Friendsfest was on Kennington Park again this year and over the last 10 days of September 1,000’s came through and enjoyed ‘All things Friends’.
In the planning EventLambeth officers and the organisers looked at the impact from the event in 2018 and put in place additional measure to protect the ground. The biggest change was the additional trackway area inside the site for the large vehicles to park and turn on during the build and break.
However neither the EventLambeth team nor the organisers anticipated the torrential and prolonged downpour on Tuesday 1st October as the event load out was underway.
It looks like a lot of damage has been done. In fact it is just large areas of surface mud. The plant machinery did not cause deep ruts and the equipment on site did not sink into the soft wet ground. The torrential rain caused a lot of surface mud which the plant machinery when driving over, made the mud clump together inside the tread of the tyres.
The organisers have left the perimeter fence line up to allow the ground to dry out sufficiently enough for Lambeth Landscapes team to bring their equipment on and begin the reinstatement work. As the ground is still very wet and soft and the tractor used to do the reinstatement work will cause more damage than good if they started worked today.
The anticipated schedule of work is:
Week commencing Monday 7th October
- chain harrow – this will break up the surface mud and begin to level out the ground
- verti-drain – this will decompact the ground, assist with drainage and airate the grass roots and encourage growth. It will also help break up surface mud
- labour – grounds team will also work the surface with spades to break up the higher ares of mud and level out .
Over this period the yellowed grass which has been under trackway and structures will green up and return.
Further rain will begin to break down and wash away the mud from the surface following the above work.
Week commencing Monday 14th October:
Anticipated that the fence will be able to come down during this week.
Lambeth Landscapes will look at condition of the ground and work in isolated areas to further level out with soil if needed, overseed patches and then cover with germination sheets and fence off.
Final Phase of work:
In Feb / March next year as the final phase of the event reinstatement we will undertake further leveling and over seeding if needed.
All reinstatement work is done at the expense of the organisers.
If you have any further questions then please do contact the event team but we’ll keep you updated via this blog as well.