Forest Green Rovers had a cutting edge for their recent final home game of the season with a new addition to the team – the ETMower from Etesia.

The robotic mower puts Forest Green Rovers in the same league as Bayern Munich, who also cares for pitch and planet using the same revolutionary technology. The state-of-the-art robotic mower uses GPS technology to automatically mow the pitch – saving groundsmen up to 50% of their working week or over 100 days of labour – and even sends a text if it runs into trouble.

Powered from 100% green electricity from solar panels on The New Lawn stadium roof, the eco-friendly mower will trim the club’s carbon footprint as well as the grass, and can be used for other sporting facilities such as rugby and cricket as well as landscape operations.

Forest Green Rovers is becoming a test-bed for the Sustainability in Sport foundation which has been established by FGR Chairman Dale Vince and former-Manchester United player Gary Neville – demonstrating the best green tactics to recommend to sports clubs across the UK.

The club has already scored several green goals by installing solar power on the stadium roof,  recycling pitch water via a water harvesting system and launching the first ever meat-free (and low carbon) football menu.

Etesia has chosen Forest Green as the UK pioneer for their fleet of emission-free pitch equipment. Forest Green Rovers Groundsman Stuart Ward is no stranger to innovation and is working towards creating Britain’s first organic football pitch at The New Lawn stadium. Last year, he also became the first person in the Britain to trial Etesia’s Bahia M2E electric ride-on mower, an innovation now being tested by the Church Commission in Westminster.

Ward said: “It’s really exciting to be trialling these products, the robot saves me time and there’s no more dirty fuel or noise to deal with.

“At the moment, we are a Blue Square Premier club, so my time is always stretched. The time I used to spend mowing can now be utilised tending to the pitch in other ways to make it the best possible surface for the players.”

The new robotic mower will even help the club reach its target of creating a 100% organic pitch, by creating organic mulch which fertilizes the pitch as it works. Etesia General Manager Les Malin said: “We feel FGR are setting the best example for other clubs, not just in football but in all sports. Forest Green Rovers is the first football club in the country to use electric and robotic mowing for its pitch.”

The last home game of the season against Darlington celebrated another step forward for ‘game changing’ green innovation in sport, and the potential doesn’t stop there. Etesia hopes that Forest Green’s pioneering approach will spread across UK industry, leading to some surprising comparisons between the pitches, farms and gardens of Britain and Bayern Munich FC.

There are three models in the range – the ETm44 for work up to 5,000m², ETm65 for work up to 9,000m² and the ETm105 for work up to 20,000m². Robot mowers reduce the cost of grass maintenance considerably, not only in terms of labour and maintenance costs, but also by cutting your energy bill. Mulch mowing is 100% natural: it does away with the need to gather up, store and dispose of the cuttings, it fertilises the soil, and it helps the lawn to stand up to drought conditions. CO2 emissions are much lower than for conventional powered mowers.

The Etesia UK ‘Green Technology’ roadshow has reached its first pit-stop, bringing the turf maintenance machinery manufacturer’s spring tour of the country to a successful conclusion.

The recent roadshows held at Merrist Wood College, Guildford and Edge Hill University, Lancashire in late March sandwiched an invitation to speak about environmentally-friendly grounds maintenance equipment at the Plant Network Conference held at the University of York.

Organised in conjunction with their UK dealers, the events were a hands-on, arrive and drive event for all existing and prospective Etesia and Pellenc customers to find out more about the new range of environmentally friendly grounds maintenance equipment and gain valuable advice from the Etesia and Pellenc expert’s on-hand.

“The first series of roadshows was a great success,” says Etesia UK’s General Manager, Les Malin. “We were pleased to show off our latest launches which were the ETMower range of robotic mowers and the electric Bahia M2E, which were both well received by everyone in attendance. There also seemed to be a real buzz around our range of Pellenc battery-powered equipment and we’ve since received several orders”.

The attendees commented that the days had been very informative and that they would be taking many of the ideas back to their respective organisations.

There will be further opportunities to take part in a roadshow near you later this year, with details to be released soon.

In 1990, the Etesia Hydro 100 was the worlds very first direct collect ride-on mower. It went on to set the bench mark, not only for the French manufacturer’s subsequent machines, but for the industry as a whole.

Professional end users who were looking for a ride-on mower designed to withstand the rigours of commercial use purchased the Hydro 100 in their droves, ensuring that it became one of the company’s best sellers. Etesia UK are aware that there are some of the original machines still in use today.

The Etesia UK team and their network of dealers are scouring the country to find the oldest working Hydro 100. The ‘winner’ will receive a brand new, state-of-the-art Hydro 100 MVEHH Evolution replacement.

