TALKING SHOP

Representatives from different sides of the play industry recently got together to discuss the future of playground design. Playtop brings you the highlights.

Playtop Limited, the Newark-based supplier and installer of impact-absorbing play surfacing, recently played host to a group of people from all sides of the play industry.

The aim – to discuss the future of playground design.

The group included:

• Barry Baker, International Manager for Playtop Licensing Limited – who added an international perspective to the discussions.
• Philip Beard, Parks & Amenities Manager at Newark & Sherwood District Council, is responsible for all play areas within the district council’s control.
• David Dury of Handmade Places – formerly a groundsman, David has spent 25 years in the sports and play industry.
• Ade Edge, Play & Youth Development Officer at Leicester City Council – this council is committed to consulting with children on all its play areas.
• Deborah Holt, Association Manager of the API - The Association of Play Industries is the lead trade body within the play sector, with over 70 members.
• Mike Langsford, National Development Officer of Fields in Trust – Fields in Trust (formerly the National Playing Fields Association) is responsible for driving forward sport and play provision at a local community level.
• Mel Nicolas of Play Design – formerly a landscape architect, Mel was design manager for Kompan for 20 years before setting up her own playground design company.
• Chris Trickey, Chief Executive of SAPCA – the Sports and Play Construction Association represents specialist constructors, manufacturers and suppliers of sports and play surfaces, and related products.
• Simon Wicks, Sales Team Manager of Playtop Limited – Playtop is Europe’s leading supplier and installer of wet-pour surfacing.

What are the key elements now when designing a playground?
 
Mel Nicholas: The child has to be the starting point and play design has to be child centred, taking into account the development needs and age of the children who will use the play area. From this you can then pull together a budget.

Simon Wicks: Don’t you find that budget is the starting point though and that it pre-empts a lot of what you are saying?

Mel Nicholas: No. If you start from a budget you’ll probably end up with an inadequate playground.

Ade Edge: Budget shouldn’t be the starting point you have to look at the needs of the community. If having developed a design the budget isn’t adequate then you have to go back and try and get some more money. Equally, we have to be realistic about budgets and we have to educate funders as to the cost. If councils are serious about play they have to put the money in.

Barry Baker: I’m interested to know if people think risk, challenge and adventure etc are now in the dialogue again.

Mel Nicholas: You should only have enough ‘safety’ as is necessary in a playground. Children need to learn about risk. We have some beautiful parks in this country and what do we do? We create a little caged area for them in the corner! We’re looking through the wrong end of the telescope – we need to give children space.

Ade Edge: I’ve never allowed legislation to constrain us but we have to comply with the Standards. I do think manufacturers have been partly to blame for this as well – they’ve been too cautious in their designs and the result has been play equipment that is very similar. This is changing now though. With us it’s play value first and safety second. If the priority is the other way round you end up with uninspiring play areas and kids don’t use play areas that aren’t interesting!

Philip Beard: I don’t know whether fenced off areas is such a big issue. Just because you have a fenced area doesn’t mean children can’t play elsewhere. Parents do have concerns about dogs, motorbikes etc. going across play areas and you have to listen to those concerns.

Deborah Holt: Many of our members believe that the tender process has a large impact on play area design and starts with great intentions and expectations – talking of play value etc but very quickly shapes the area, for example, by insisting on dog proofing the site by using fencing.

David Dury: The selection process needs to change in the industry. On larger projects there is much more of a partnership working basis between customers and manufacturers and suppliers, with children’s needs the priority. This needs to also happen on smaller projects.

Does there need to be more training for specifiers?

Chris Trickey: We are creating an NVQ Level 2 qualification which will relate to sports and play facility construction. Our aim is that buyers will only use companies that employ appropriately trained staff. However, this focuses mainly on construction rather than design.

Ade Edge: There is a real problem from a local authority perspective in that most specifiers aren’t landscape architects and most landscape architecture courses don’t include play design. There is a huge gap in the skills market here. Historically as well, play companies didn’t use landscape architects so you can end up with very sterile designs. Someone needs to work with the universities offering landscape architecture courses to make sure a playground design module is included.

Mel Nicholas – There should be modules within landscape design courses that relate to designing for children – but there isn’t.

David Dury: From a commercial viewpoint, employing landscape architects won’t help unless they are talking to like-minded people. It’s not just about playground design it’s about designing spaces for children. How children play is the crux of the skills gap.

Mel Nicholas: I agree. Any training must take into account child development.

