This park had grown tired over the years, its facilities fallen into disrepair. Our brief was to reinvigorate the space – with the added aspiration of making it an exemplar for accessibility.
Our starting point was to open up the park with better connections to the local area. Inside, paths were reconfigured to provide improved entrance points at all four corners. We opened up views to make the park simple and ‘free flowing’, with space for families to explore and play in a safe environment.
The large young children’s play area has 50% of amenities for access by children with disabilities – including a state-of-the-art wheelchair swing, roundabout, and trampoline – alongside other equipment offering strong sensory experiences. Moreover, a dragon sketched by a local school pupil has been transformed into the fiery head of the accessible slide: local artist Joel Parkes transformed a mature tree trunk into a bespoke, interactive sculpture over the course of three months. We also focused on the creation of ‘playable landscapes’, including a bold climbing frame set amongst a stand of coniferous trees.
For more details, read our Project Story.
Creating an urban oasis and a flagship park for accessible play.