Introduction to Artificial Grass
Acknowledgements
Due and grateful thanks to Luke Sargent for the line drawings. Thank you to the following for information and comments:
Phil Tremayne – Association of Professional Landscapers
Justin Brown – Premium Artificial Grass
Richard Bickler – Arbour Landscape Solutions
Gareth Wilson – Gareth Wilson Consultancy
Paul Greenyer – Paul Greenyer Consultancy
Mark Youde – The Landscape Academy
Matthew Spedding – EasiGrass
Ian Parry – Trulawn
Rupert Keys – TASK Academy
Introduction
I began my career in landscaping in 1968, starting out working on soft projects – mainly seeding, turfing and planting, gradually moving into hard landscaping and construction projects. Like everyone, I enjoyed working on those jobs that I felt I could do best, and found my niche market in working with natural stone, especially flintwork.
As the years went by, my interests developed into working with water, both static and moving including some quite large waterfall schemes. The combination of stone and water were natural bed-fellows, and I found success with awards from both the British Association of Landscape Industries and then The Association of Professional Landscapers as well as over sixty Royal Horticultural Society medals at various Shows between 1984 and 2005.
My primary and never changing passion however, has been natural stone paving and related materials used for surfaces, especially in the private domestic garden world. Working throughout Europe and across much of Britain, I became very aware of the variations in soil conditions and the essential requirement to undertake a fully comprehensive survey of the sites on which I was working. Unless I had a clear understanding and knowledge of the ground conditions I was about to work on, I could not begin to evaluate the costs involved in completing the scheme.
Where I live in Sussex, we have a lot of heavy clay ground, but also pockets of sandstone and a lot of chalk, and it does not matter how much local knowledge you think you may have, in some areas you will find pockets of all three of those conditions in a single village! Research therefore becomes second nature, especially when working on ground levels.
Since the early 90s, I have carried out a lot of ‘Court’ work, mainly involving disputes and claims by both contractors and clients. In the past few years, this type of consultancy work has been my primary business, dealing with around one hundred cases each year. My area is not restricted to Sussex, as I cover the region between South Wales and the whole of the South as far as Birmingham, visiting and inspecting (mainly private garden) sites, producing Court compliant reports for use by those who commission me. I am totally independent, irrespective of who pays me. As an Expert Witness, I work under strict protocol for and on behalf of the Court without fear or favour.
Whilst many cases involve a range of issues i.e. total failure of a project, the majority of claims are for poor installations of paving and artificial grass. Both of these ‘garden floor covering’ tasks involve very similar site preparations and installation techniques up to the point of the final surface finish. The requirement to recognise the variations in soil types, ground conditions, water tables, site potential for subsidence and ground heave – up to and including the need to clear a site to excavate in preparation for the final covering material are universal in many ways. Working method statements for both paving and artificial grass would read very similar up to and including the laying of the sub-base.
This is where the similarities end as far as disputes are concerned. The laying of paving has the benefit of a British Standard, and whilst it was originally written for commercial pavements and driveways, it has, for many years, been widely accepted that BS 7533.4 was the only standard that could be applied to domestic projects. Today the industry has a new Standard – BS7533-101 as of August 1st 2021 with a further update – BS7533-102 which will cover the installation of paving systems.
This industry standard has been incredibly useful when dealing with disputes, because the ‘rules’ are carefully written down in respect of depths of bases, mortar strengths, laying methods and finishes such as bonding agents and jointing materials and their various uses i.e. permeable or non-permeable.
Unfortunately, there are currently no such rules or specification for artificial grass installations. Whilst there are hundreds of videos, guides, and leaflets purporting to show how AG should be laid in gardens, the majority show different and often contradictory specifications and methods of fitting. Some of the techniques shown date from ten years ago, when the use of AG was new to the landscaping industry. These methods have been proved to be less than satisfactory, and yet contractors continue to follow them on the grounds that they have always been taught to do it that way!
I have watched dozens and dozens of different videos and YouTube advisory films. Many were taken in Australia and America. I have never seen a single one that discussed soil types and ground conditions. Every one of them dealing with flat and level sites, without any drainage inspection covers or slopes. Every one of them seventy percent correct, and thirty percent incorrect or not applicable for anything other than the site being worked on. All advice was simply generic, with no mention of site-specific requirements to be recognised and adapted.
Problems arise during Court cases, where a project has failed, yet the contractor quite correctly claims to have followed the instructions supplied – or ‘have been doing it this way for years’ – irrespective of the actual requirements for the site they were working on. This lack of a universal standard or method of working has
led to many problems, when it is clear that the contractor blindly followed ‘their’ technique without conducting a site appraisal to establish the efficacy of their working methods.
Garden Designers, wishing to specify the use of AG in a scheme currently do not have any formal specification to rely on, as nothing has been produced to date that has been accepted by the leaders of both the landscape industry and suppliers.
This document has been produced as the Industry Standard & Specification for the Installation of Artificial Grass in Domestic Gardens, for use by Garden Designers, Landscapers and Specifiers, endorsed and approved by industry leaders for use by Installers, Designers, Solicitors & Courts and for The Association of Professional Landscapers.
Alan Sargent FCIHort MPGCA
Using 16mm Pro-putt grass married with 40mm pile, a professional project by Premium Grass Installations Ltd.
