Article code: 64-084
http://www.panstadia.com (also www.piqr.com and www.panstadia.co.uk)
PanStadia International Quarterly Report: Volume 6 No. 4, April 2000.

[ICE COVERS & DECKING SYSTEMS]

ULTIMATE COVER

PanStadia follows the diverse
events at the London Arena over
the period of a week where Terraplas
launched it's innovative Terracover Ice-
Protection system last month, and
discovers that this unique product
has truly proved its worth.

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London Arena - Diary of events

DAY I: Sunday 5th March - Ice-Hockey Game, London Knights v Manchester Storm. Unfortunately the London Knights are defeated, 1-3.

DAY II: Monday 6th March - De-rigging of the arena commences ready for the EBWA Exhibition. The dasherboards are removed and Terracover is installed. The London Arena's rink size is 1,800 square metres and yet it takes only 1 and a half hours to lay the Terracover.

DAY III & IV: Tuesday 7th & Wednesday 8th March - The set-up work for the EBWA Exhibition commences.

DAY V & VI: Thursday 9th & Friday 10th March - The EBWA Exhibition takes place.
Friday pm - The Exhibition is de-rigged and the ring and seating is brought in for the WCW (World Championship Wrestling) taking place on Saturday.

DAY VII: Saturday 11th March - The WCW gets under way, with a sell-out audience of 11,500 plus all 48 corporate suites are full, adding another 480 and not forgetting TV coverage.
Saturday pm - The arena is de-rigged once more, the Terracover is removed and the dasher boards are brought back, ready for...

DAY VIII: Sunday 12th March - Ice-Hockey game, London Knights v Newcastle Riverkings and this time the Knights are victorious, 3-2, with the final goal being scored in overtime.
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From this diary of events it is evident that Terracover proves its worth in a multi-functional arena, so much so that the General Manager of the London Arena, Alex McCrindle, confirmed this by stating; "We are extremely happy with our purchase of Terracover, in particular it gives us very rapid turn-around, from ice-hockey to exhibitions, shows, concerts etc and back again. This gives us the ability to be truly multi-functional, increase our utilisation and thereby our profitability."

Terracover is manufactured by Terraplas plc, who developed the world famous Terraplas Turf Protection System in conjunction with Wembley Stadium (the world's busiest stadium concert venue) some eleven years ago. Since then we over a quarter of a million square metres of Terraplas have been sold, representing three million kilos of plastic!

Five years ago Terraplas plc realised that there was no plastic product to cover ice and whilst the Terraplas Turf product had been, and still is, used quite successfully at certain ice arenas, it has its limitations and was over-engineered for use on ice.

Two years of research then followed to find out exactly what were the market requirements and finally they came up with the definitive list:

* Price
* Insulation factor
* Speed and ease of install and remove
* Long life
* The ability to drive forklifts on top
* Full system interlocking
* Minimum shrinkage on sides
* Easy to clean and store
* Good looks

Terraplas then spent the next three years developing and patenting the product called Terracover, a product that achieves all the above criteria.

To ensure that the concept was absolutely correct, pre-production tiles were manufactured for testing at the London Arena.

Some months of testing then ensued and with a few minor modifications Terracover came through with flying colours. It was known that the London Arena were looking for a new ice cover as the cover they were using, whilst fairly good, did not fully provide the requirements of a very busy Ice Arena.

In December 1999 a number of production tiles were supplied to London Arena for them to fully test prior to placing an order - as one of the Arena Floor Personnel said; "We tried our damdest to break this ice cover".

The London Arena was so impressed with their trial of Terracover that they immediately placed an order with Terraplas and delivery was affected in February 2000.

The system has been in constant use ever since and in fact has been down for the whole of April for various exhibitions and shows.

Alex McCrindle continued; "Another major benefit of the Terracover is that because forklift trucks and cherry pickers can be used, we require fewer staff and it is far less straining on our personnel who are delighted with the ease of its installation and removal.

"During April the London Arena will have Terracover in place for the whole month for a series of exhibitions and shows. I can thoroughly recommend the Terracover product to any ice arena that wishes to be multi-functional".

