HUNTER SCORES AT LONDON STADIUM

Last year a Hunter Industries irrigation system, supplied by KAR UK, was installed at the London Stadium. After seeing a number of benefits, head groundsman, James Williams says he wanted to extend the Hunter system to other areas of the stadium.

James says he now has even greater control over the pitch when it comes to irrigation - so much so that he can manage it from wherever he may be.

“We’ve got probes in the pitch which give me a lot of readings such as moisture, the humidity in the stadium, the temperature and a lot more. Every morning I get an email with a report telling me what the moisture levels are from three different depths. If I see that the moisture has dropped below 10% then I’ll turn the irrigation system on through my phone.”

The system that was installed last year included eight of what Hunter describe as the most technologically advanced commercial rotors on the market – the all-new I-80’s.

Engineered for sports turf, Hunter say the I-80 is built with a dirt-tolerant gear drive that offers the highest torque output of any rotor in the commercial sphere, and extends a radius range from 11.3 to 29.6 meters.

“I was instantly impressed with how good they were,” said James. “The service from KAR UK was also excellent and was part of the reason why I decided to go ahead and replace the outfield and pitch surrounds with the new Hunter TTS-885’s with no-bounce covers and turf cups.”

James and his team are now able to control the system both to the pitch and the outfields through the mobile-friendly Centralus irrigation management platform. This provides cloud-based control and monitoring features to the new ACC2 controller at the stadium. The connectivity allows users to view a controller’s status, change settings, view forecasts, save water, and receive instant notification of system alarms.

“The one thing that stands out the most for me is that this system is very simple to use," said James. "I needed something that the whole team could use - not just myself.  I’m very impressed with the whole system."