Published on: 15th June 2021
Since upgrading to an advanced Hunter irrigation system, Tottenham Hotspur F.C’s incredible training centre has seen remarkable improvements according to Darren Baldwin, Head of Playing Surfaces & Estates, and Liam Plummer, Irrigation Technician.
Tottenham Hotspur F.C’s state of the art Enfield training centre needs little introduction. It is, after all, widely regarded as one of the best training facilities in world football.
“The chairman and I share the same vision in the sense that this facility must never look tired or old,” said Darren. “We are always developing, always adding, always tweaking, always looking to make improvements.”
This is exactly what he decided to do with the irrigation system which was purchased through KAR UK, a leading wholesaler of irrigation equipment and distributor of Hunter products.
“It was always going to be Hunter from KAR UK,” continued Darren. “The whole package is superior– from technical, set-up, products, flexibility, the design, it just all works for us.”
Not content with just a new upgraded irrigation system, perfectionist Darren also brought in Liam Plummer, an experienced Irrigation Technician, who recently joined from The Grove Golf Course.
“I was working in greenkeeping and irrigation for fifteen years, but this job really appealed to me because it enabled me to purely focus on irrigation,” said Liam. “I don’t see problems, instead I see solutions. I thought this job was just too good an opportunity to turn down.”
With 16 grass pitches and hundreds of acres of green spaces and landscaping areas, Liam quickly found that there is certainly enough to keep him busy. He does, however, admit that the upgraded Hunter system, which consists of three ACC2 controllers and the Centralus irrigation management platform, does make his life easier.
“The new software has helped me to put a watering schedule in place with ease, which is something we couldn’t do before,” he said. “We have three zones on this site and each ACC2 manages a separate zone with the Centralus software controlling those three areas.”
Hunter’s ACC2 controller delivers advanced water management to meet the demands of large-scale commercial projects. The ACC2 has built-in intelligence, with the ability to maintain preset flows on up to 6 flow zones simultaneously. Perfectly complementing the ACC2 is the Centralus irrigation management platform, which offers secure, comprehensive cloud-based control and monitoring features for ACC2 controllers. The connectivity allows users to view a controller’s status, change settings, enable automatic weather adjustments, view forecasts, save water and receive instant notifications of important system alarms.
Furthermore, it allows users to manage the ACC2 controllers remotely – as Liam explained.
“I can manage it all from my phone or laptop,” he said. “I can be anywhere and put any sprinkler on just by pressing a button. There have even been times when I’ve been sat on the sofa at home, and I’ve had a call asking me to turn some sprinklers on because they needed water after applying fertiliser to a pitch.”
The grass pitches at the training centre have also received a boost after the sprinklers were upgraded to the new TTS-885’s and I-80’s from Hunter. These powerful rotors boast some of the highest torque outputs of any rotor in the commercial sphere and provide total top serviceability (TTS) via their integrated, surface-mounted snap-rings for no-dig easy maintenance.
“They are by far the best sprinklers for large turf areas and are perfect for football pitches,” said Liam. “The coverage you get from them is fantastic. You get that all important uniformity across the whole pitch, due to the rotors and nozzle configuration being the same.
“I also like the fact that, if needed, you can take almost the entire sprinkler apart without having to de-pressurise or drain the system. It saves so much time. We also have Hunter’s MP rotators, and Pro spray nozzles on the landscaping areas such as our show lawns. They are short, low pressure, and they do exactly what we want them to do.
“I would say that the new Hunter sprinklers make us more accurate with our water usage which is very important these days.”
Darren agreed and revealed that Tottenham Hotspur F.C finished top of the 2020 Premier League Sustainability Table. Furthermore, he believes that the club’s efficient water management procedures certainly played a part in the award.
“We reviewed every single arc on every sprinkler to make sure we were not putting out too much, he said. “So, when it comes to water, and the irrigation, the system is designed around saving grey water – and we recycle this grey water back into our new Even Products irrigation tanks (also purchased through KAR UK) which give us greater capacity on the same footprint.
“Ultimately, the new Hunter software allows us to be more accurate with what we are using, and we also have less waste. The really good news out of all this is that it has massively improved our sustainability.”
With the new tanks and system supplied by KAR UK, Liam concluded by praising the support and service the club receives.
“The back-up from KAR UK is perfect,” he said. “They are always available to advise me on a product or a technical aspect I may be unsure of. If I need clarity on something, then Mike McDonnell (UK sales manager) will always come here to assist.”
