SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/69161
tionary process of refinement and continual improvement. The 400 metres running track has been the only common denominator throughout the process. "For example, the grass area has been shortened to 90 metres long (by 71 metres wide) as opposed to UEFA-standard football pitches of 105 metres long (by 68 metres wide) to accommodate the Olympic of- ficials et al in the 'D' areas at either end of the track/pitch. And there is no undersoil heating (not required on a pitch in London that will be used during the summer months) nor fancy air systems." Hewitt Sportsturf 's on-site work began last April and the company has, on average, had a team of eight people on-site during the ensuring 11 months. dard FA guidelines of a fall of 1 in 80 across and along the pitch has, however, followed the established and highly successful Hewitt stan- dards; the company's renowned design of gravity-based lower, lateral pipe slot drainage, a 125-150 millimetres gravel carpet underneath 200 millimetres of lower rootzone and 100 millimetres of upper rootzone incorporating fibres/loose fibre reinforcement. Pop-up irrigation is also a feature, as are gas vents for the lower foundations. Because of the specified use, the turf (which was laid over three The foundation/construction of the pitch, which is based on stan- bowl work," adds John. "For example, we faced a number of massive and very complex challenges, not least designing in and installing the ductwork to accommodate all the drainage and broadcast media utility chambers; the drainage system is much more involved than a conven- tional construction project for football and the Olympic Stadium is certainly much more media-orientated." With the chambers measuring 1,800 mm by 1,800 mm, a network of them populate the inner bowl like a spider's web: the drainage sys- tems not only look after the pitch and permeable areas but they also ac- commodate water run-off from the non-grass D areas and track, 16, 000 m2 in total, which includes the track maintenance wash-down areas. This expanse is drained via the network of slot and surface drains and while initial guesstimates pointed to around 2,200 linear metres of ducting being required, the result is 12,500 linear metres! Of course, the D areas and track—Mondo "tarmac" surfacing—had to be constructed to IAAF Class 1 Design Specification, which includes a maximum gradient cross fall of 1% with zero gradient fall to the run- ning length and a maximum 0.4% gradient fall in any direction on the D areas. Indeed, when these highly exacting angles and the track's "continual days) is a "straightforward" blend of perennial ryegrass, smooth stalked meadow and fescue. "But the pitch is effectively one relatively small element of our inner concave contour"' are considered, John Hewitt makes complete sense when he says that the inner bowl work was very complex and exacting compared with the "fairly simple" pitch construction. The construction of these areas underwent regular checks and in- spections by the IAAF-accredited test house and, comments John proudly, "to operate and construct at such precise tolerances given the complex inner bowl layout and obstacles is without doubt a very de- manding and difficult task. I am pleased to report and confirm that all checks and testing have achieved the requirements for IAAF Class 1 certification as far as tested to date. "The London 2012 project entailed an immense amount of com- munication, for instance on average two meetings a week for the past year alone with the Team Stadium consortium, and the site conditions proffered a number of challenges. "It must have been a logistical nightmare for Team Stadium/the Olympic Delivery Authority to manage all the different contractors www.stma.org SportsTurf 21