Active, sharing, caring and nurturing play space for children

As 2016 came to a close, we had so many achievements we wanted to celebrate. What a fantastic year it was! And in one of our last projects of the year, we had the pleasure of working on a design and build at Our Lady Mother of the Saviour Catholic Primary School in Runcorn, Cheshire.

This project was extremely exciting for us, and probably one of our biggest projects to date of this type, and we are so pleased with the end result.

Earlier this year we were approached by Kestrel Interiors, construction specialists based in Manchester, who had a great project for us to potentially get involved in. Building a relationship and partnership with them to create a very special play space for young children, we wanted to keep in line with their ethos of being active, sharing, caring, and nurturing, as well as encouraging teamwork.

After meeting with Mark from Kestrel, we went along to meet the school to discuss their requirements and ways in which we could help them create their dream playground. Our Lady Mother of the Saviour Catholic Primary School were looking for a redevelopment of their early years play area, with a mixture of products from both Playscheme and Kestrel Interiors, and we worked hard together to ensure that we achieved exactly what they wanted.

After we had created a plan and knew exactly what concept we wanted to shape, including which products we were going to include, we were then able to make this plan a reality.

Creating a concept that tied in many bespoke elements from Playscheme, the design included lots of fun equipment to play on, including a water play system with waterfalls and a splash pool, a natural zone that incorporated a mud kitchen for children to get messy or sit and observe nature, and a storytelling area.

We also created a rickety bridge, a variation of our clatter bridge, for children to skip across, as well incorporating bamboo planting each side to create a Secret Garden-esque tunnel that has trees curling up and around it, for youngsters to run, play and hide.

We also included a stage area like no other, encompassing natural elements.

As well as landscaping certain areas with artificial grass, we also covered the seating area, to create a place to sit and relax that was full of texture and had a greener atmosphere.

There are plenty of items to provoke thought and imagination, wig-wam dens, weave frame and even a wormery in the nature area, the perfect place for mini-beast investigations.

All around the play area we have connected the equipment with a variety of all-weather surfaces, such as artificial grass, woodchip and Wetpour rubber, children can jump from area to area all year round.

Using bonded mulch, we also created a landscaped mound, with rope poles, balancing beams and steps to this, as well as each zone within the scheme.

The main focal point within this early years playground was our new range of tower system, which is very different to the tower systems we usually create. The wood we used was not clean cut timber but wibbly wobbly timber, which gives a beautifully rustic appearance keeping its natural form intact. No piece of timber is identical!

The school is incredibly overjoyed with their new play area, and the children could not wait to get on it and play! In fact, the school have since commented that the finished play area actually exceeded their expectations and they believe they now have a playground that is far better than what they wanted initially.

We just want to say how honoured we were to work on this project, and a big thank you to Kestrel Interiors for asking us to partner up on this great adventure with them.