Forest Green Rovers’ reputation the most environmentally conscious football club in the world is reflected in every area of its operation, including the way its pitches and surrounding landscapes are maintained with Kress battery-powered equipment.
Head Groundsman Nick Johnstone oversees both the stadium pitch and the club’s Eco Park training facilities, where sustainability plays a central role in day-to-day operations. To support the club’s environmental goals, Nick and his team have fully integrated Kress battery-powered equipment across the site.
“Sustainability is key for everything we do here at Forest Green and it touches all areas of the club,” said Nick. “From what we do in grounds care, to transport, energy and food. For us that means how we maintain our pitches and the products we can or can’t use.
“No pesticides, no harmful chemicals. We recycle rainwater where we can. All our machinery is electric, and we pair that up with sustainable sources of energy.”
The grounds team now uses a range of Kress battery-powered equipment including mowers, backpack blowers, handheld blowers, strimmers and hedge trimmers for maintaining both the pitches and surrounding landscaping areas.
Nick said the decision to work with Kress was driven not only by the performance of the equipment, but also by the company’s shared values around sustainability.
“It’s important that when we partner with companies, we align ourselves with businesses that hold the same values as us,” he explained. “with Kress from day one it’s been all about electric equipment and sustainability, so we were really keen to get involved.”
According to Nick, the switch to Kress equipment has improved efficiency across a variety of day-to-day tasks without compromising on performance.
“The Kress equipment is really easy to use, and you don’t compromise on power,” he said.
“We’ve actually found that Kress equipment has saved us time with certain tasks compared to some of the older battery equipment we had in the past.
“Now we’ve fully integrated across to Kress equipment and it’s actually made us more productive and more efficient in our work day-to-day.”
Battery performance and charging speed have also impressed the team, especially during busy working days across the wider Eco Park site.
“The battery power, not just the performance but how long they last and how quickly they charge, is massive,” said Nick. “There are days where we’re doing a lot of work maintaining landscaping areas and the guys don’t have to keep making trips back for batteries.
“We’ve got the Kress CyberSystem charging unit as well, so we’ve always got batteries charging and ready to go. The beauty of that is there are no cables and wires everywhere. They’re tidy, compact and easy to access.”
For Nick, the relationship with Kress has been just as important as the equipment itself.
“We have found it really nice working with the Kress team,” he said. “It was clear straight away that we were going to have a good relationship with like-minded people.
“It’s not just about buying equipment; there’s also the aftercare and support. You can pick up the phone at any time if you need help and they’re always really helpful.”
Nick believes the combination of sustainability, reliability and performance makes Kress a strong option for other professionals in the industry.
“If there are groundskeepers out there not sure what equipment to go for, I would absolutely urge them to go for Kress,” he said. “You don’t compromise at all on power or performance.
“Some of the equipment we’ve used, not just compared to other battery equipment but also combustion equipment, is the best I’ve ever used.”
