Play & Activity November 2020

Queen’s will rock you

With a similar business ethic in regards to corporate responsibility and sustainability, it was a pleasure for eibe to work on the recent Queen’s Avenue Play Area in conjunction with Grainger plc, the UK’s largest listed residential landlord.

A market leader in the UK build to rent and private rented sector, Grainger now has offices in London, Newcastle, Birmingham and Manchester.

It was Commercial Development Manager, Carla Norton, that first contacted eibe Play about a new venture in Aldershot, Hampshire. Several months later and Queen’s

Avenue was officially opened last week and the £20,000 project is already attracting a lot of attention from local residents.

The brightly coloured playspace features a Kamet Unit from our ecorino range, as well as Lily Jump Pads, Toddler Swings and a Satellite Carousel.

The Kamet is one of our most popular products for smaller children; with its step climb, play panels and mini crawling tunnel, it is packed full of play value and can accommodate lots of children at the same time, offering great value for money.

eibe

Play area gets seal of approval from residents

Wicksteed was awarded a tender for Amey Defence Services who were updating some of their sites in the Midlands area.

The site at Essex Green was a brand new play area, the space was ideal as it was a large tarmac area which allowed Wicksteed to chase cut wet pour pads into the tarmac and use more of the budget on equipment rather than spending on groundworks.

Wicksteed split the site into toddler and junior areas – the toddler area was fenced and equipment was themed in red and yellow colours. The main feature is a 5 tower multi-play unit from the Nursery Rhymes range with a number of play features coming off each tower.

Other equipment in this area includes the inclusive Swirl roundabout, springies, activity panels and swing with one cradle seat and one child/adult seat.

Wicksteed utilised the tarmac area between the wet pour pads

for colourful ground graphics which are fun and educational.

A challenging activity trail links the toddler area to the junior area. The junior area is themed blue and yellow with a large Tree Top Towers multi-play unit as the centrepiece. The unit includes a tube slide (always a favourite with the children!), climbing wall, activity net and other play features.

The area is packed with exciting and dynamic equipment such as a Spin-A-Bounce, Cableway, basket seat swing and flat seat swing. On the grassed area to the side of the play equipment is a new goal end with basketball hoop and a large pad of artificial grass in front of the goalmouth.

The response from residents has been fantastic to go from nothing to a play area like this. The play area is busy every day and Amey have been delighted with the range and quality of equipment.

Wicksteed

New Wriggler is a balancing act at Kingsley Walk

Kingsley Walk neighbourhood play area has become the first playground in the UK to install Sutcliffe Play’s new Wriggler Platform Steps.

The Kingsley Walk neighbourhood play area in Cambridge was tired and worn after years of use by the local community and in need of an update to encourage children back to playing there together once again.

The old toddler equipment was removed and replaced with items that created opportunities for playing and socialising together. New surfacing was installed and included a bright new Hop Scotch graphic.

The Spider unit from Sutcliffe Play’s popular Toddlerzone + range was the main feature unit chosen for the playground and the new Wriggler Platform steps adds an area of balancing activities and seating.

Designed for ‘tiddlers’ age range 2 to 5, Wrigglers are essentially informal seats when placed in

isolation and can be used as balancing elements when placed in groups.

Set at different heights the platforms take the form of a caterpillar with a smiling face at each end with the detailed features routed in to the HPL top surface doubling as a grip for children’s feet. The caterpillar sits really well with the Toddlerzone+ range as they all have a natural theme to them.

Carol Dunn, Open Spaces & Facilities Support Officer at East Cambridgeshire District Council commented: “The existing neighbourhood play area was old and tired and was not being used with a feeling of neglect. Through the tender process and evaluation, Sutcliffe was chosen as a successful partner.

“The professional approach and advice from the initial design stage through to finished installation has been hassle-free.”

THE UK’S BIGGEST OUTDOOR SPORTS & GROUNDS TRADE SHOW

Sutcliffe Play