Victoria Recreation Ground, Stockton-on-Tees

Client: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Cost: £135,000

Date: August 2023

Genre: Inclusive, Local Authority

The playground on Victoria Recreation Ground in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees required a major overhaul to broaden its appeal and make the very best use of its generous surface area. We were delighted that our submission to update the site was successful with the council, and excited to work with them to deliver a much-deserved new lease of life to this play space.

We began by conducting a thorough site survey, and finalising a design which gave due consideration to every requirement within the brief. The process of transforming the space took on a number of stages, demonstrating our great versatility – firstly, our work was required to fit inside the fenced layout of the existing site, and we also needed to plan for the removal of several pieces of existing equipment which were no longer fit for purpose, as well as implement a thorough resurfacing across large sections of the space. Finally, we planned to introduce a large array of some of our most varied play equipment to excite young visitors, including those with a wide range of disabilities.

A Splash of Colour

Our resurfacing utilised striking wetpour surfacing, with many engaging graphics to fire children’s imaginations, including a splash shape, colourful flowers, stones, hopscotch bubbles, a salamander and a rabbit. 3D wetpour shapes, including a sun and compass, further boosted the site’s visual appeal as well as its interactivity, and we also utilised the existing tarmac surfacing by adding thermoplastic markings, including a number dragon, snakes and ladders, and an A-Z snake, providing opportunities for educational and social play.

Atop this eye-catching surfacing, the completed play space now offers a fantastic array of some of our most exciting play equipment, realising the site’s huge potential and providing over 81 play features to more than 58 young visitors:

A World of Fun

The site’s inclusivity to children of all abilities is immediately clear to see with the colourful Scramble and Slide, our most popular inclusive play unit, which offers 10 play features including a drag ramp with climbing nodes and soft steel-cored ropes to boost accessibility. With a large 1.4m wide deck at its centre, as well as a 1.2m high slide, the unit also features bright colours to differentiate its various sections for visually impaired children.

The unit is complemented by a range of other specially designed inclusive equipment. Our Inclusive Roundabout with seat and scooter features a wide central space which is able to incorporate a wheelchair as well as carers, allowing all to enjoy the spinning motion together. Up to 4 users can utilise the roundabout’s seat or deck-mounted ‘scooter’ element to propel it around. Meanwhile, an Inclusive 4-Way Seesaw is specifically constructed to accommodate parents and carers as well as children of many ability levels, with generous handles offering a secure grip. Finally, our Inclusive Springie unit includes a large saddle seat and a high back rail, allowing children with different access requirements to enjoy the springing sensation.

Alongside this vast range of inclusive equipment, another striking feature is the site’s appeal across the age ranges. Victoria Recreation Ground is the first play space to feature our Playzone Two Tower unit, which offers 7 exciting play features to visitors up to the age of 14. The younger section is comprised of a ladder and slide, while a more challenging area for older children features a pull-up ramp, vertical net and a pole climb. Meanwhile, catering to younger visitors, our colourful Villa Minitown unit provides physical, imaginative, sensory and social play opportunities to up to 13 younger users aged 2 to 5, including a pogo climber, stainless steel slide, five play panels, and curved steps.

Finally, the new equipment offers a host of timeless play experiences that no playground should be without: a classic play staple, the swings, are well-represented with our 2.4m high frame as well as a mixture of 2 bumper seats and 2 cradle seats, offering greater choice for visitors. Meanwhile bouncing fun is also present with our inground Trampoline, and children can enjoy balancing sensations with our Seesaw Springie and Small Metal Seesaw. The former provides an exhilarating, fun balancing ride to two visitors with easy grip handles and secure footholds, whilst the latter accommodates two children and enables adults to sit or stand with them to aid the balancing.

Creative multi-sensory play is also well represented, with our Sound Flower and Dice Daisy spinner panels. The first is full of internal ball bearings for an audio effect when spun, and features an eye-catching black on white swirl design for a mind-blowing optical illusion, while the second spinner includes a 1 to 6 dice design, bringing numerical fun and complementing the numbered floor graphics. Finally, spinning in a more literal sense is provided in a pair of exciting options, with our Space Trainer providing a dynamic rotator for juniors and teens, and our Hula rotator, based around a suspended hoop, able to be used alone or by multiple users up to age 14.

Delivering for All

A representative from Stockton-on-Tees Council said:

‘Sutcliffe Play produced a fantastic scheme at Thornaby’s Victoria Recreation Ground. They worked to deliver a design as close to the brief as possible, but also took onboard the community’s needs, making sure the finished product was inclusive whilst still providing great play value. They were accommodating when changes were suggested, and kept us informed of progress in the factory and throughout the install phase on site. The team kept the site safe and secure, and worked efficiently to get the installation completed on time. The refurbishment has been a great success, and the site is once again popular and well used on a daily basis!’

