Ashton Playing Fields provides a sports and leisure facilities across its 50-acre site in Chigwell, Essex. Dan Sweetman, who has recently taken over as Centre Manager, was delighted to be greeted to his new position by a spotlessly clean running track thanks to Replay Maintenance and their unique AquaTrax process.
Managed by Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure (RCL), the in-house maintenance team for the facilities is shared between sites. “We have a team that can pick up the groundcare tasks we can’t take on ourselves,” explains Dan. “Anything above that is conducted by external contractors. We try to keep on top of the cleaning of the track, but it’s a high-wear surface, in use daily, so naturally you get a build-up of dirt and detritus over the months and years.”
Replay Maintenance was called in to conduct a deep clean.
“Replay was first recommended to Vision RCL by UK Athletics, and having looked at the work they conducted at other tracks, we decided to call them in and we’re so glad we did – the result is amazing. The operator came in and just got the work done, and when he left it looked like a brand-new track had been laid.”
Aquatrax is a unique process, combining pressure washing and vacuum extraction. The machine applies pressure water jets to dislodge the dirt before a vacuum extraction system removes the dirty water to a tank on the machine leaving a clean surface, free of contaminants. First developed for the maintenance of polymeric athletics tracks, it has since been adapted to clean dirt and algal growth from unfilled or water-based synthetic pitches.
“With the packed schedule we run here, it’s important for us that maintenance work is conducted in a timely, and thorough fashion. More importantly we’ve had great feedback from the users, especially Woodford Green, who are over the moon with the condition of the track.”