Rosemead Park play area was ready for a long overdue complete refurbishment with the Council wanting the new play area completed and ready for use by the local community by the end of 2020. Following a month-long community engagement and consultation event in 2019, the views of the users and a brief for the future requirements for the play area had already been established.
During the public consultation 10-year-old Lloyd who wanted to use the play area and has autism, wrote to the Council expressing his desire for a playground where everyone could play together. He wanted a slide, a swing and sensory play that everyone could use, even from a wheelchair. Lloyd said: “I think parks should be for everyone, the disabled and able. We like playing together.”
The park was already widely used for play, informal sport, dog walking and seasonal events organised by the Town Council. They wanted a new, fun packed play area to encourage local children to engage in play and develop their social and physical well being. It also needed to enable community to connect and be a meeting place for children and adults alike.
Having undertaken a thorough site survey and having given due consideration to all requirements within the brief, our design included play equipment and surfacing to create a much-needed flagship play facility for the local community and a maintenance-free facility for the Council.
Unlike any play provision currently installed within the area the design includes truly inclusive play features to create a destination site for those with children with a wide range of disabilities. The equipment design and play area design encourages an integrated approach to allowing children of all ages and abilities to socialise and play together.
The design proposal included 15 items of play equipment from our standard ranges offering the maximum play value and robust construction. The main multiplay units are from our Toddlerzone and Mission ranges which have been designed to maximise the available play opportunities for children offering a progressive element of both challenge and risk.
The design includes a total of 46 different play opportunities for all ages and abilities, they include:
Climbing, Sliding, Balancing, Crawling, Swinging, Rotating, Bouncing, Imaginative and sensory play, Social / educational play.
High Priority Equipment
Within our design for Rosemead Park we have included the following from the high priority list.
- Trampoline
- Cable way / Zip Line
- Swings
- Wheelchair accessible equipment, roundabout and swing
- Climbing wall
- Sensory equipment such as, trampoline, play fence, and sound flower
- Picnic bench with wheel chair access
- Tarmac path from the play area to the path to the north of the park.
The design we presented incorporated the needs of the diverse nature of the area which is also close to both a primary and a senior school. We increased the number a play items within the park without encroaching on the areas used by dog walkers and children using the park for sports. The finished design is set to engage the growing community for years to come.
