Client: Veterans Stadium - Chelsea School District - Boston, MA

Challenge: The Chelsea School District needed a protective cover to protect their brand new synthetic turf field for annual graduations and other on-field events.

Goals: The School district wanted a quick-to-install modular floor that would protect its expensive turf field, while providing access and a solid safe surface for graduation attendees. The district also wanted a drivable heavy-duty surface for stage building and vehicles access.

Concerns: With limited storage, the facility wanted a compact, yet effective synthetic turf cover system that could be installed quickly, stored in two off-site shipping containers, and installed with a minimal unskilled crew. The school also wanted to make sure that its synthetic turf remained in top shape for football and regular season play.

The Solution: EverBase® modular flooring for synthetic turf protection and EverRoad® access mats.

Summary:

When Joe Cooney, the Facility Manager for Chelsea High School, contacted the EverBlock team, he had just finished supervising the installation of a brand new synthetic turf field at Veterans Stadium.

To celebrate this achievement, the district decided that graduation would be held outdoors, on the field, for the first time in many years. Since the turf field and track is one of the most expensive capital investment and improvement projects that the school had ever completed, it was critical that the field remain in perfect shape for games and practices.

Mr. Cooney compared synthetic turf protection systems and decided that the protective capabilities of EverBase, combined with its attractive look, ease of installation, and compact storage, made it ideal for the district’s needs.

After a formal bid and a purchase order was issued, manufacturing began and the EverBase modular floor system, along with the EverRoad access matting was dispatched via trucks to the school district. The truck was unloaded into storage containers adjacent to the school, awaiting later use.

EverBlock’s sales executive and designer, Benjamin Mackrell, and EverBlock President, Arnon Rosan, visited the school a few days before graduation, to assist the facilities crew with the initial installation.

The first step was to lay down a roadway of EverRoad®, across the track and field, from the gated vehicle entrance to the graduation area on the other side. This heavy duty roadway would be used to support the transport of flooring from the storage area to the field using a 20ft box-truck that would drive across the field delivering material to the installation crew.

Approximately 10 people were on-site to assist with the installation, which was planned to occur over two days. The group was divided into three teams - a single (1) transportation team, of two people, to transport flooring material to the site from storage, and four (4) “positioning and snapping” teams of two people each, to position sheets of flooring into location and snap it to the main floor.

A first row of flooring was placed down and a string line was used to ensure it was perfectly straight, a suggested step to take to ensure a smooth and fast installation. Subsequent rows were positioned and connected to the main floor, with “snapping” and “positioning” teams working sequentially, about 20 feet apart to install flooring sections. Row by row the installation progressed with the crew using their feet to snap male connectors into receivers on the adjacent flooring section. Total installation time was about 8 hours each day for two days (equivalent to about 8 hours for 20 people for a full field installation.)

Staging and seating was installed over the flooring, which covered both the turf area and the rubber track in front, spanning from the field to the bleachers.

The school’s graduation was a success and students and families were comfortable and safe, even in high-heels, during this important milestone event.

Once the graduation was over, the floor was dismantled by the crew by simple tipping flooring sections 45 degrees to disconnect, and sheets were stored back on pallets and placed into the containers for future use.

When removed, the school’s field was in perfect shape. It was brushed using the school’s synthetic turf brush and the turf fibers showed no damage or wear. The field was ready for play.

Takeaways:

• EverBase transports and stores compactly.
• A full field of EverBase installs in about 8 hours using a crew of 20 people.
• EverBase sections snap together to create a seamless floor that is safe for visitors with high heels.
• EverBase offers superior turf protection and can handle the weight of pedestrians and light equipment.
• EverRoad can be used in combination with EverBase to allow on-field access for heavy vehicles, staging, and equipment.