//Egremont RUFC granted Rejeneration® of flood-hit pitch

The floods that struck Cumbria in November 2009 caused devastation to villages and towns across the whole county. Amongst the areas affected was Egremont, a town situated on the west coast of Cumbria, which suffered when the banks of the river Ehen burst and flooded houses, business premises and sports facilities throughout the town – including the local rugby club, Egremont RUFC.

Technical Surfaces was called in to assess the damage caused to the 3^rd Generation MUGA at the Bleach Green venue, which the club hires out to the local community during the day and at weekends. As well as leaving widespread silt and contamination across the pitch, flood water had also displaced a section of the carpet and the underlying stone sub-base.

The extensive works involved in repairing the facility included repairs to level out the base and refit the dislodged carpet, followed by a deep-cleaning Rejeneration^® of the carpet itself. This patented process removed the sand and rubber-crumb infill that had become contaminated by the excess floodwater, replacing it with fresh material to support and protect the carpet fibres.

All works were completed by our NVQ-trained operatives, who used specialist compressed-air machinery to extract the contaminated infill cleanly and effectively, eliminating the possibility of further cross-contamination that can occur with water-based processes.

The availability to hire the MUGA at Egremont RUFC provides a valuable source of income for the club, and without a clean, free-draining and decompacted infill the synthetic pitch would soon suffer the financial consequences of poor drainage and compromised playing characteristics. Furthermore, with the pitch only one year old at the time when the floods hit, the club realised the need to protect its asset by investing in the specialist Rejeneration^®, thereby helping to secure the long-term future of the playing surface.

The importance of the synthetic MUGA to both the club and the local community was evident when the Rugby Football Union (RFU) awarded the club a grant of £12,500 emergency funding from the Rugby Football Federation (RFF) to repair and restore both the MUGA and the grass pitch. The funding also covered the hire of temporary accommodation while the Clubhouse was renovated, allowing the club to continue scheduling bookings for the synthetic pitch.

“I am absolutely delighted with the Rejeneration^® and repair works completed by Technical Surfaces to help restore our 3^rd Generation MUGA”, commented Ian Marr, Vice Chairman at Egremont RUFC. “I was really impressed with their level of professionalism and technical expertise, from my initial meeting with their Technical Manager, Sean Colbert, right through to completion of the works by their team of skilled, knowledgeable and hard working operatives.

“Last year’s floods caused such damage, and being without our sports facilities was something we could not contemplate. We were fortunate to receive grant funding for restoration, which allowed us to ensure the best works could be completed on the MUGA by experts in the field of artificial pitch maintenance.

“The pitch plays like new – you would never believe it was damaged by floods less than six months ago! I would like to thank everyone at Technical Surfaces for helping us to restore our MUGA to the local community, and I would have no hesitation in recommending their services.”