2020-21 Project of the Year

Well done to the 2020-21 Project of the Year finalists. These projects were judged as the best projects entered into the Sport Group Project Partner Awards.

Congratulations to the overall Project of the Year Winner – Magni Green, Inc with their Tianmu Baseball Stadium project.  This was Taiwan’s first standard artificial grass baseball field and is the Home stadium of Taiwan’s professional baseball league.

Agent: GameOn Turf
Location: Whangarei, New Zealand

What started out as a meeting between GameOn Turf and the Manager of The Palms Lifestyle Village to discuss the installation of a small bowling green quickly developed into a much larger project.

GameOn were eventually employed to design and construct a 650sqm recreation area which included a bowling green, a putting green and full landscape surrounds to accommodate this low-maintenance, high end retirement Village.

The project itself included:

• Full drainage and baseworks construction for the bowling green
• Installation of Excell Turf 3 Rink Bowling Green – first Excell installation in NZ
• 110sqm installation of putting green using SYNLawn Kingston Green
• 220sqm installation of landscape surrounds using SYNLawn Classic 35
• Fully disability-friendly with wide open access ways.

The Lifestyle Village Manager was so impressed by this project that GameOn Turf are now in discussions to re-landscape all 178 of their villas in New Zealand using SYNLawn Classic 45, which equates to around 10,000sqm in total. Other prospective jobs have resulted as well including three possible school projects and a new hockey pitch at another school.

Agent: Glooloop Surfacing
Location: Waterloo, NSW, Australia

Glooloop Surfacing was sub-contracted to assist with the build of a brand-new childcare centre. Glooloop was required to bring to life the innovative and intricately designed flooring, to be installed over a newly created concrete slab.

The design of the project the installation of a soft fall surface on the internal ground floor and mezzanine levels, as well as several vertical installations (with the tallest being 1000mm) adjoining horizontal coping installations.

The project included:

• Bi-laminate Rubber Wetpour Surfacing System
• Impact attenuation layer using APT 4-Mesh and 8-15mm rubber crumb and APT Qualipur 3401 Binder
• Wear layer consisting of multiple blends of APT Melos EPDM with APT Qualipur 3401 Binder
• All Glooloop rubber surfaces were installed to comply with or exceed the requirements of ASNZ4422:2016, EN1177, ASNZ 4486.1:97 and ASTM F1292.

During the installation special consideration had to be made due to the multiple trades working collaboratively to adhere to the strict schedules and installation time frames. The technical skills of the installers were certainly put to the test with the extensive coping throughout this project.

Agent: Grass Roots Synthetic Lawns
Location: Jan Juc, VIC, Australia

One lucky resident living on the cliff top on the Victorian Surf Coast town of Jan Juc, is now the proud owner of an architecturally designed 19 hole mini golf course, as installed by Grass Roots Synthetic Lawns. Nestled into an acute angle of the property, this detailed project was combined with harmonious landscaping which snaked through the course to a secluded 2 hole green.

The 19 holes were all designed around marathons that the client had run all over the world. Each hole was named after a country and props that represented that country were integrated on and around each green.

The 300sqm project included:

• A 150mm layer of stabilized 20mm B grade was roughed in and compacted prior to installation.
• Grassroots supplied, shaped and compacted the stone dust.
• Each green was stencilled to resemble the original architecturally drawn plans
• The installation of SYNLawn Royal Green with Classic Summer HD landscape surrounds

Grass Roots recommended significant changes to the original drawings to improve the flow of the course, which were supported by the landscape architect and client. The client is extremely happy with the end result and Grass Roots has been employed to conduct monthly maintenance of the course.

Agent: Magni Green, Inc.
Location: Taipei, Taiwan

Tianmu Baseball Stadium is located in the center of Taipei in Taiwan. Built in 1999, Tianmu Baseball Stadium has hosted a number of prestigious events including the 34th World Cup Championships in 2001 as well as a number of major international baseball games.

Magni Green, Inc was contracted by the Taipei City Government to vastly overhaul the stadium’s facilities and equipment. The Government invested more than 80 million NTD (approximately AUD $3.9m) on stadium renovations in 2020 which included the significant transition from natural grass to artificial turf.

The project included:

• Installation of new drainage system – the original filed could cater for 20mm/hr of water but it accumulated water. The updated filed could cater for 50mm/hr and not have any pooled water.
• Foundation works including gravel gradation layer and permeable asphalt layer.
• Installation of a sprinkler irrigation system which covers over a 50m radius.
• Installation of AstroTurf Rootzone Diamond Blend RBI artificial turf

The newly upgraded Tianmu Baseball Stadium is now:

• Taiwan’s first standard artificial grass baseball field
• The Home stadium of Taiwan’s professional baseball league
• The practice field for the national baseball team

Agent: Teamturf
Location: Hamilton, New Zealand

Located in the heart of Hamilton City, Hamilton Lake Domain Playground is a significant recreational facility for residents of Hamilton City and beyond.

Teamturf was involved with the upgrade of the upper section of the playground in 2014, however, the lower section of the playground was now in need of an upgrade. Once again Teamturf was contracted to redevelop the space providing better access and flow between the upper and lower levels.

The brief was to refresh the lower Lake Domain playground, making it as accessible as possible and provide a colourful and engaging playground catering to a wide range of ages.

The project included:

• Basework – it was important that the basework was prepared to specification adhering to the client brief to provide full accessibility to all.
• Design – Teamturf worked closely with the landscape architect to create seamless transitions from hard landscape surfacing to the playground surface. They also helped layout the colours ensuring all turf joins were clear of the high wear areas under swings and bottom of slides.
• Installation – to create as much interest as possible a huge range of colours were used from the SYNLawn Coolplay range as well as a mix of Melos EPDM colours for the soft fall areas.

The local community has been thrilled with their showstopping playground. Hamilton City Council believe that their aim of increasing accessibility within the playground has been achieved through the inclusion of artificial turf. Feedback from users is that they love the colours and variety the playground offers.