When HM Prison Training Service identified a need for an overflow car cark to service the increasing needs for parking to cope with the many training events taking place, they turned to TechTurf and Naylor Environmental for help.

Like many government institutions the need for additional parking is a constant problem. The requirement to comply with the latest Sustainable Urban Drainage system (SuDs) legislation and the fact that it was a flood plane meant that the use of tarmac was out of the question. The 6,000m2 area had to be maintained as a grass surface to compliment the beautiful surroundings of the estate when it was not in use so the use of a reinforced gravel area was also rejected.

Fortunately the Naylor TechTurf system provides a load bearing grass surface that can be adjusted to cope with the demands of heavy pedestrian traffic right up to occasional HGV loads (for use in emergency access routes). After a preliminary survey it was identified that drainage of the sub grade was also inadequate to cope with even normal rainfalls so Naylor Enviroflow was also selected to provide the answer.

A standard DoT Type 1 Sub base was installed to provide a loadbearing base and the Naylor Enviroflow drainage planks were installed at 5m centres to drain the large area to the adjacent ditch. This provided a well drained sub base for the first stage of the TechTurf installation. The special mesh reinforced TechTurf root-zone was installed across the area and compacted with a Bomag vibrang roller, requiring almost 50 trucks to deliver it.

Following compaction of the root-zone a fertiliser is spread across the surface and the turf installation began. The turf is scheduled to arrive within 48 hours of the finishing of the root-zone layer to ensure good root integration. The Naylor Classic Turf was delivered and installed by the contractor (Ambion Contractors) and lightly rolled in with a non vibrating roller to simulate tamping to complete the project.

The load bearing grassed area was then regularly hydrated and ready for use within a few weeks.

Further areas are now planned for this presgious site to complement the surroundings.