FROM PLYMOUTH TO THE SEVEN CONTINENTS

PLAYTOP^® remains a market-leading brand for play surface specialists, Charles Lawrence Surfaces Plc. The company, which has been at the forefront of the sector for over three decades, reports a continued and growing interest in its PLAYTOP^® brand as customers recognise the key advantages of the system.

PLAYTOP^®’s enduring qualities, coupled with an exceptionally high level of customer service, a commitment to safety standards and a comprehensive portfolio of design options, has ensured that the brand stays ahead of passing trends in play surfacing. Simon Wicks of Charles Lawrence comments: “PLAYTOP^® has an enormously positive reputation in the market – a reputation that we maintain by constantly reviewing and improving its specification and exploring new applications. It’s clean, seamless surface and low maintenance needs are always attractive to customers that must justify value for money.

“The five year guarantee carried by PLAYTOP^® is almost a secondary consideration – the first PLAYTOP^® which was installed in 1977 is still enjoyed by the children of the surrounding area. Local authorities looking for creative and safe play area surfaces to schools and nurseries, private and public, have all found that PLAYTOP^®, designed specifically to their requirements, offers a long-term solution to their needs without dating or falling behind or beyond new safety standards introduced during the lifetime of the product.”

Charles Lawrence Surfaces uses rubber granules from a sister company to ensure the availability of strictly specified rubber granules in sufficient quantities – controlling quality even at this early stage of manufacture. With its own supply of raw material, the company builds surfaces to the highest standards without stinting on thickness, allowing an extra margin of safety above the Critical Fall Height rate.

In fact, all versions of PLAYTOP^® meet and exceed all national and international safety guidelines. Just as importantly, great care is taken to provide visual impact – colours and speckled blends are permanent and designs can be sharply detailed according to customers needs and, in many cases, created by the imagination of the children who will use PLAYTOP^®.

But the benefits of PLAYTOP^® are best illustrated by examples of installations ….

Creating a ‘Spirit of Discovery’ … from Plymouth to the Seven Continents’

When Kompan tendered for and won a contract to design and install a unique playground on behalf of Plymouth City Council, the company turned to Charles Lawrence Surfaces and its market leading PLAYTOP^® surfacing product to help bring the designs to life.

The playground, measuring over 4,000 square metres and representing an investment of some £350,000, presented a marvellous opportunity for both companies to showcase the creativity of their designers and range of the products available.

Steve Ward, Area Manager at Kompan, takes up the story: “We had obviously worked in partnership with Charles Lawrence Surfaces before and so recognised the advantage of using a company with known expertise and quality products. The team implemented our design excellently and obviously shared our enthusiasm for the project.”

Kompan’s concept for the play area was based on the parallel theme of ‘The Spirit of Discovery’ – firstly exploring Plymouth’s cultural landmarks and place in history as the port that launched many famous expeditions to all the continents of the world. Then secondly taking ‘The Spirit of Discovery’ theme to represent children as ‘play pioneers’ in their own right – stretching their own abilities and indeed imagination in a fun environment with huge visual impact.

And just to give a flavour of the experience …. the contours of the sloping site have been used to best effect. At the highest point, the Citadel, with the Kompan Castle, guards Plymouth Sound, huge canons illustrated in the surfacing.

The Golden Hind is also represented with cannon shot and smoke inset into the surface. Drakes Island, complete with castle, encourages children to engage in fantasy and role playing games whilst the Barbican area has terraced steps set into the wetpour bank where children can sit and watch the activity on the nearby Performance area and even take part in a little impromptu theatre of their own.

Additional play equipment such as swings, walk the plank seesaw, spring rides and the crows nest watchtower all contribute to the theme.

And of course, no historic representation of Plymouth would be complete without its own Mayflower play ship.

All seven continents are also represented with great imagination employed. Antarctica, the surface inlaid with graphics of penguins and ice holes, complete with interactive water play area. Africa follows a Bush Safari theme with crocodile springies and bench – again with an interactive element. The spirit of North America is captured by the portrayal of space age technology. South America is represented by a large Space Net illustrating the pyramidal form of South American Ziggurats. The surface graphics of the Asia area depict the ancient symbol of Ying and Yang – illustrating the world of contrasts that is Asia. Finally, the Australia zone comprises two unique structures on a huge wetpour lizard as often seen in aboriginal art.