Industry News

Well-loved Waipapa Reserve playground 

gets a modern makeover

Waipapa Reserve Community Playground in the central Wellington suburb of Hataitai has been a well-loved play space for local neighbourhood residents for several decades.

By 2022 it had become tired and dated and was on the list of council playground renewals, so Park Supplies & Playgrounds reached out to the local council contact to gain a better picture of the playground goals.

The site provided a few challenges in that the ground was quite sloped and it is also located right next to an early childhood education centre so there were considerations around under-fives.  The council wanted the new playground to be as natural looking as possible, incorporating wood and neutral tones such as forest green and sand for the equipment and include lots of all accessible play.

Based on the council brief the Park Supplies Design team came up with several designs which were submitted and sent out for consultation with the community.  Once the community had their say, the council landed on a design and worked with the Park Supplies Design team on several iterations until the perfect playground for the space was achieved.

Winter 2022 was very wet however the playground installation went ahead, the existing synthetic surface and the old playground were removed, and new synthetic safety surfacing was laid down. 

New equipment for the playground was manufactured in Park Supplies Auckland based factory and included; two types of Swings, a Lunar Spinner, lots of climbing and overhead activities as well as a Tube Slide and Straight Slide as exit points on the main structure. Two of the original playground equipment items; a red fire truck structure and seesaw were repurposed and included in the new design.

The Park Supplies & Playgrounds custom routering service enabled several of the playground panels to be customised with Waipapa Reserve text and bespoke leaves which tied in nicely to the natural theme. 

Upon completion of the installation, the Waipapa Reserve Community Playground was opened to the public in August 2022 and will be well utilised by excited local children, the ECE and community groups in the area.

Hataitai residents have expressed their enthusiasm for the playground on Facebook with comments such as: 

“Wow - can't wait to for the sun to come out and get the kids along!” – Sean.  

“Awesome, looks great. Definitely head down over the weekend” - Sarah