Products
Waterplay’s release of 18 new Splash Pad products is its biggest in years Opened in 2021, the City of Sydney’s Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre, originally budgeted at $50 million when the project was approved in 2015, cost a reported $106 million.
Solutions It is unlikely that a straight ‘like-for-like’ replacement of all ageing aquatic facilities, will or should take place. However, several case studies show opportunities to rethink the Australian approach to aquatic facility provisioning in Australia. The report includes recommendations to rethink the approach to the provision of aquatic facilities to ensure that the community can continue to access these into the future. These include: •Prioritising function over form and keeping new designs simple, modular and scalable •Exploring Public-Private-Partnerships to funding infrastructure •Lowering access barriers such as entry fees to increase the use and impact of existing aquatic facilities and create greater social value and return •Local government collaboration and partnership on aquatic facility provisioning •Considering how the private sector can provide benefits traditionally serviced by local governments such as learn to swim and how governments can subsidise activities which are not market based such as lap swimming and recreational play at commercially owned and operated aquatic facilities •Exploring how schools might build and share their aquatic facilities •Encouraging and facilitating greater cooperation between councils for service provisioning and purchasing •Exploring how clubs and associations who may seek the use of aquatic facilities might also consider collaborative approaches to the development of such facilities Even with exploring novel ways of addressing the coming gaps, it is certain that additional funding from state and federal governments is needed as well as reviewing how state and federal governments plan and allocate funds to support aquatic facility developments to ensure equitable and universal access. Finally, Royal Life Saving Society - Australia will plan and deliver an aquatic infrastructure symposium to bring together the aquatic sector, planners and governments to facilitate a common understanding of the situation and explore new approaches and opportunities for the continued provision of publicly accessible aquatic facilities in Australia. RJ Houston is the National Manager - Aquatics at Royal Life Saving Society - Australia. The full report is available from Royal Life Saving.
Hitting the global market with their biggest product launch in years, Waterplay has introduced 18 new splash pad products, ranging from towering, multi-leg characters to quirky discoverystyled splash pad essentials, as well as the Sling Soaker - a new favourite dumping bucket. Centrepiece of the new line is The Titans, a competitivelypriced and easy to install feature with multiple points of play. Introducing the feature, Waterplay Product Manager, Kyle Luciw explains “the idea here was to offer a large structure that was easy for the installer, cost effective for the owner, and extremely playful. “The Titans could effectively be the only feature for the entire splash pad - they’re that big and there’s that many play opportunities with dumping buckets, splashers and sprays.” Having last year reimagined its popular Cirque Collection - a line of splash pad products that encourage discovery, physical movement and imagination during play - the range now focuses on the acrobatics of water and the opportunities for total focus and immersion during play. Contact Waterplay Solutions Corp on 1800 180 955, E: info@waterplay.com, www.waterplay.com Contact Waterplay’s Australian agent Parkequip on 02 9725 5604, E: info@parkequip.com.au, www.parkequip.com.au
Polytan Asia Pacific restores Arafura Stadium running track Polytan Asia Pacific has delivered a $2.6 million renovation to the Northern Territory’s Arafura Stadium running track restoring the track to its former glory and readying the Territory for upcoming opportunities for national and international events. The resurfacing saw the existing track removed, the bottom layer of bitumen scraped back, new bitumen laid and a stateof-the-art Rekortan M surface laid on top. The restoration sees the Northern Territory now having a ‘class 2 World Athletics Certified Facility’ which is one step below the mega-stadium at Sydney Olympic Park. Contact 1800 663 812, E: enquiry@polytan.com.au, www.polytan.com.au Australasian Leisure Management Issue 153 63
