Hi all,

Thank you for your patience as we worked towards a final design for the Holloway Road play area, based on the predominant themes that came through public consultation. Concept one was the overwhelming favourite between the two designs presented.

95% of submitters supported the renewal, with 5% questioning or opposing it. The primary driver for the renewal is that the assets have reached the end of life, they are fully depreciated, the current play area is 17 years old and has non-compliance issues in relation to the current NZ Standards for playground equipment and surfacing, on the equipment and has no safety surfacing. The budget that is funding the project is for the renewal of existing play area assets, and if we weren’t doing the renewal here, then it would be spent on one of our other 107 sites.

We have then tried to accommodate additional requests where we can, these include:

• The arborists have already been to site to lift the surrounding vegetation to allow more light into the area, and take low branches away from the equipment fall zones. At the same time they removed tress/limbs that were in the vicinity of power lines and utilities. The stump of the cabbage tree is scheduled for stump grinding, ahead of the build.
• The two bench seats have already been refurbished ahead of the build.
• Reducing the footprint of the play area, to enable more open space. 20% of submitters asked for this, pointing out that the area is used for a variety of purposes, beyond just use of the play equipment. So we have removed the tipi carousel, which required a larger fall zone, and adjusted the layout to achieve this.
• The layout of the site has been adjusted to take advantage of the existing drainage that was put in ahead of the build.
• Adding a rubbish bin.
• Adding a bike stand.
• Replacing the infant seat with an inclusive seat, that can be used by anyone, with any ability.
• We are using this site to trial some exercise bars, that will be located away from the play area, but within the vicinity.

There were some requests that we were not able to accommodate, largely to do with budget constraints, the layout of the site, and what we would expect for this category of play area (neighbourhood).

Examples include:

• Adding a toilet, this is not expected in a neighbourhood play area, which is deemed your local play space designed for a quick play. Funding of toilets is not covered within the play spaces budget, and the cost is substantially more than the entire build of the new play area.
• Adding a fountain, as there is already a public fountain around the corner.
• Adding a flying fox, as there wasn’t room for this.
• Adding a roofed shelter.

We have yet to lock in the construction dates, but the expectation is that as the site has drainage issues, we will be targeting a dry weather build.