The adventure began in 1962 in a farming family, close to nature and its values. As a young man, Oscar Hege, the youngest son, took up a challenge: to build a nursery and landscaping business. His father believed in him. To show his support, he gave him a piece of his farmland. So, with precious few recourses, this is how Oscar launched his business. Thanks to his hard work and his human qualities, his endeavor quickly became future-proof; his gamble had paid off.
Hege Sports & Jardins was founded in 1991. It was born from the mariage between the nascent sports field service activity and the long-standing landscaping activity. Over time, the service activity took precedence over the other. And so, over the years, the nursery disappeared.
Professionalism, considerable flexibility, attentive to requests: these are some of the company’s key strengths that its clients gladly point out. Highly focused on delivering excellent services, the team strives to provide equipment of the highest quality. In this perspective, they acquired the entire range of machines for sports fields from the German supplier Fischer.
Thus, the family business entered a new era. Hege Sports et Jardins is gaining recognition and visibility in its sector.
Thanks to its rapid rise in expertise, the company has been adding references to its order book since 1994. In fact, the cities of Monaco and Toulon placed their trust in Hege Sports et Jardins; they entrusted the company with the task of carrying out deep vertical drainage operations. Accepting this undertaking would require the very best equipment. And so, with a passionate and forward-thinking vision, the team decided to employ a machine unique in France: the Fischer perforator.
Using all these assets and a lot of hard work, they created their own fleet of specialized equipment allowing them to diversify the company’s services and carry out ever more sophisticated work.
This has led the company to open up new possibilities for business.
1996 saw the completion of a major project for Hege Sport et Jardins: the Sportrac 2000 machine. It was developed and engineered specifically for constructing sports fields. With this, the company firmly established its commitment to the development of specialized equipment. In this case, the innovative tool was born of a partnership with Horsch, a manufacturer of agricultural equipment, and benefited from state subsidies.
In the years that followed, the range of services offered was perfected. Its scope expanded to include more and more large-scale projects, each requiring increasingly better adapted equipment. Today, this range now encompasses the creation of natural turf sports fields, the installation of in-ground watering systems, as well as drainage operations. The scale of these projects has made the deployment of adequate resources necessary.
In 2008, the company turned another corner. For the first time, it brought on board a qualified engineer. This was part of a crazy project: the design, development and manufacture, all in-house, of a multi-purpose construction machine that would meet official land construction standards.
The challenge was met with flying colors: a year later, the machine was ready for use, and the project bore fruit almost immediately. As a result, the company became more competitive and improved their speed of execution. Hege Sport et Jardins is becoming more efficient for all large-scale jobs.
But the team’s efforts are not focused solely on developing machines for imposing jobs.
The battle against lawn-choking worm castings was undertaken. The technical team expanded its fleet of equipment by developing a mechanical, chemical-free solution to ridding a turf of its worm castings. In 2009, the initiative ended with a new success; the Joker 184 sportsfield harrow joined the Hege Sport et Jardins family of machines. Designed and manufactured in-house, with a height-adjustable tooth plate, the tool is extremely precise.
This device is a great success. Handy and eco-friendly, it is particularly popular with local authorities for the maintenance of their sports fields. Over time it has been supplemented with additional attachments and has become very versatile and effective on natural turf, as well as on synthetic and graveled surfaces.
At the current time, a workshop dedicated exclusively to research and development is being built, in which prototypes can be assembled and tested. The next chapter in the Hege Sols Sportifs story will soon commence.
Hege Sports et Jardins has seen many changes since its creation. Its service range is constantly being perfected, but above all, it has expanded to include an important sector dedicated to machine creation. In 2011, the company was renamed Hege Sols Sportifs. It’s a modern, passionate company that welcomes the third generation of the team. These young newcomers contribute their energy, their passion, and their thirst for learning.
In 2019, the service and machine manufacturing businesses will split into 2 separate companies. The development and manufacturing division will become Hege Applications, entirely dedicated to the design and manufacture of excellent machines.
With 15 years’ experience in the sports field business, Samuel Escach, Denis Hege’s son-in-law and an Arts et Métiers engineer, takes over the management of this new structure.
Two years later, the opportunity arose to invest in a manufacturing unit entirely dedicated to prototypes. The company acquired a 400 m² hall and took advantage of the opportunity to set up its offices there.
This investment is proving wise for the projects that follow, and in 2022 the number of machines sold reaches new records. At the same time, Hege Applications is looking to expand its distribution network, particularly in Switzerland and Belgium.
That same year, 2022, the company took on the huge challenge of designing and manufacturing the first Joker XXL: 7.40 m wide, they were ordered by the ADP group to equip the Roissy Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget airports.
The demands of our distributors and partners in the sports field market have led us to develop new machines:
The year 2024 marks a turning point in the history of Hege Applications: the company moves into a new 1,100 m² production hall equipped with state-of-the-art production tools.
The construction of this plant is a way for the company to expand its projects (mainly in innovation and solutions research), meet growing demand, and step up exports.
Thanks to this investment, it can increase productivity, improve working and operating conditions, and reduce energy consumption.
This investment has been subsidized by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
In recent years, Hege Applications has been looking to expand into neighboring countries: Switzerland, Germany and Belgium.
In September 2024, to accelerate its international development, the company exhibits at GaLaBau, Europe’s largest landscape trade fair in Nuremberg.
Several League 1 clubs in Germany have equipped themselves with Hege machines during the year, and these references are an excellent way of making a name for themselves in Germany and other neighboring countries.
Other projects are in the pipeline, so keep up with us on Linkedin!
