BEST PRACTICE | PRESTIGE GROUNDS
PRESENTING A PRESTIGE SERVICE
One grounds maintenance contractor goes beyond the call of duty to ensure its work is something to be proud of – so much so that Prestige Grounds Ltd last year collected a GMA industry award for its unstinting efforts
Colin Hoskins Editor
10 GROUNDS MANAGEMENT | JULY 2020
IF THERE is a secret to the continued success of contractor Prestige Grounds, “it is because we pride ourselves on the standards of our work; in particular, on the presentation of the finished pitch”, says director Bradley Anderson. He adds: “We do not apply the ‘get it done as quick as we can’ attitude. Instead, we always focus on the end result; often double cutting grass to achieve a nice ‘chequered’ look and increasing mowing frequencies, when not contracted to do so, and even, on occasion, overseeding at our own cost to consistently maintain an improved and neat site.” It’s an attitude that explains why the company has continued to go from strength to strength since its establishment in 2015. Operating from its base in Ford, Wiltshire, the firm has never lost a contract – indeed, it has continued to gain new clients – and its quality of work was last year recognised at the GMA Industry Awards when Brad stepped up to receive the AMS Robotics Public Sector Sports Grounds Team of the Year Award. Prestige Grounds’ constant success has also led to an increase in its workforce (to three full-timers and one part-timer) “to enable us to maintain our high standards in managing a range of facilities for
parish councils, private and state schools, as well as football, rugby and cricket clubs, for example”. Brad continues: “We perform a variety of tasks – depending on the time of year, extending from the annual renovations of sports pitches, line marking and yearround grass cutting to bin emptying and litter picking in parks, as well as hedge maintenance.” While the GMA award was, he says, “due recognition for the team; the company wouldn’t be able to provide such a high level of service without the outstanding attitude they adopt”, the turning point in sports pitch maintenance was, he reflects, the positive impact of a Pitch Improvement Programme (PIP) report produced in 2018 (the year of the Beast from the East followed by a very hot summer) on a set of parish council pitches being maintained by Prestige Grounds.
Shoots of recovery “After only a year of renovations, and despite that very hot summer, I was really worried that the work we had put into the pitches was going to be wasted,” Brad says. “After seeding the pitches (not for the first time out of my own pocket) I was so pleased to see the improvements in the surfaces –
