| « News Listing |
SHG begins installing state-of-the-art athletic turf
11/03/2011SJ-R.com
It’s starting to look a little greener around the Sacred Heart-Griffin High School west campus after workers this week began laying more than 110,000 square feet — or nearly half a million dollars’ worth — of synthetic turf on the high school’s new baseball field.
The installation team says the turf is worth the expense because of its advantages over natural grass: increased durability, lower maintenance costs, better drainage and, because of it includes a layer of ground-up rubber, less chance of concussions and other injuries caused by impact with a harder turf.
When the baseball field is completed later this month, the Allsynthetic Group Inc. of Pawnee will stretch an additional 90,000 square feet on the football/soccer field next door.
The total cost for all of the turf, including the rock and drainage system underneath, comes to about $7 a square foot, or nearly $1.5 million.
The sports fields are part of SHG’s Generations Campaign, which also involves raising money to remodel the auditorium on the main campus, an addition that serves as a band and multipurpose room, and a room where sets can be built. The west campus also is adding a weight room, athletic care facility and a multipurpose gym.
Work on the sports fields should be completed by the end of this month. The entire project is expected to be finished in March .
“The only other field with similar turf is the Buffalo Bills’,” said Jeremy Strawn, president of ASG. “It’s the best on the market. TenCate (the fiber manufacturer) always has been at the front end of technology.”
ASG is the installation arm of Sports Field Contractors, owned by Strawn, Billy Michael and Mark Driver. Other projects have included the installation of turf at Lenz Field in Jacksonville.
The National Football League’s Buffalo team installed new turf at Ralph Wilson Stadium this spring.
Looks like grass
The SHG turf, called Tiger Synergy and sold by TigerTurf of Texas, combines two types of artificial fibers — one for wearability and another for appearance, Strawn said.
“The monofilament is for looks,” he said. “That’s what you want. It looks like natural grass.”
| « News Listing |
