Forest Lake State School
An extremely active school community had raised funds for a major playground development primarily for junior school. The school had received a number of submissions from playground manufacturers and manufacturer’s agents. None of the designs meet the criteria set by Forest Lake State School hence they approached Playscape Creations for a full Playscape design.
Our Brief
Review the site and site survey details, design a interactive Playground system that included:- Group play; Physical Fitness; Sand & Water play, Car play area, Timber Stage area; all under shade cover and provide universal access from two sides.
Our Design Approach
Our Design team offer two distinctly different concept designs, one with most activity to the perimeter and open play at the centre; the other with a central activity and more open play around this. The committee liked what we offered and agreed, in principle, to proceed, modifying the second option to completely suit their needs.
Our Actual Design
Step 1 – To provide access from the class room areas and link that to an existing path at the western end of the area. A toy car playing area, waterplay and sand pit were natural features to be placed adjacent to the path, as was the timber stage. All four elements were designed with an organic shape to reflect a more relaxed feel and less structured theme.
Step 2 – One the northern side of the path we designed four distinctly different play units to offer differing styles of play.
- Linear design play unit that could be used as a fitness trail.
- Conventional play unit for less structured play
- Climbing Dome for totally un-structured play.
- Single climbing tower for individual skills development.
Step 3 – All play systems had the high wear areas protected with the installation of Rubbertech Deluxe Surfacing to offer permanent protection and provide vibrant colour.
Step 4 – Create protection from the sun with an array of shade sails, complimenting the play equipment and enhancing the aesthetic appeal.
Construction
After installing 1.8m high security fencing around the construction site we spent 2 full days on earthworks – removing existing items and reshaping the land to meet our requirements. Drainage was installed in all pits and low areas to ensure storm water went to the desired existing drainage points. Concrete paths and slab for water tank was poured along with sandpit and car pit walls. Playground items footings were excavated and installed as were shade posts, the large ones extending 1.8m deep into natural ground.
Our carpenters got to work building the custom designed decking while the Playground construction was completed. Road base material was imported, placed and compacted in a strategic pattern to form the foundation for the synthetic surfacing. Reconstituted recycled car tyre rubber was used for the impact attenuation with coloured EPDM granule forming the wear layer.
The sand pit and toy car play areas received some additional feature with the placement of sandstone rock edging, they were then filled with the relevant material with the car pit’s decomposed granite being lightly compacted to provide a firm base on which the kids could build roads and tunnels. The waterplay table was fitted onto a self draining slab with water coming directly from a rainwater tank filled via an existing down pipe.
As the main construction components were completed it was time to add the finishing touches – Shade sails were fitted while a concrete curb was installed to the perimeter of the softfall zone. Once in place certified softfall bark fines were pumped into the site.
The End Result
Four weeks after earthworks were commenced children had their first opportunity to play on the playground. John Faragher ( School Principal) along with local MP, Mr Bernie Rippol, officially opened the play area with hundreds of happy children cheering.
The new playground area provides an multitude of play experiences within the one contained area, allowing children of mixed abilities to explore and find their own adventure.
