4 Top Tips for Your Large-Scale Playground Project
Are you looking to embark on a large-scale playground project? Whether for a local council, housing development, or school playing field, you need to choose the right surfaces for you.
In larger-scale surfacing developments, you need to consider budgets and how to effectively cover larger areas of your site. PlaySmart is here to help make these key decisions easy with our top tips for larger projects…
1. Look for Cost-Effective Playground Project Options
When making key playground design ideas, cost-effective choices have to be made to stay within budget. But what does cost-effectiveness mean when talking about playground project ideas for surfacing solutions?
The cost per area covered is the primary concern for installation in large spaces. This is one of the problems with artificial grass. The high-density ground cover is better suited to smaller decorative areas where natural grass does not grow successfully.
Jungle Mulch is popular for large areas like open play areas and golf clubs, due to its versatile uses. This high-quality rubber mulch surface solution is made from recycled rubber and doesn’t require a sub-base for most soil types, significantly reducing groundwork costs. This means that this presents a great cost-effective alternative to natural play park surfaces while being more durable.
Rubber mulch maintenance costs are also very low, another concern for playground design costs in the long term. The costs to replace and clean wet pour rubber surfaces are additionally lower than for loose fill surfacing options. Reskim layers are an easy and cheap method of upkeep for any size of outdoor area.
2. Longevity is key
Replacing the surfacing of large outdoor areas can be a huge hassle and cut into your budget significantly. Therefore, here at PlaySmart we provide long-lasting durable, weather-resistant materials in all of our surfacing. Even our surfaces that see high levels of stress, our EcoSmart Grass Mat Safety Surfacing, have longlasting guarantees
PlaySmart’s RubbaSmart wet pour safety surfacing is durable both in its eye-catching aesthetic patterns and its polyurethane-rubber composite materials. Playgrounds maintain vibrancy as it is resistant to weathering and UV-light due to its superior materials and non-toxic pigments.
Installing accessible surfacing is also a huge benefit to the function and lifespan of your outdoor area. As a high-quality, flat non-slip surface with high elasticity recovery, RubbaSmart is wheelchair and buggy accessible and many of our other surfaces come with options for ramped edges. This ultimately means that you are future-proofing your site’s accessibility requirements so expensive changes are not required later down the line.
3. Mind your Geography
The shape of your land and the existing surface cover are important considerations for implementing your playground design ideas effectively. Differences in soil quality and topography can influence the critical fall height of safety surfacing. This can also lead to a longer installation period due to groundwork and sub-base requirements. It additionally runs the risk of waterlogging and puddling without proper installation from our experienced team.
Our EcoSmart rubber grass mats require minimal groundwork and are suitable for areas prone to become wet and muddy. However, without suitable grass bases, we recommend layering our patented SmartPlay shock pad underlay system to reduce the risks of the mats sinking over time and increase the critical fall heights of your standard grass mats by 1.75m over concrete and 0.75m on grass.
For creative surfacing design options, working with the topography of your site, our clients find our Artificial Grass and JungleMulch surfacing options to be most suitable. For large-scale projects, your outdoor design may require creativity and adaptability throughout the installation process. Therefore, your surfacing should be simple to install and can be used in a range of ways to create mounds or work around complex geographies in ways other surfacing options may struggle to.
Combining one or more types of surfacing on a larger site with multiple different ground conditions provides a great opportunity to explore your different open space and outdoor play area flooring ideas and a variety of surfacing solutions.
4. After-Sales Care for Your Playground Project
Any installation project requires a high-quality after-sales service to ensure customer care responsibilities are fulfilled and that your outcome is right for you. Especially in large-scale playground projects, you don’t want to be searching for other installation companies after the fact to fix mistakes. Therefore, PlaySmart is dedicated to providing the best possible standard in all we do for you.
Check out our video series explaining our processes to provide the best end-product for all of our clients and see why we have been chosen as the premier UK surface installation company for so many!
Interested in what PlaySmart can do for you?
Do you think your outdoor space would benefit from PlaySmart’s surfacing options? Looking for more advice? You can fill in our handy contact form or give us a call at 01564 742811.