Mike Langsford: County Playing Field Associations are working with SAPCA and RoSPA to develop community training schemes so that local communities are aware of the areas and issues that play companies will be reviewing with regard to a new play area.

The play market is changing, for example inter-active computers in playgrounds. What other developments do we see?

Ade Edge: We have just developed a new playground which features interactive play. Initially the children were attracted to the more traditional equipment on the site but once they discovered it we couldn’t get them off it! The great thing about interactive units within playgrounds is that they aren’t prescriptive and children can make up their own games. The interactive unit has a link to a website and the children can score themselves against other schools. Kids are very design savvy and it’s only now that play companies are getting up to date with what kids want. 

Mel Nicholas: We need to make children aware of some of the exciting things happening in play areas. We need 21st century equipment. This is gradually happening.

Simon Wicks: We are looking at new ideas in play surfacing – contouring, sounds, mirrors, undulations and synthetic grass for example.

Mel Nicholas: You can be very creative with wet-pour in certain places. Other places may be better with other surfaces like sand. It’s using what is most appropriate for the design and the area. I love the idea of sound in wet-pour and would love it if you could link this to the interactive play equipment – taking a holistic approach.

David Dury: Surfacing and play equipment companies do need to talk more but surfacing companies also have to embrace other types of surfaces as part of their offering.

Is inclusion covered sufficiently in playground design?

Ade Edge: Many play companies assume that all disabled children are in wheelchairs. We did a trial on a playground with a range of children with different disabilities/abilities. The results were surprising and opened our eyes as to how disabled children can use and benefit from equipment not specifically designed to be inclusive. If we asked a manufacturer what equipment was most suitable for autistic children, very few would have a clue. Manufacturers need to do more research into the whole inclusion area. Some local authorities in particular seem to think that manufacturers should guide the market, not the other way round.

Barry Baker: The Americans certainly seem to do it a lot better than we do.

Simon Wicks: Playtop is currently talking to the RNIB, for example, to create an industry standard that ensures play surfacing designs include things like warning strips.

Mel Nicholas: On one site we are using different colours of surfacing to illustrate different levels. Play equipment manufacturers are getting there but we are restricted a lot of the time by the budget, especially in public play areas.

David Dury: It’s the other way round. Many manufacturers would do, but don’t want to do R&D if the market isn’t ready for it.

Barry Baker: At the end of the day it’s about good design and all the elements within a playground have to be considered - access paths, location in a park etc.

How important are environmental issues? Is being ‘green’ a driving force in playground design?

Ade Edge: Not particularly although Leicester City Council has a policy of planting trees wherever possible so I try to incorporate trees in all play areas to offset the carbon footprint.

Mel Nicholas: If you tell a client that a surface is made from recycled tyres they become very interested. But does it form part of the brief? No.

Adrian Edge: We have an environmental purchasing policy so if a play area can use recycled materials it makes it easier for us.

Philip Beard: Where the environmental angle can be a driver is with certain funding bodies where it may help with winning the money.

David Dury: We try to only use wood in our play equipment that is from sustainable sources. But, more importantly, we teach children about the environment.

Ade Edge: We aren’t actually asking the right question. The question should be what happens to old equipment and surfacing from play areas when they are replaced.

Mel Nicholas: Manufacturers are responsible and do have policies for the disposal of old play equipment and surfacing – we’re just not asked the question very often.

Simon Wicks: Playtop is addressing the issue of recycling old wet-pour surfacing but there is a cost -  will the market be prepared to cover the cost?

Finally, are the standards within the industry high enough?

Simon Wicks: Do you always use installation teams on site that have been CRB checked?

Ade Edge: I’ve never asked the question but have assumed that they would be.

Chris Trickey: We get asked for general information about how a play area should be constructed as it seems a lot of the market isn’t really aware of the specifications for play areas.

Philip Beard: We have found that health and safety and quality standards are very lax with a lot of installation teams. Most companies seem to use sub-contractors rather than their own workforce and this can cause problems.

Ade Edge: We have had some similar problems but we don’t share that information with other authorities. Perhaps there should be a mechanism for sharing such information.

Deborah Holt: The API continues to raise awareness of the dangers of using “white van man” and promotes the quality products and workmanship provided by API members.

Simon Wicks: Is there a specification that is accessible at SAPCA or the API for customers?

Chris Trickey: We have produced various codes of practice. The play surfacing one is coming out soon. It includes all elements of the specification and will be a great educational tool to anyone involved in specifying or buying a wet-pour surface.