This expansive site tested our team to produce an exciting design packed with fun, functionality and variety, and we are thrilled to have met the challenge. The completed play space perfectly showcases all of the key elements which mark us out as a leading play designer and manufacturer: inclusive equipment which helps children with disabilities to enjoy the thrill of a fulfilling play experience, a broad offering of play activities which caters to toddlers, teens, and everyone in between, and a design which delivers all of the classic playground staples. We’re proud of our hard work to maximise the appeal of this play space, and delighted that it now thrills children from Thornaby and beyond.

Playground Equipment:

Scramble and Slide

Scramble and Slide

Inclusive Roundabout

Inclusive Scooter Wheelchair Roundabout

Inclusive 4-Way Seesaw

Four Way Seesaw

Two Tower

Two Tower

Villa Minitown

Villa

Inground Trampoline

Small Trampoline

2.4m Four Seat Swing

2.4m Four Seat Swing

Inclusive Springie

Inclusive Springie

Seesaw Springie

Seesaw Springie

Small Metal Seesaw

Small Metal Seesaw

Sound Flower

Sound Flower

Dice Daisy

Dice Daisy

Space Trainer Rotator

Space Trainer Rotator

Hula Rotator

Hula Rotator

Sutcliffe Play Ltd
Waggon Lane
Upton
Pontefract
WF9 1JS
United Kingdom

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Rope

Durable steel-cored rope is a hugely versatile material, which offers great utility as part of more challenging equipment, such as our climbing and balancing focused Mission and Neo ranges, whilst also being used to create the colour contrasting scramble nets found on a number of our inclusive-focused units.

The rope’s steel core offers great durability, allowing it to endure heavy sustained usage for long periods without requiring replacement. Not only does this minimise wastage, but at the point that replacement finally does become necessary, its environmental impact is mitigated by the fact that steel is one of the world’s most recyclable metals.

Prior to this, however, sustainability is also a key consideration for us during the initial stages of our equipment’s development. This is why we seek to deal with responsible suppliers at all times, and participate in a sustainable supply chain with environmental consideration at its heart.

Both of our wholesale suppliers of steel-cored rope hold all of the relevant credentials to operate in a modern, climate conscious marketplace, and both source their rope from a respected third-party enterprise which holds the ISO 14001. This internationally recognized standard demonstrates their commitment to minimizing their environmental impact, and continuously improving their performance in this area.

Our nets and ropes are covered by a 2-year warranty against non-structural failure due to faulty workmanship or materials.

Anti-Slip Surfacing

Many of our products, especially our multi-play units, are designed to enable fast, thrilling, kinetic play for all ages and abilities. This is why durable, hard-wearing anti-slip surfacing is another key material used in our factory, to deliver the safest, highest quality playing experience for children.

The two most commonly used materials in this regard are Hexastrong panels and WISA®-Multifloor panels. The former is found primarily on the walking decks and steps on many of our multi-play units, including in our MiniTown, Toddlerzone and Playzone ranges. With their hard-wearing nature and excellent strength to weight ratio, these panels are ideally suited for use on playground equipment, and as they are produced primarily from timber, they can be considered a renewable resource.

Durable WISA®-Multifloor panels are also utilised most prominently in our Toddlerzone and Playzone ranges. Constructed from birch veneers bonded together with weather-resistant glue and coated with an elastic overlay, they deliver a strong, safe surface on walking decks and steps, upon which children can play freely.

As with all materials involved in the manufacture of our products, we work hard to ensure we deal with responsible suppliers at every stage, and participate in a sustainable supply chain with environmental consideration at its heart:

Both of our Hexastrong suppliers are UK-based, reducing emissions from overseas freight, and the materials we source from both are FSC (Forest Stewardship Certification) approved, ensuring they are derived from well-managed forests and tracked throughout their manufacturing journey. Both suppliers also fully comply with the Timber and Timber Products Regulations (UKTR), which requires them to conduct all necessary due diligence on their supply chains, to ensure the materials they use have been legally sourced and traded.

One of our suppliers also utilises a Carbon Calculator, to inform every customer of the overall carbon footprint of their order, taking in manufacture, delivery of the product to the supplier’s warehouse, and storage, all the way up to the moment it leaves the supplier’s premises. This information allows us to easily understand the carbon impact of the Hexastrong panels we purchase, and assess the results accordingly.

Our supplier of WISA®-Multifloor panels, meanwhile, is based like us in West Yorkshire, again reducing freight emissions, and as with our Hexastrong supplier, is FSC (Forest Stewardship Certification) approved and fully complies with the Timber and Timber Products Regulations (UKTR).

Both our Hexastrong and Wisa®-Multifloor panels are covered by a 2-year warranty against material degradation.

