Brighton & Hove Albion Elite Football Performance Centre Pitch Replacement
Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s state-of-the-art training and teaching facility, American Express Elite Football Performance Centre, is a Category One status training centre under the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan.
The facility includes 11 full and half size natural grass and artificial pitches, plus a half size covered indoor pitch, ensuring playing facilities are accessible and playable throughout the seasons.
With a pitch due for renewal Brighton called in Chappelow Sports Turf and were faced with a conundrum: where do you put diggers, lorries and tonnes of the current pitch, being a mixture of sand and synthetic grass for recycling? In the car park, of course!
To protect the car park from tracked vehicles and grab lorries, Chappelow asked Southdown Engineers to install 100 of their 3m x 1m x 20mm HDPE ground protection mats because they’re chemically resistant, anti-slip and on the Community Stadium solid car park surface, are robust enough for traversing with steel tracked plant and trucks up to 45 tonnes. With their smooth side up they were very effective for making a barrier between deposited spoil and the grab and tip lorry, leaving the protected surface intact.
From start to finish, the job took just 3 weeks with a new all-weather synthetic training pitch laid and the car park left intact!
For more information about the most appropriate of our many ground protection systems to use on your site, call us on 01273 493300 and one of the team will be happy to advise/visit and quote.
Charleston Trust Festival Overflow Car Park
Charleston Trust – 2025 Festival – Overflow Car Park Ground Protection
The Charleston Trust is a charity set up in 1980 to restore and maintain the home of the Bloomsbury Group artists for the benefit of the public. The unique collection at Charleston is illustrative of the art and lifestyle of the influential Bloomsbury Group and has been on show to the public since 1986. Charleston attracts visitors from the local community as well as the rest of the UK and abroad. Today, it presents a dynamic year-round programme of exhibitions, events and festivals at Charleston in Firle.
Previous events had left obvious reminders of how unpredictable weather can cause havoc and damage to fields used for temporary car parks.
When planning the 2025 Charleston Festival, the Trust asked Southdown Engineers to advise on the most appropriate ground protection for the overflow car park to provide a ‘clean feet’ path for visitors whilst also preventing damage to the grass or vehicles getting stuck should inclement weather make the field boggy and slippy. Our advice was placement of our very popular ‘Zigmats’, incorporating zig-zag pattern grip for more efficient traction whilst still being comfortable to walk over.
Zigmats are a medium duty and relatively lightweight mat with low transportation and handling costs, making them fast and easy to install. In fact, our dedicated team of 2 ground mat installers laid and connected 300 Zigmats and 600 connectors in just 12 hours. So if you want the temporary or overflow car park at your event, festival, show or even wedding, contact us on 01273 493300 and one of the team will be happy to advise/visit site and quote you the most appropriate and cost-effective ground protection.
Vacancy: Hire Desk Operations
Full Job Description
Job Overview:
Job Title: Hire Desk Operations
Hours: 8am to 5pm, Monday-Friday (overtime available)
Location: Recently built HQ, Henfield, West Sussex.
Expected start date: TBC.
Salary: Hourly – Rate dependant on experience
Benefits: Working with an SME where you can make a difference. Company pension, free on-site parking.
Who We Are:
The roots of this company stretch back over a century, providing transport, engineering, service and hire services across the UK. This position is to support our non-mechanical plant offering. Further details can be found at www.roadplatehire.co.uk
Who We’re Looking For:
The ever-expanding demand for our range of non-mechanical plant means we have an opportunity in Hire Desk Operations, to provide administrative and operational support, ensuring smooth order processes and continued exceptional service delivery.
What Will You Do?
Handle telephone and inbound email enquiries, logging each on our database.
Assist the hire team with creation and sending of quotes, following up to ensure safely received and all understood.
Logging hire orders on and off our Syrinx system to generate hire contracts plus delivery and collection paperwork.
Entering new hires/off-hires onto the transport diary. Liaison with yard operations to ensure effective order fulfillment.
With your organisational skills and attention to detail, you’ll manage multiple tasks and keep projects on track.
What You’ll Need:
- First class organisational and time management skills
- The ability to effectively communicate with peers, clients and supply chain partners to yield good outcomes and build long term relationships
- Subject to the above, a new applicant either new to, or from outside the industry could expect to be trained in the following.
- Working with a small team of experienced colleagues, often in time critical scenarios
- Administration experience, using cloud based docs.
- Experience with CRM databases.
- Deliver outstanding level of customer service via phone and email.
- Effective at managing multiple competing priorities
- Excellent attention to detail
TO APPLY: Email sean.preston@southdownengineers.co.uk (including reference Hire Desk) in subject title.
Vacancy: Welder Fabricator / Machinist
Full Job Description
Job Overview:
We are seeking a skilled Fabricator/Welder to join our Hire, Transport and Engineering business.
The ideal candidate will possess a strong mechanical aptitude and be proficient in various welding techniques, including TIG welding.
This role involves fabricating and assembling metal components to create high-quality products that meet our specifications.
The successful applicant will work with hand tools and power tools, manually operated lathes and mill, demonstrating attention to detail and a commitment to safety.
Responsibilities:
- Fabricate and assemble metal structures and components according to engineering drawings and specifications.
- Operate hand tools and power tools safely and effectively.
- Perform welding tasks using various techniques.
- Liaise with management for small batch and/or repair projects.
- Utilise basic maths skills for measurements and calculations during fabrication processes.
- Maintain a clean and organised workspace, adhering to health and safety regulations.
- Collaborate with team members to meet production deadlines while maintaining high-quality standards.
Requirements:
- Proven experience in welding and fabrication, with a strong understanding of mechanical principles.
- Proficiency in using hand tools, power tools, and welding equipment.
- Knowledge of sheet metal fabrication techniques is desirable.
