Fantastic New Adventure Play Tower at the Royal Victoria Park in Bath
The Royal Victoria Playground in Bath is one of the busiest and most popular playgrounds in England, and so it was with some excitement that Playforce one of the UK’s leading playground equipment companies approached this new project.
The Royal Victoria Playground in Bath is one of the busiest and most popular playgrounds in England, and so it was with some excitement that Playforce one of the UK’s leading playground equipment companies approached this new project.
Playforce’s Playground Equipment Design Development Specialist Fran Brown was contacted to design and install a new Adventure Tower System to replace an old wooden tower in the Royal Victoria Playground in Bath by Andy Chard, Parks Technical Manager for the Environmental Services in Bath & North East Somerset Council
Fran explained “The area was a fairly narrow strip, and so we set out to design a system which would give children the maximum play value - and suitable for as many children as possible. We decided to use a Tower System with lots of colour to enhance the already prestigious raised position.
The design includes exciting Climbing Nets, Vertical Climbing Walls, Sloping Rock Climbs, Fireman’s Poles to slide down, Bridges to cross - some higher and more challenging, and others lower and more suitable for the younger children. This is the most wonderful arena for exciting and adventurous play for children - with their friends, or on their own - there is always something challenging and fun to extend themselves physically and imaginatively! This could be a pirates ship, or it could be tarzan’s jungle - and who know’s what could be around the corner!
It was our concern that the area under the towers would not be utilized to the full, so we have built in seats and tables, coloured windows, shop counters and Noughts and Crosses panels as well as Mirror panels so that everyone from toddlers up would have a wonderful adventure when visiting this wonderful new attraction..
The parents’ benches on the grass nearby are an ideal place for parents to sit and watch their children - and so there is a huge amount of parental involvement watching and assisting their youngsters climbing and challenging themselves as they develop overall body strength and balance.
The colourful towers are outstanding at the top of a bank of huge slides - and in blue, green and yellow they will continue to be attractive and exciting to all playground users. The view from the central highest tower will offer a lookout over the whole playground where children can spot their friends, brothers or sisters, and wave to them from a point of advantage!
The colourful play panels at the top of the banks are attractive and fun - allowing the children to look through and see the playground in red, yellow or orange - or to see themselves in the mirrors, or to look through the see-through window and look out at other children in the playground.
It is wonderful to watch children of all ages playing on the equipment, making the best of every opportunity to extend themselves and to enhance their enjoyment to the full! The parents’ days are also fun and eventful as they watch their children extending and challenging themselves, and in so doing, socializing with other children”.
Wiltshire-based Playforce prides itself on the ability to create play areas that stimulate children’s imaginations and improve social behaviour at the same time stretching their muscles. Each piece of equipment is designed to work on developing specific areas of the body and motor skills
This new installation has proved to be extremely popular, with children playing on all parts of the climbing towers.
This whole development has added colour, excitement and lots of play value to this wonderful play area for children. Its popularity has shown that the attention to detail which was put into the design has been well worth every minute. It will be there for the future citizens of Bath and beyond to enjoy - and at the same time to improve their overall physical fitness and social skills.
Andy Chard said" Our brief was to design a feature that provided maximum play value in a very narrow space, that particularly suited children aged 7 to 11 years and that above all would form an impressive visual feature in the centre of the play area. We have been very pleased with the resulting multi tower unit as have the thousands of children that have played on it throughout the summer" Andy Chard, Parks Technical Manager, Environmental Services, Bath & North East Somerset Council
Andy Chard said" Our brief was to design a feature that provided maximum play value in a very narrow space, that particularly suited children aged 7 to 11 years and that above all would form an impressive visual feature in the centre of the play area. We have been very pleased with the resulting multi tower unit as have the thousands of children that have played on it throughout the summer" Andy Chard, Parks Technical Manager, Environmental Services, Bath & North East Somerset Council