The new Hydro 100 Evolution has a unique concept that cuts and collects grass in all weathers, even the pouring rain. Top quality manufacturing allows mowing, season after season, ensuring that this machine out-performs all other ride-on mowers in its class. A more powerful engine, large capacity 500-litre grass collector which is emptied without leaving the driving seat and more operator comfort sees the Hydro 100 Evolution really setting the standard for all ride-on mowers.

“This competition will make users look at and appreciate their Etesia mowers even more than they do already”, said Les Malin, Etesia UK’s General Manager. “When our customers see how long they have lasted, they will realise the build quality. We always suggest customers examine entire life-time costs and not just the new price when looking at any product”.

For full terms and conditions or to enter the competition, visit www.etesia.co.uk/oldfornew

The cathedral town of Guildford in Surrey is very mindful of its appearance and well recognised for it, having collected an array of Britain in Bloom and Chelsea Flower Show awards over the years.

It is the latest municipal authority to introduce Pellenc battery-powered hand equipment into the upkeep of its amenity and leisure facilities. The parks department of Guildford Borough Council, which is responsible for all of town’s amenity grass and flora as well as having a contract with Surrey County Council for highways work, purchased a number of Pellenc products from their local dealer Richmonds Grounds Care of Haslemere.

According to the department’s Operational Supervisor, Arthur Kinge, the decision to add this alternative to petrol-powered machines to what is available to its 38 full-time staff was part environmental, part economic. Two of Pellenc’s Airion vacuum blowers, Helion hedgecutter and two pole saws have been in regular use for a wide range of duties in the town for a year now and been well received by operators and the public. The idea is they are very much a multi-use resource and not just for specific tasks.

“We always try to be progressive,” he said. “I first saw Pellenc equipment at SALTEX a couple of years ago and was impressed. Our policy is always to keep trialling new equipment to see if we can do things more efficiently and to find new solutions to problems. It’s part of a conscious effort by the Council to make better business sense of equipment resources rather than cutting back on machines, manpower or jobs. These machines are lighter and cost less to run than their petrol equivalents, but we have a lot of petrol machinery here that functions well, so changing over completely to battery power will be a gradual process dictated by feedback and budgets.

“Hand-arm vibration is one of the biggest issues we have when sourcing equipment. Keeping to within a tally of 400 points per user per machine makes achieving optimum efficiency a constant challenge. The Pellenc equipment is well suited to offering a full day of safe and comfortable usage.

“We always have to be especially mindful of noise levels, especially for work near schools and residential areas. The battery-powered blowers and hedge trimmers have extremely low levels and do efficient jobs much more quietly than petrol machines.”

Within the remit of the Parks and Countryside Service is the 52-hectare Stoke Park and Gardens, now in its fifth year of Green Flag status. This multi-purpose facility dates back to the 18th century and plays host to the Surrey County Show and Guilfest three day music festival.

Launched four years ago Hackney Homes which works in partnership with the London Borough of Hackney Council is responsible for managing council homes in Hackney. A major part of the not-for-profit organisation’s work is to keep the amenity grass in the borough’s 266 estates in top order. Last year, the decision was taken to switch from mulch mowing to cut and collect in an effort to further improve its grounds care service and to upgrade its Audit Commission accreditation from 2-Star to 3-Star, which is potentially a route to higher Government funding.

The organisation bought nine Etesia ride-on mowers – two Hydro 124DN models and seven BLHP’s – from their dealer P. Tuckwell’s of Colchester and the machines are now in full swing across the borough. Here, each of the two models trims the grass at a housing estate in Shoreditch, just a mile from London’s Liverpool Street station. This site, like all the other Hackney estates gets its grass cut once every ten days by the Hackney homes grounds care team.

“There were requests from residents as it is a cleaner and tidy system, so we needed mowers that picked up the grass,” explained Balavant Barber of Hackney Homes, the non-profit organisation, which works in partnership with the London Borough of Hackney.

“The grass we maintain is definitely looking better already.  The job may be taking a little longer because of the collection of clippings, which we deposit at a recycling depot, but because there is no cutting debris it is better for residents and more satisfying for the grounds care team.”

One of the Etesia mowers’ safety facilities – which influenced their purchase – is the protection of the twin blades by two shear bolts. This helps avoid major damage if there is hidden object impact.    

The two larger 25 horsepower 124D machines with the facility for front fitting of hydraulically controlled attachments have multi-purpose adaptability. Leaf clearing in autumn and snow clearing in winter are also on Hackney Homes job sheet, so this added to the mower’s appeal.

The Hydro 100D features a tight 1.1 metre radius turning circle, which Hackney Homes operatives find useful for work on the more restricted sites and for negotiating municipal fixtures like lamp posts. There is no rear axle, so the way is clear for ejection of cuttings.

Both of the new mower models now in use across Hackney have 600 litre grass boxes, which take a lot of filling. They each feature hydraulic lift emptying up to a maximum height of 1.80 metres.