Paint/Finishing

Although originating from our West Yorkshire factory, our equipment delivers fun across the country every day – and beneath the colourful surface, its fundamentals are high quality, durable, and sustainable.

When it comes to safeguarding our environment, however, we know the surface itself has a part to play, too. We utilise a range of different treatments and finishes, including galvanising, powder coating and zinc priming for mild steel, and anodising for aluminium. These processes provide the materials with the best chance of enduring heavy usage, whilst sealing the surface’s prime coating, and adding further durability through a UV stable colourfast finish.

The manner of application is also crucial with regards to sustainability. Our preferred method, electrostatic spraying, involves the use of a spray gun to powder coat the metal. This leads to an exceptionally even particle distribution when compared with traditional airless methods, which can result in significant overspray and insufficient coverage. The improved transfer then translates to reduced paint consumption, which in turn reduces waste, and saves on any cleaning agents required to remove excess.

Our UK-based supplier practices sustainable delivery methods, including utilising cardboard packaging in place of plastic, as well as biodegradable packing made from natural, nontoxic sources (such as wheat and corn starch) which can be used in compost piles after use.

Our paint, anodising and galvanising are all covered by a 10-year warranty against significant corrosion due to faulty materials or finishing.

Rubber

With its inherent flexibility and array of bright colours, rubber is ideal for use in play equipment.

In our case, it is the main material used in many of our swing seats, whose design and production originally helped to make Sutcliffe Play a leading name in the playground market.

Rubber is derived from the sap of the rubber tree, which, when farmed responsibly, can be tapped for latex production over a period of many years before requiring replacement. Not only does this make the rubber itself a sustainable resource, it is also a great benefit for the wider ecosystem, as rubber trees have a significant capacity to absorb carbon dioxide.

Likewise, natural rubber is also extremely biodegradable, giving it a major advantage over plastic (which can take decades or even centuries to decompose); the higher the percentage of pure latex rubber in the compound, the faster it breaks down upon disposal.

Our north-west based supplier is a leading enterprise that operates a Sustainable Procurement Policy, which seeks to monitor and manage the business’s environmental impact, whilst ensuring social, environmental and economic factors are fully considered by employees and suppliers.

Our rubber is covered by a 2-year warranty against material degradation.

Aluminium

Sustainability and durability run through our equipment quite literally from top to bottom, as the supporting uprights on our popular Toddlerzone, Playzone, Neo and Mission ranges are constructed from high-quality, responsibly sourced aluminium.

Three of our four main aluminium suppliers are based locally in West Yorkshire, reducing freight emissions, and all seek to work within a sustainable supply chain, with one certified to the Environmental 14001 standard, whilst another is beginning to roll out the use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil to replace diesel at all of their service centres, leading to a reduction in carbon emissions and nitrogen oxide.

Aluminium is not only a highly durable material, it is also the most recyclable metal in the world, and can be continually re-melted and refashioned into new products without losing its properties. This process also uses up to 95% less energy than the production of new aluminium from raw materials.

Its unique combination of versatile properties, including low weight, high strength, corrosion resistance and recyclability make it a perfect match for heavy usage playgrounds. Its hardened anodised finish is also maintenance free and requires no touch-up or finish during its life cycle, saving on wastage and the use of new top up materials.

Our aluminium is covered by a 25-year warranty against structural strength, and our anodising is covered by a 10-year warranty against significant corrosion due to faulty materials or finishing.

Mild Steel

Mild steel is another essential material which is a perfect fit for our durable product range, used to create the supporting components of our multi play units, as well as rotators such as our inclusive dish roundabouts.

As with stainless steel, our supplier is an established enterprise in the local West Yorkshire area. Their mild steel includes an average of 76% recycled content, and is created from raw materials sourced from UK and Belgian foundries which are BES6001 certified. As of April 2023, their activity was estimated to produce 1.39 tonnes of carbon emissions per tonne of steel, well below one of the major estimated industry averages (1.85 tonnes), and on par with another (1.40).

This high-quality material is painted using a sustainable electrostatic process, and gains added protection through a UV stable colourfast finish. It has been proven to withstand not only the rigours of daily usage but the harshest of outdoor environments, including those with high salinity – this is well-evidenced by the fact that there has never been a customer claim against its structural guarantee.

Our mild steel is covered by a 25-year warranty against structural strength.

Stainless Steel

Another material that helps us to offer the most robust equipment on the market is stainless steel, used in the manufacture of our chute, bedway and bannister slides.

Our supplier is local, based like us in West Yorkshire (reducing freight-based carbon emissions), and sources their stainless steel from an enterprise which is a leader in sustainability, whose steel output includes a recycled content of between 85% and 90% (against an industry average of 60%); this same enterprise has also reduced their direct per ton CO² by 25% over the last decade. In addition, the carbon footprint of their stainless steel has been found to be almost 40% smaller than it was in the 1990s.