- Ability to read and interpret technical drawings and schematics.
- Strong attention to detail with excellent problem-solving skills.
- Basic maths skills for accurate measurements and calculations.
- A commitment to safety practices in the workplace.
If you are a motivated individual with a passion for fabrication and welding, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity. Join us in creating exceptional products while advancing your skills in a supportive environment.
Job Type: Full-time.
Pay: £13.85-£17.50 per hour (depending on experience).
Expected hours: 40 per week.
Benefits: Company pension and free on-site parking.
Schedule: Day shift, Monday to Friday.
Work Location: Henfield.
Expected Start Date: 2nd June 2025
Reference ID: WeldFab – Bay 3
TO APPLY: Email sean.preston@southdownengineers.co.uk (including reference WeldFab – Bay 3) in subject title.
Vacancy: HGV + HIAB Driver
Full Job Description
Job Summary
HGV + HIAB Driver.
Local & regional deliveries for construction, plant hire & infrastructure sectors.
Expanding due to demand.
HIAB experience essential.
Plant experience helpful.
Based from our new facility in Henfield, West Sussex.
Job Type/Schedule:
Job Type: Full-time.
Schedule: 10 hour shift. Mon to Fri plus Weekends/nights are available.
Work Location: Based from Henfield, West Sussex.
Required Education, Skills and Qualifications:
LGV 2 &/or 1. Drivers CPC. Clean licence.
Benefits:
Pay: £38,500 to £55,000 per year plus additional bonus scheme.
Ongoing training program.
Free on-site parking.
TO APPLY: Email sean.preston@southdownengineers.co.uk (adding Ref: HGV+HIAB in subject title)
Covering soft ground
Photo courtesy of Rob Lines, South Downs Orienteers.
The challenge
When Mole Valley Orienteering Club approached us about ground protection mats at the Holmbush Estate near Horsham for the British Middle Distance Championships event in mid-March, we were happy to help.
We met their mapper, Mike Elliot, on site to determine the right ground protection mat and layout on the landowner’s grassed field to prevent damage.
Mike needed to provide a temporary, anti-slip road for around 500 cars to park on one of the estate’s fields and avoid cars and campervans from getting bogged-into what had been described as ‘very puddingy’ ground.
In addition, with the Holmbush Estate being situated adjacent to the busy A264, the challenge was to safely get all 500 cars and campervans off the main road without causing any unnecessary danger or delays that could have potentially backed up onto the road.
Similarly, the organisers took this very responsible approach to prevent any mud being dragged out onto the highway when cars and vans departed.
Whilst the 800 or so competitors were used to tackling various terrains and mud, the estate manager really didn’t want to spend an afternoon dragging embarrassed drivers out.
The sheep that often graze there – in an adjacent field for the day – wouldn’t have been too impressed either with a ploughed-up pasture.
The solution
In a day, two of our operatives laid and secured in place a 260 linear metre track of Zigmats, perpendicularly to provide a 2.5 metre-wide temporary road, that you could actually have got a bus down.
After the successful event – and no drivers getting stuck – the two returned to uplift and remove the temporary track, returning the field to its original condition and ensuring a happy estate manager.
Photos courtesy of Will Rudling and Conner Cole.
Here to help
If you’re hosting an orienteering, cross-country, triathlon, ultra, half-marathon, Parkrun or cycling event, call us on 01273 493300.
We can create temporary roads to instantly turn grassed or unmade ground into instant temporary roads or car parks, whilst protecting what’s underneath as well as the surrounding area, so that everyone can safely enjoy the event.
Up, up and away
There are many ways to attempt to lift a road plate, from hooks in corners, magnets and suction lifters, through to engineered solutions such as threaded holes for lifting eyes.
Even the latter requires careful use and diligent and regular inspection in order to monitor threads used repeatedly in roadside environs.
But honestly, if you’ve got a 4m x 2m steel plate weighing over a tonne and a half that you want to hoist into the stratosphere over a busy metropolitan street scene, you want the sureness of a SALLY keeping things where you send them.
Photos care of Tony Hill.
Bogmat Focus
Bogmats, Ekki mats, timber mats – call them what you will.
Despite the development of a raft – pun intended – of modern polymer, GRP and alloy systems, there’s something about solid lumps of timber bolted together with HT studding that will always have a low tech ruggedness that is hard to beat.
Especially where there is a need for buoyancy and to track steel-grousered machines over them.
Another feature that the demolition industry has found incredibly useful is the inherent shock absorbing characteristics – very useful in mitigating potential unscheduled collapses when engaged in complex projects with environmental sensitivities.
We have access to the largest quantities in the country at various thicknesses, and stand ready to deliver and install, if required, big tonnages at short notice.
20-tonne boiler exchange
A regular client had a job calling for a 30 metre runway to cover a cracked and distressed boiler room service corridor in order to skate out a couple of heavy old boilers.
To facilitate this we dispatched 15 pieces of 2m x 2m x 25mm anti-skid road plates, plus a teletruck and operator who made short work of safely making a firm and level steel runaway.
Once the work was complete we similarly retrieved the equipment and cleared the site.
Photos care of Carl Somner.
Emergency lane control on historic Sussex bridge
A goods vehicle struck the masonry wall on the westbound lane of a bridge in Midhurst, causing a major issue on the important A272 road link.
Highways contractors did a very temporary mitigation, but a semi-permanent solution was required pronto.
As is often the way, simply locating the equipment – in this case six temporary vehicle control barriers (TVCBs) – is one thing; having a logistics team that can pull together the correct transport, cranes and trained operatives to mount a same-day mission for a 21:00 hrs roadside install is quite another.
But just like contractors up and down the country, our customer knew that the Road Plate Hire team were always going to be the ones to come up with the goods!
Photos care of Scott Tait.
