Flexible turf used for Kai Tak Sports Park
The youth sports ground at the Kai Tak Sports Park will be the first public venue to use "lay and pay" technology for the pitch, with officials saying it should provide more stability and flexibility when organising events. The venue will be available for events including football and rugby matches, as well as school sports days. Managers of the sports park say about 650 rolls of turf, each measuring 1.2 metres by 10 metres, were harvested in Zhuhai and transported to Hong Kong for installation. The hybrid turf consists of 95 percent natural grass and five percent artificial grass fibres. Malcolm Caddies, a general manager at sports venue management company ASM Global, said the turf can minimise the chances of matches being called off due to unstable conditions. "Hybrid surface is way more stable, way more secure. You're not going to get soggy fields like you traditionally do in wet conditions, so it will certainly allow for more matches in inclement weather," he said. Caddies added that a rain harvesting system, which can drain about 1,000 millimetres of rain per hour, has been installed underneath the sports ground to deal with extreme weather.