Exports of Rosehill’s Sporting Granules to Top £1 million

Export orders worth more than £1 million for a new range of vulcanised rubber granules specifically developed for sports surfaces and playgrounds have been announced by Rosehill Polymers of Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire. The US, Scandinavia and Spain are said to be booming markets for Rosehill’s TPV Inplay and TPV Infill products where sports clubs, schools and local authorities are using them to construct synthetic sporting surfaces and recreational playgrounds.

With more than a dozen installations completed in the last 12 months, Rosehill sees the US as an especially exciting market and has recently appointed Denise Fox as business development manager. She will lead the company’s team when they exhibit at the Athletic Business Conference and Expo in Las Vegas from 15 – 17 November.

“TPV is a new granular product which can be used either as a bonded top layer for multi-sports and play surfaces or as a loose infill for synthetic grass football pitches, and because it is made from a virgin polymer it scores heavily over other products in terms of consistency, colour and performance levels,” said Denise Fox. “We feel there is a wonderful opportunity to develop more business in North America. It’s a huge market and the demand for a refined product is strong.”

Rosehill’s TPV products are made in a range of 16 colours appropriate to applications including soccer pitches, gridiron football, running tracks and children’s playgrounds where bright multi-colour designs are often called for.

In developing their TPV range Rosehill were mindful of increasingly stringent environmental and safety concerns. “We have produced a product which is very friendly to the environment. It is non-toxic, non-allergenic and naturally fire-retardant. Furthermore, it does not react with any of the other products or compounds with which it might be used. This is all good news for the people who use our surfaces,” Denise Fox added.

Environmental concerns have been one of the reasons for Rosehill’s success with TPV in Scandinavia. Stuart Wilson, sales and marketing manager at Rosehill explained: “Schools and local authorities in these countries are worried about the environmental effects of using recycled tyre rubber. However, they know that because TPV is manufactured from high quality virgin polymer it is a ‘clean’ product which, even when wet, does not produce any harmful run-off.”

TPV Infill and Inplay have been subject to testing in the harshest conditions to ensure that they retain their colour and durability. Rosehill even took the products to the Arizona desert to make sure they performed in the most extreme heat. “We did prove that,” said Stuart Wilson. “However, we also found that in very high temperature zones TPV retains less heat than other products so operators do not need to waste water spraying artificial turf pitches at frequent intervals as with tyre rubber infill. Another environmental benefit.”