Location: Southwood Country Park, Farnborough, Hampshire
Project Value: £250k
Age Range: 2-16 years
Creating a Key Community Asset
In March 2022, Rushmoor Borough Council invited us to tender for a brand-new playground to be created within Southwood Country Park in Farnborough. Previously the site of an 18-hole public golf course that closed in 2018 due to low visitor numbers, the council were keen to create an accessible, fun community playground for residents to enjoy. Not to mention making the most of the amazing green space in the local area. The Council were looking for a playground which would be inclusive, stimulating and challenging for all ages and abilities. Importantly, it would also be sympathetic to its natural surroundings.
Delivering the Vision
Using our FSC accredited timber as the core material, we designed, manufactured, and installed a variety of equipment. With our 30+ years’ experience of creating inspirational playgrounds, we were positive that it would appeal to children of all ages and abilities. This included our centre piece Woodland Tree House connected to our award-winning Pick-Up Sticks. Both offer a combination of physical challenge as well as open ended, imaginative play. To ensure less able-bodied children could equally participate, we incorporated our wheelchair accessible roundabout and Darwin Tower into the design. Additionally, we also included our Bird’s Nest Swing. The swing was important due to its ability to accommodate two+ users at a time. For those looking for some extra adventure, we also created a bespoke high level new forest trail. This would replicate the experience of climbing trees, providing a fantastic sense of achievement for the children, when accomplished!
Key Requirements
A key requirement in the design and installation process was that no wildlife in the local area would be affected by the playground development. Similarly, we ensured waste material to landfill was minimised by creating feature mounds from the excavated soil gathered whilst constructing the safety surfacing installed across the whole play area. Once formed, these soil mounds were covered with grass seed to provide additional natural play opportunities for the children.
Final Install
- Tree House
- Pick Up Sticks 12
- Inclusive Swirl Roundabout
- Inclusive Darwin Tower
- Rock’n’Bowl Roundabout
- New Forest Spinney
- Inclusive Bird’s Nest Swing
- 4 in a Row Activity Panel
- Turnstile Roundabout
- Chunky Noughts and Crosses Activity Panel
- Cableway
- Fencing
- Picnic Tables
- Safety Surfacing
Key Results
- Significant rise in footfall to Southwood Country Park
- Special commendation for our Construction Environmental Plan to ensure no wildlife was affected by the development
- Positive feedback from the local community via social media
- A durable, natural, low maintenance playground which will entertain generations of children
- Deadline of 4 weeks to complete project achieved, despite challenging weather conditions
Testimonial from Rushmoor Borough Council
“I’d just like to say again a big thank you to you and the rest of the Fawns team for your help in providing a great new playground facility for our residents. You have all been extremely responsive, flexible, and willing to work with us to achieve the best possible results; something which has been much appreciated by the whole team here at RBC.”
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