After an enthusiastic reception by the London Arena, Terracover now looks set to emulate the success of Terraplas with huge sales worldwide.

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Terracover - the facts

* Terracover is designed and manufactured by Terraplas plc, the manufacturers of the world-acclaimed "Terraplas Turf-Protection System" as used by Wembley Stadium and most national and high profile stadiums around the world.

* Terracover is designed for Ice Arena's who wish to be truly multi-functional, who want to play Ice Hockey one day, basketball the next and generally get the most out of their facility.

* Terracover is light, easy to handle and quick to fit without any specialised equipment.

* Terracover is supplied in solid panels, 2 metres x 2 metres x 35mm and each square metre panel locks to its adjacent panel by means of 8 x camlocks, which take fractions of a second to lock and unlock. All panels overlap to provide one continuous flat floor. Being solid (i.e. not in "rolls") and interlocking means that the system is tremendously strong, so it can easily withstand the weight of a fully loaded fork-lift (with pneumatic tyres) carrying chair pallets, thus ensuring the fastest set-up and breakdowns.

* Safety is of paramount importance when large crowds are involved and Terracover is the safest of all ice covers. The solid, totally interlocked floor ensures that there are no tripping hazards, as associated with other systems, and the top surface has an integral non-slip pattern in the form of raised chevrons.

* Terracover is a unique, patented design which offers the very best in thermal insulation being filled with foamed Polyurethane and because the top surfaces overlap there are no gaps between the tiles to let the cold through or melt the ice.

* Terracover is very quick and easy to clean using a high-pressure cold water jet spray and is easy to store either indoors or outdoors.

* Terracover has been supplied to the London Arena, which is managed by SMG and is probably the busiest, multi-functional Arena in the UK.

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Check out this performance...

COUNTDOWN: 0:00 HRS

With the vast expanse of the ice now clear and the dasherboards being removed, the surface is ready to start laying the Terracover.

COUNTDOWN: 0:10 HRS

The corners are put into place with no effort. The symmetry ensures that maximum cover will be afforded to the entire surface of the ice.

COUNTDOWN: 0:25 HRS

Working out from the corners the panels are beginning to cover the surface. The stepped pattern ensures all panels are laid square. Also, note the use of the locking tool and the ease with which it can be locked, i.e. one-handed.

COUNTDOWN: 1:30 HRS

...LIFT OFF! The entire surface is now fully protected by the Terracover to the satisfaction of Robert Else, Chairman of Terraplas plc, UK, and after only one and a half hours.

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Terracover - Technical Information

DIMENSIONS 2 metres x 2 metres x 35mm (6ft 7ins x 6ft 7ins x 1.25ins)

WEIGHT Each 4m panel weighs 36 kilograms (80 pounds)

MATERIAL High molecular weight, high density Polyethylene

METHOD OF MANUFACTURE Twin sheet thermoforming, using 4mm HDPE sheet, cavity filled with foamed polyurethane

TEMPERATURE RANGE Minus 20¡C to Plus 40¡C

LOADING Point load 20mm (3/4ins) - 50kg (220 pounds)

Spread load 15cm (6ins) - 5,000kg (5 tons)

FIRE REGULATIONS Conforms to all current worldwide standards

STORAGE REQUIREMENTS Full System 1,800m2

FITTING TIMES Full system 1.5 hours

COLOURS Standard colour = grey, but it is also available in a huge range of standard master batch colours.

CLEANING The fastest method is with a high pressure cold water jet washer, however it can be cleaned quite easily by hand "in situ".

LIFE EXPECTANCY Terracover ¨ is guaranteed for two years but it has a realistic life expectancy in excess of 10 years.

APPLICATIONS By covering the ice with Terracover ¨ the arena can be used for all types of sport (i.e. basketball, soccer, tennis, snooker etc) as well as concerts, exhibitions, shows, meetings, conferences, product launches, competitions etc - the list is only limited by the imagination.

ACCESSORIES Access ramps in 6mm ABS, which are fully ADA compliant.

Metal storage and movement stillages with pneumatic tyres, suitable to be also moved by fork-lift truck and stackable.

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