12 Photo: MJ Abbott Bunkers at Vidauban now have a more naturalised appearance, and the overall sand area has been reduced by 30 per cent While in Harrogate, England, for the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition in January 2020, MJ Abbott agreed a contract to carry out a bunker reconstruction project at Vidauban Golf Club in southern France. At the same time, the world was just becoming aware of SARS-CoV-2, which would become more commonly known as Covid-19. The project was due to start in autumn 2020, with MJ Abbott working through the winter, but with a global pandemic in full flow, it seemed like it might falter. However, at the beginning of October 2020, vaccine jabs administered, PCR tests completed and travel plans made, a team of 20 with seven lorries of equipment set off for southern France expecting to return for a Christmas break 12 weeks later. The project manager was John Clarkin, managing director of Turfgrass Consultancy, and the design was completed by Mike Gorman, senior project architect at Robert Trent Jones II, who followed and respected the original routing that Robert Trent Jones Sr and Jr created in the early 1990s. Steve Briggs of MJ Abbott reflects on the bunker renovation project at Vidauban in France Getting it done in lockdown MJ ABBOTT
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