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Consultancy

Australian Sports Turf Consultants (ASTC) staff provides independent technical and agronomic turf consultant services to government departments and councils, schools, sports bodies, clubs and associations, turf managers and producers, turf maintenance companies, architects, engineers, builders, landscapers and homeowners.

Sport

ASTC provides specialist services to elite and community sporting facilities, councils, government agencies, golf courses, racetracks, schools etc. ASTC works with each client to make sure their asset is constructed to specification, is well maintained and most importantly is safe for professional and/or amateur sport participation.

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ASTC offers the following services to facilitate the development and usage of natural turf sporting facilities:

  • Design, specifications, construction and tender documentation.
  • Project management and quality control inspections
  • Auditing and benchmarking services.
  • Field usage assessments to determine effective hours of use for each sports facility.
  • Surveying
  • Turfgrass maintenance programs.
  • Turfgrass selection and installation advice.
  • Field usage assessments to determine effective hours of use for each sports facility.
  • Turf farm quality control inspections to meet specifications.
  • Soil, leaf tissue, water, disease testing etc.

Recreational and open space

ASTC provides advice to councils, schools and organisations that maintain or manage parkland, open space or recreational facilities to ensure best management practices (BMPs) are maintained. ASTC provides professional advice on BMPs to improve turf quality and help resources. A turf maintenance plan can be tailored to make sure the natural turf areas are being maintained to an appropriate standard by staff. Councils, parklands and schools commonly use this service.

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ASTC offers the following services to recreational and open space areas:

  • Trouble shooting advice
  • Turf specification writing
  • Turf selection and installation advice. This includes quality control checks prior to purchasing and or post installation
  • Irrigation distribution uniformity checks
  • Weed assessment audits for Councils to determine control levels being achieved by contractors
  • Turf maintenance programs.

Commercial Development

When developing commercial projects, landscaping including turf installation and turf maintenance is often critical to the project’s success. ASTC provides advice relating to turfgrass selection, installation and maintenance for large and small scale commercial projects. Architects and construction companies can benefit from services provided by ASTC staff prior to designing and installing turf or landscaped areas. Experienced ASTC staff can determine what species and variety of turf will meet the environmental, design and end user’s needs.

ASTC offers the following for commercial projects:

  • Design and specification writing
  • Turf selection and installation advice
  • Quality control during construction and prior to handover
  • Trouble shooting.
 

Turf Production

Turfgrass can, or at least seem to be a significant outlay to the client, particularly when prices vary considerably between varieties and demand periods. New and improved turf varieties, for example, are predominantly protected by Plant Breeder’s Rights (PBR) and are often dearer to purchase than older or industry standards such as Wintergreen and Greenlees Park used on sporting fields. Although they are dearer because of the development involved in creating, developing, marketing and protecting such intellectual property, the initial outlay, is often recovered long-term because of the improved features of the grass e.g. reduced mowing, wear tolerance and recovery.

ASTC staff specialise in the identification, development and provision of advice concerning warm-season turfgrasses. Sports facilities, councils, schools, contractors and turf breeders utilise the services of ASTC to manage quality at the turf farm, during the establishment, installation, consolidation and maintenance periods for projects.

Turf Certification

Because of the high costs involved when purchasing turfgrass you want to have confidence in what you are buying, especially if the grass is protected by PBR. Issues can arise with farms having poor turf quality, incidence of pests, diseases and or weeds or even contamination within the turfgrass being sold. To reduce the risk, the consumer can request independent turf inspections, Turf Certification and Genetic Assurance, all of which ASTC can assist with.

ASTC is also the independent third-party auditor for Turf Queensland’s Turf Accreditation Process (TAP). ASTC’s role is to make sure the QLD accredited producers are compliant with TAP regulations ensuring the natural resources are managed responsibly while producing a quality product. TAP aims to provide the consumer with instant recognition of a quality turf supplier that is capable of meeting recognised standards of product to the end user.

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Recent quality control and inspection work has been undertaken for:

  • Eagle Farm Racecourse redevelopment
  • Townsville Racecourse redevelopment
  • 2018 Commonwealth Games – Carrara Sports Precinct
  • North Queensland Stadium
  • Local councils.

Residential

A 2011 national survey by Turf Australia of residential real estate agents reported that having a ‘nice lawn’ to compliment your family home adds an average of $75,668 to the value of your Great Australian Dream – home ownership. Given that your lawn could be in situ for 10-20 years it is important to choose the best turf variety to meet your environmental and functional requirements.

ASTC has been called upon by homeowners not happy with the quality of Premium turfgrass supplied or the installation service provided, often by unprofessional installers. ASTC can independently assess your lawn and prepare a detailed report to assist with resolving the matter.

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