Who has a Charles Britton arena?

kit279

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We have planning permission and are getting set to put in an arena in a few weeks (very exciting!!! :)). We are probably going to go with Charles Britton and I wonder if anyone had any experience of them in terms of the build experience and also the finished arena?

Any thought welcome - thank you :)
 

sare_bear

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Ooh, very interested in replies to this. Also putting in an arena this summer, but was leaning towards Martin Collins, though awaiting quotes.
Also just being nosey, which horse did you go for in the end? :)
 

Tanta

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We had a charles britton arena put in at our last house - excellent arena, v good service and quality, had it for 14 years before we moved and never had any problems with it

bu we put in one by Elmtree Construction at our new place - highly recommended, lovely people and grea quality (they did the big new arena at ALW) http://www.elmtreeconstruction.co.uk/
 

Booboos

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I had one done by Charles Britton about 6 years ago. They were very busy at the time so I had to wait a few months between putting in the order and work starting but once they started progress was very fast. The guys they sent out were very polite and knew what they were doing, so it was all done in 2 weeks (but still had to wait for the sand to bed down of course).

However, I then had a problem with the rubber as it was full of metal pieces and I mean that you could fill a supermarket bag with metal pieces after a short walk around the arena so there were loads of them! The company was very apologetic, promised to rectify but did nothing. This went on for a few months until about 4 months later I lost my rag with them over the phone and threatened to take it further. They finally came, took off the rubber and half the sand and replaced it with new (and uncontaminated).

They said they had never had this problem before but I since found out from a friend in the rubber recycling industry that the rubber plant had a malfunction with its magnet/metal detector and a huge batch of contaminated rubber had gone out causing problems all over the place.

Overall the arena was great and if only they had responded to the problem sooner and without forcing me to shout I would recommend them 100%.
 

Tiddlypom

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We had a Charles Britton arena put in nearly 3 years ago. We have a 40m x 20m arena with a sand and rubber crumb surface, with the optional upgrade of a 'leaning fence' (thoroughly recommended for people like me who otherwise scrape their outside leg on the rails!).

We partly chose CB because of their excellent planning service, but i see that you already have planning. They were professional and easy to deal with from start to finish. When I asked for a quote, I was sent lists of scores of CB arenas in the area whose owners are happy to show them off.

The guys who install it lived on site in a CB caravan for the duration of the build (16 or so days). They worked 12 hour days, and were extremely methodical, with each stage being fully completed before moving on to the next. The liaison with head office was good, with new materials arriving as and when required.They left everything clean and tidy at the end.

The arena is great, and is much admired by visitors. Tbh, we only got a quote from them to see how much the 'big boys' charge, but they came in barely any more than much less experienced operators. I never though that i would be in the CB league, I though that they would be too posh for me!

Our 'extras' to a standard build were the leaning fence, a second 12' gate, plus removal of the waste topsoil to a corner of our boundary about 150 yards away (left neatly landscaped).

The guys had a great 'can do' attitude, and there were no hidden extras waiting to bite us on the bum at the end.

100% recommended.
 

kit279

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Thanks all for your feedback - very excited, can't wait! :)

Ooh, very interested in replies to this. Also putting in an arena this summer, but was leaning towards Martin Collins, though awaiting quotes.
Also just being nosey, which horse did you go for in the end? :)

I postponed making a decision for the moment and kept my little grey filly - the plan is to see over the summer as we are stupidly busy with work and so haven't yet made a final decision.
 

One More

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Yard I'm on has one, I love it! Surface is great, and even when everything else in the area is underwater there is a not a drop on my school. Big fan :)
 

cavalo branco

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Our one is about 20 years old, put in long before we bought our house. All I can say is that the drainage is fantastic, it never puddles and still looks good after all this time.
 

NorthDevonTraveller

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I had one done by Charles Britton about 6 years ago. They were very busy at the time so I had to wait a few months between putting in the order and work starting but once they started progress was very fast. The guys they sent out were very polite and knew what they were doing, so it was all done in 2 weeks (but still had to wait for the sand to bed down of course).

However, I then had a problem with the rubber as it was full of metal pieces and I mean that you could fill a supermarket bag with metal pieces after a short walk around the arena so there were loads of them! The company was very apologetic, promised to rectify but did nothing. This went on for a few months until about 4 months later I lost my rag with them over the phone and threatened to take it further. They finally came, took off the rubber and half the sand and replaced it with new (and uncontaminated).

They said they had never had this problem before but I since found out from a friend in the rubber recycling industry that the rubber plant had a malfunction with its magnet/metal detector and a huge batch of contaminated rubber had gone out causing problems all over the place.

Overall the arena was great and if only they had responded to the problem sooner and without forcing me to shout I would recommend them 100%.

They were telling fibs that it had never happened before.

I have had a CB arena for about 15 years, sand base, plastic on top. Went for them as it was a difficult site and wanted to make sure it would drain properly, plus a friend had used them. Build very quick and easy - they have various teams working round the country.

However, pieces of glass and sharp metal started to appear almost immediately. I checked the contract which said materials were guaranteed, but they really didn't want to know, said it was a problem for the materials supplier - Manchester Plastics. I eventually arrived at their Badminton trade stand with a bag of glass/metal and they hussled me away pdq. After additional threats of Court action to CB the boss of Manchester Plastics came to Devon to have a look and confirmed the problem was that the lorries had been used for shifting house demolition rubble, and had not been properly cleaned out before delivering surface. The plastic was taken off and replaced, but it took a lot of effort to get them to sort of admit liability and get something done. Manchester Plastics were fine - Charles Britton very hard work!

I have had them back more recently to advise on what to top up the arena with. It turned out it didn't need topping up, but the sand base had compacted and they advised on how to deal with this. Although the arena has done everything I wanted it to do, it seems that only Charles Britton himself carries out visits which means you can chase for a long time if you are a long way from their base. If I installed another arena I would go with one of the big boys, but try to pick one who is based a bit nearer my home in the hope it would improve the service.
 
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