The Challenge
The council passed on a fabulous document that featured the results of a community consultation. This gave the community the chance to let the council know what they wanted to see in their new play area. The results of which, gave us a great insight into what equipment to feature along with how we could make this play area 100% Padstow themed whilst also keeping within the Councils budget and maintenance requirements. We don’t hang about when we get a task like this, and we dive into a producing a whole load of designs and ideas that can make their play area really burst back into life and weather the Cornish storms! Being a famous seaside port with a long history of fishing, water based pursuits, the RNLI, coastguards and the folklore celebration of MayDay with the two famous Oss’s, blue and red, we had a huge amount to motivate us in our design process.The Solution
How could we be inspired by Padstow & not create a Trawler themed play boat which includes: -900mm high deck area, wheelhouse including ships wheel, a large Trawler style climbing net, traversing wall, vertical pull up ramp, fish hold themed panel, a themed ‘Where shall we go’ play panel and a wheelchair transfer platform. On to honouring the huge MayDay event held in the town each year attracting thousands of visitors; we add the Old Oss & Blue Oss May Day Towers including large Hexagonal Tower, 2m high straight tube slide, pull up ramp, vertical ladder, inclined climb wall, stepping Logs x 10 (with Red Oss & Blue Oss tops), stepping Stilts x 5, balance Beam x 2 and finally a traversing wall with Oss inspired Red & Blue Panels. Finally we add in the perfect toddler role play fun with what else but a ‘Harbour Rescue Towers’ including our ever popular St Columb Sailor Play Boat masquerading as an RNLI Lifeboat, including themed fish tile interactive panel. The last thing to wash up into the play area is our delicious role play food Van, complete with real tyres a cab, steering wheel, serving hatch and menu.Client Testimonial
We love our play area. After sourcing extra funding at the design stage to really go the extra mile and invest in the themed wet pour safety surface to compliment the equipment, we could not be more pleased with the whole outcome. Most importantly, this play area, with so much community input about it’s themes and use, has helped hugely with a sense of community pride and parent policing of the area. This in turn has created not only a beautiful play area, but a safe one to be used and loved by everyone.
Thank you to the whole team at Outdoor Play People, from the first phone call to the installation and grand opening, everything has been wonderful….so much so, that we signed up for their 6 monthly maintenance checks package. With their continued expertise on hand and Outdoor Play People’s commitment to superb quality materials, we plan to keep our play area absolutely tip top for many years to come!
Project Gallery
The Outcome
