It’s an exciting day when we begin a project as large as 7500sqm, so that’s why I’m giving you some of the behind the scenes info as well as before and after pics to show you what goes into an installation this size.

Downside Primary is a large school – comprised of both an Infant and Junior School. The outdoor areas are the primary resource for both break time play and sports activities, but the grass was thin, dry and patchy. As you can see for yourself!

Trulawn came in to transform the area over the course of the summer when the children were all on their holidays. This would be a job that was going to take a fair few weeks to install, what with the volume of ground that had to be removed, edged, aggregated and covered.

For example, after the area was excavated, the ground was edged with 220m of timber edging, 100m of which required haunching. When it came to the aggregate base, this process took some heavy duty machinery with 20 tonne diggers, 6 tonne dumpers and a bulldozer all used in order to get the materials on the area and distributed. Rolls and rolls of weed membrane were pinned down, and when it came to the rolls of grass, the longest roll was 67m and weighed a tonne!

Due to our strong reputation as as a supplier we were able to have these rolls of grass manufactured specifically for this project. This was a big benefit to the school as it limited the amount of joints in the field, helping to keep the appearance as realistic as possible.

The Trulawn Team Leader was Johnny, who oversaw the day-to-day running of the installation. He said “We approached it the same way you would a back garden really. All the same basic principles of installation are the same it’s just on a much larger scale.”

Alongside the football pitch sized field area there was also play equipment and benching to install around. As you can see there are quite a few steps to preparing the area for the grass to be laid. Now imagine doing that to 7500sqm!

One of the key things when working on a scale this large though is actually not to over-do it too much. “One of the easiest ways of telling whether it’s fake or not is how flat the surface is. If it’s too flat it just looks fake, that’s why you should always try and keep as much of the original contouring so that it looks as natural as possible.”

You can see the pitch just after it has had the white field markings painted on it.

It’s important on an area like this that it is not used for a short period in order to let the grass settle and the glue set. Here are some more pictures of the area after a couple of months. With the leaves and twigs on it, it looks incredibly realistic. You almost can’t tell that the grass is even fake!

The school chose Trulawn Luxury to update the grounds which is one of the highest quality grasses available on the market. It has a ten year guarantee against weather resistance, meaning that it will not fade against UV radiation or degrade under UK climactic conditions. Its durability is matched by the realism of its appearance with a true to life blend of olive, dark and lime green colours and tan thatch.

This was actually just one part of the school redevelopment project with another Trulawn installation of a cycle track taking place after the field was completed. You can read more about that here.

If you’d like to see more pictures of our installations then visit our gallery or if you’d like some more tips check out some of our other insights into Installation.