When staff from the Grass Factory first visited the playground adjoining Bladon Church of England Primary School in Oxfordshire, the grassed areas were very worn and the earth compacted. The school wanted to improve its appearance and usability, so it asked for a proposal involving new artificial grass.
Aesthetics were a particularly important consideration. The village of Bladon is relatively small and rural, and is home to the Parish Church of Saint Martin Bladon, where Sir Winston Churchill was buried. Consequently, it was important that the chosen grass should look attractive and natural, and that it should be durable enough to retain its appearance in spite of heavy use.
Another consideration was the use of a local builder’s merchant. The local roads are narrow, so deliveries needed to be kept relatively small and local. A final factor was drainage; the project called for an artificial lawn that would drain freely to ensure it could be used in all seasons.
To meet the demands of the scheme, the Grass Factory supplied an attractive artificial grass with a 30mm pile height and a durable construction. This was laid inside a timber post perimeter, over a base of MOT Type 2 aggregate. (This contains larger grades of stone and tends to drain more quickly than the more usual Type 1.) Sharp sand from the local builder’s merchant was then applied over a ground stabilisation membrane and the lawn was affixed by means of galvanised nails. Finally, a silica sand dressing was applied to protect the backing fabric, to keep the fibres upright and to provide ballast.
To one side of the school grounds, the lawn meets a stone wall adjoining the historic churchyard, and on the other, it wraps around an adventure playground with a bark chip base.
The installation produced a very attractive, natural-looking artificial lawn that is safe and suitable for the school children to use all year round. It drains very effectively and, because it requires no mowing, watering or re-seeding, it keeps routine maintenance costs to a bare minimum.
