Brickhills Inclusive Play Area - St Neots TC _001

Design Statement - Robyn Brookes

Accessible and inclusive physical play opportunities we are adding to the existing play area include spinning, sliding, rocking, bouncing and climbing. The main Lauren play unit has a slide, tunnel, interactive panels and 5 different access routes of varying difficulty including a ramp for children in wheelchairs. The unit encourages children to explore and develop their physical ability a level they are comfortable with. Our design replaces the existing spinning disk with a wheelchair accessible carousel so children of any ability can take part in spinning play. The seesaw and trampoline are play items for bouncing and rocking that exercise children’s awareness of their physical capabilities and their environment. They are popular features with high enjoyment and excitement value amongst most play areas. We are also adding a new wetpour pathway that leads to locations of the existing inclusive swing and to the existing surface where the new carousel is situated. This will provide an accessible route to additional rocking and swinging play elements.

We are pleased to present your new playground for Brickhills/Henbrook Play Area. Our approach to play provision aims to provide high quality play experiences to children of all abilities. To us this means offering physical, sensory and social play value with our equipment and overall design. The elements within your new playground allow children to play in many different ways, exploring their own ideas and actions, and interacting with the environment around them. We create playgrounds in accordance with the ten Principles for Designing Successful Play Spaces set out in Design for Play: A Guide to Creating Successful Play Spaces (Play England 2008), which states that successful play spaces:

· Are “bespoke”. · Are well located. · Make use of natural elements. · Provide a wide range of play experiences. · Are accessible to both disabled and non-disabled children. · Meet community needs. · Allow children of different ages to play together. · Build in opportunities to experience risk and challenge. · Are sustainable and appropriately maintained. · Allow for change and evolution.

Sensory play experiences within the new design are tactile, auditory, visual in the form of interactive play panels, musical sound items, mirrors, and surfacing with coloured shapes.

The new wetpour pathway doesn’t just lead to some of the existing play features but also loops and winds through the new section of the play area connecting equipment locations and travelling through sensory play pockets. Along its way it passes through the variety of play mirrors, past tactile play panels and musical chimes.

Your new play area focuses on providing social play value by delivering an environment where children can take part in cooperative play, social interaction, dramatic and imaginative play.

The main play unit, carousel, trampoline and seesaw can all be used by multiple children or children and their accompanying adults together. The journey of the path encourages story telling play for children of all abilities, including wheelchair users and undulations as it travels up and over the bunded mound introduces interaction with the natural environment. Overall, our design for Bickhills/Henbrook Play Area intends to meet the needs of the community and provide users of the play area with exciting, accessible and inclusive opportunities to play. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

In line with the above principles, your new design offers inclusive and accessible play opportunities.

Wheelchair accessible and inclusive elements included across the play area are:

· Integration Carousel · Integration Seesaw · Floor Trampoline · The Lauren Play Unit · Musical Chimes · Interactive Play Panels · Mirror Panels · Wetpour Pathway with undulating section (Through new area and also to inclusive swing in existing area)

Robyn Brookes

Playground Consultant

Brickhills Play Area - St Neots Town Council / 4

Brickhills Play Area - St Neots Town Council / 5