The Royal Dublin Society Arena

Overview

STRI reconstructed The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) main arena in 2009 with the goal of creating a multi-purpose venue. Throughout the winter, The RDS is home to the rugby Heineken Cup and the Leinster Team, and in the summer months hosts concerts as well as the internationally renowned Dublin Horse Show. With increasing expectations from international show jumping competitors for particularly demanding courses, the RDS brief was to produce a world-class surface for the Dublin Horse Show and enhance the reputation of the RDS as a premier venue on the show jumping calendar. The RDS is a long standing client of STRI and a hands-on approach to the project was taken with consultants remaining on-site for the duration, working alongside Liam Mulligan, the RDS head groundsman, to produce a durable and quality surface.

The challenges

• Renovation of the main arena after the rugby season.
• Preparation and protection of the surface during a Bon Jovi Concert over two nights.
• Renovation after the concert and preparation for the Dublin Horse Show.

The time schedule

The project spanned over 11 weeks with two renovation projects; a Bon Jovi concert and one of the largest show jumping events on the International circuit. To use an equestrian analogy – we were against the clock!

Scarification

The main renovation

The renovation of the main arena began in May and included suppressing growth with growth regulators together with heavy scarification leaving only the crown of the plant and root mass in place. This was followed by a combination of drilling and broadcasting ryegrass seed. A specially designed germination cover from Canada was used with great success to encourage seed germination – with an excellent seed strike and green cover achieved in just seven days. Throughout the winter, the main arena has temporary stands in place to the north and south of the pitch for rugby spectators, these areas are then renovated for the Dublin Horse Show.

The stand to the south end of the main arena was dismantled in June after the triumphant home coming of Heineken Cup winners Leinster. The south end of the arena was renovated within three weeks leading in to the Bon Jovi concert. Knowing that the area would suffer from the stage build for the concert, the aim was to retain as much grass cover through the concert as possible and build upon this with a second mini-renovation after the concert and stage removal.

South end before concert

The concert renovation

Concert damage was minimal on the main body of the arena with slight discolouration to turf underneath the mix desk. However the recently renovated south end, where the stage was built, suffered considerably underneath the steel panels surrounding the stage. The area was renovated immediately after the stage removal to retain the remaining grass cover and recover areas lost under the steel panels. The stand to the north of the arena was also dismantled at this time and needed to be immediately renovated for the Horse Show four weeks later. Two prominent features of the Horse Show, namely the ‘Devils Dyke’ to the south of the arena and ‘The Mound’ to the north, were turfed after the concert. In view of the fact that the turf had only four weeks to sufficiently root for equestrian traffic, this was a key milestone in the project.

South end after concert

The horse show

From the onset, performance targets for moisture, hardness and traction of the surface were set out and constantly monitored. Constant monitoring of moisture content was key to the performance of the arena with irrigation applied manually when necessary. STRI worked closely with RDS management and course designer Mr Alan Wade to ensure that ground conditions were consistent across the arena, enabling maximum flexibility in the course design.

The weather remained fine for the first three days of the show; however the clouds gathered for the Landrover Puissance, with 14mm of rain falling in two hours upon the show grounds. Ground performance remained consistent despite the heavy rain, showing the gravel raft construction design enables RDS to be an all-weather international standard arena.

The Dublin Horse Show event was hailed a success by both competitors and event organisers. The grounds performed very well, reinforcing the reputation of the RDS as a premier venue on the international show jumping circuit, despite the efforts of the typical Irish weather.

Teamwork

Over the 11 weeks of the project, STRI worked with three Irish contractors, Clive Richardson Limited, Advance Landscaping Services and Harris Turf Improvements, each with specialist equipment and experience for different aspects of the project. It was through a combination of team work and dedication of the RDS management, groundstaff, contractors and STRI that made the project such a success.