The stainless steel in our products is maintenance free, easy clean, and suitable for all environments. It conforms to EN10088 specifications, and it is austenitic – making it stronger, more durable, and less electrically and thermally conductive than carbon steel, as well having a greater corrosion resistance. This durable, robust composition greatly extends the material’s lifespan, deferring waste creation (and steel is already the most recycled material used in manufacturing overall, so is far less likely to create waste at all).

Our stainless steel is covered by a 25-year warranty against structural strength.

HPL

HPL is a high-performance, external grade, self-supporting laminate utilised in versatile ways throughout our product range, such as the colourful panelling on many of our multi-play units.

The two key components in its creation are paper (technically called cellulose fibres) and thermosetting resin, with the former representing 60-70% of the finished material.

Our supplier is an Environmental Management Systems ISO 14001:2015 certified business, which holds both of the voluntary ‘Chain of Custody’ certifications according to FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) schemes. These certifications guarantee that the final product is made of material from well-managed, FSC or PEFC-Certified forests, and other controlled sources.

No organic solvents, asbestos or heavy metals are used during HPL’s production cycle, and it doesn’t release any gases, vapours, solvents or fluids. Its processing waste can be handled in a manner equivalent to household waste at controlled landfills, and it is estimated that 80% of the waste generated by our supplier is recovered.

Once created, HPL’s standout durability (it is fire-retardant, scratch and shock resistant, and non-porous) ensures that it will resist a great deal of wear and tear, and endure for long periods before requiring replacement.

Our HPL panels are covered by a 10-year warranty against non-structural failure due to faulty workmanship or materials.

HDPE

HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) is an extremely versatile thermoplastic polymer used in the freestanding play panels which feature in many of our play spaces, as well as for various components across our product range.

Offering an excellent strength-to-density ratio, and a very high impact resistance and melting point, products utilising HDPE are sure to enjoy a very long life.

The HDPE we purchase is sustainably sourced, and includes an average of 76% recycled content. Our supplier has also recycled 99% of their waste material and off-cuts since the formation of their business, and offers HDPE recycling services to customers for products which are no longer required.

Unlike natural, porous materials such as wood (which can feature fissures or grooves that harbour moisture or bacteria) HDPE resists mould and rotting as well as most strong mineral acids and naturally occurring chemicals. HDPE is also easily recyclable, helping to keep non-biodegradable waste out of landfill.

Our freestanding play panels are also accompanied by a selection of sustainably sourced supporting posts, including recycled plastic, galvanised metal, and timber. As with HDPE, these enjoy a far longer lifespan due to their environmental resistance (with none of the rotting, cracking, or splitting that may come with traditional timber posts), and they also help to reduce non-biodegradable landfill waste.

Our HDPE is covered by a 10-year warranty against non-structural failure due to faulty workmanship or materials.

Glulam

Our Treetops multi-play equipment is well-known for its naturalistic aesthetic, with striking wooden support beams bringing an eye-catching look to the entire range.

These are constructed from Glued Laminated (Glulam) Larch, a structurally engineered wood comprised of layers of dimensioned lumber, bonded together with durable, moisture-resistant structural adhesives.

Our well-established supplier of Glulam is based very locally to our factory in West Yorkshire, reducing freight emissions – and as with all of our materials, Glulam’s great durability minimises waste and the need for replacement in the long term. Its design delivers greater dimensional stability than that of whole log sections, with no shakes, twisting or warping, and all Glulam beams within the Treetops range have an oblique cut top to prevent water ingress, as well as galvanized steel shoes to protect the base of each post from the elements.

As well as having no known negative environmental effects, repairability of Glulam is high, and once it reaches the end of its natural life, it can be repurposed as an excellent biofuel.

Our Glulam is covered by a 10-year warranty against structural strength.

Timber

Timber is an essential material in our work, used primarily in our naturalistic Orchard range – and we strive to ensure not only that it is sustainably sourced, but smartly applied to ensure maximum longevity.

Our FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified supplier handles slow grown pine logs derived from strictly controlled sources, either through government body approved felling licences or forest/woodland management plans. They also encourage the recycling of their products during manufacturing, with all wastage repurposed – including in a local biomass plant that produces electricity and heat.

The timber we purchase for use in our Orchard posts has been pressure treated against wet rot, dry rot and insect infestation, carried out after it has been cut and drilled (ensuring the coverage of all exposed timber). It has also been preservative pressure-treated with high-quality Tanalith 9000, which is proven at providing unrivalled protection.

A UK-sourced aluminium protective shoe maintains the timber above ground level, protecting the base of each post throughout its lifetime, and side ventilation holes allow the posts to breathe and stay dry. At the other end, a special rubber cap completely seals the post top, preventing moisture from entering the top grain.

Our Timber is covered by a 10-year warranty against structural strength.