://lnkd.in/g5_yYwhS
 
After the grass was planed off using our Koro Topmaker, a Campey Unirake was used to loosen the surface. We then spread 10mm of fresh sand over the whole outfield.
 
Earlier Mexteds had surveyed the Oval and created a new 3D model, which was imported into our 3D grading gear using a Leica Total Station to guide our operators. When the job was done, we were pleased to see the result was within 5mm of the design across the whole surface.
 
The design aspect of the job was more challenging than we initially thought with the centre cricket block remaining at its current height, while reducing the outfield down by 55mm to remove the organic matter.

We knew that after removing the organic matter we only had ~30mm in remaining outfield sand to work with to improve the shape correction, all while trying to protect the integrity of the underlying sand slits.

We also had to work in with the stormwater outlet sumps around the perimeter of the Oval, so along with the wicket block we had two non-negotiables to design around.

This made the resurfacing project far more challenging than a typical job and it required regular core samples, checks and pre-commencement discussions.
 
Mexteds’ team enjoyed the camaraderie of working alongside Golf & Irrigation and Christchurch City Council grounds staff, who upgraded the irrigation ring main communication cable. CCC’s Hagley Turf Team are now managing the seeding, fertilising and grow-in. Game On!