You have many options when designing a space to encourage people to explore fitness. Whatever solution you choose, professional surface installation and high-quality materials are key to building a sports space to benefit the local area for years to come.
Encouraging social inclusion through sports courts, outdoor running tracks and exercise areas is vital to improving UK fitness as a whole. Many areas, especially in urban housing developments, lack accessible, safe and attractive outdoor areas for fitness. Sports courts and social fitness gyms make for great meeting places for people of all ages, building community bonds and reducing antisocial behaviours.
To help you in your journey to the perfect sports area to fulfil your ideas for your outdoor space, we are giving you our expert guide to choosing the right surfacing and designs for whatever your goals are.
Varied, Responsible Sports Provision
Creating a well-rounded sports area that appeals to all ages and abilities requires a design based on providing variety and accessibility. Therefore, PlaySmart is dedicated to developing innovative playground surfaces that are flexible for a range of purposes: for playgrounds, pathways, sports areas, and fitness stations.
Providing safety surfacing for your outdoor gym equipment to protect older users that often find community in a social fitness setting is key to a welcoming environment. A flat safety surface like rubber grass mats removes trip hazards and reduces injury risks without making your outdoor site feel too artificial. Grass is able to grow through the gaps in the outdoor gym mats to provide a welcoming, natural atmosphere to encourage exercise.
Smart use of your outdoor landscaping development budget or cost-effective sports premium spending ideas makes the most of your space to reduce installation costs while still providing everything you need. MUGA pitches and Sports Courts with professionally inlaid sports markings are a modern and innovative way to host multiple types of sports in one area.
What is a MUGA Pitch?
A Multi Use Games Areas, or MUGAs, are sports courts with markings, goals, hoops, and nets for a range of games to be played. This is an inexpensive, space-saving design for a sports space that offers a range of activities and experiences all in one place!
Whether your local basketball team needs a space to play, football is more popular in your area, or you want to provide utter freedom for any sport, MUGA pitch markings and FlexCourt sports surfaces from PlaySmart can make this happen!
Modular and Customisable Surfacing
Effective sports court design should include clear sports markings and simple layouts, but can also utilise vibrant colour and personalised designs to make people excited for sport! Your choice of outdoor sports court material should take into account the needs for fun and colour as well as the practicality that people exploring sports have.
The endlessly customisable modular smart flooring option, FlexCourt, creates unique, practical and long-lasting sports surfacing for any fitness area. With an easy installation process of individual rubber mats secured safely together to fit any space or layout, this sports surface solution is popular in both greenfield developments and urban renovation projects.
FlexCourt is available in a range of non-standard colours, with special lines and even logos. With FlexCourt you can represent the sporting spirit of the local area through design, encouraging community and use of the sports space.
Professional Athletics Track Installation
Hybrid grass or artificial grass installation with running track markings is a great way to provide a unique running field or outdoor running track that looks natural all year round. With non-trip edges, excellent wear resistance, and a soft feel, artificial grass is becoming more popular for running tracks in local parks as a cheaper, low-maintenance surface for running hobbyists and Daily Mile Tracks for schools.
If you are looking for a more professional running track surface material, with improved grip, shock absorbance and eye-catching design, rubber mulch is an ideal option. The unique texture provides excellent surface grip while the layers of bonded rubber mulch reduce the stress on the feet and legs that occur when running on inappropriate materials like tarmac or pavement.
Safety Surfacing
PlaySmart offers a range of professional rubber surfaces suitable for sports and fitness areas, offering you a soft surface to reduce fall impacts, improve traction, and provide accessibility. EcoSmart grass mats used as outdoor gym mats with our patented SmartPlay shock pad underlay create the perfect surfacing solution for use under outdoor gym equipment or play structures.
Safety considerations should be a focus at all stages of the design and installation processes to create a space to play sports and enjoy fitness without worry.
Surfacing solutions should also be low maintenance as a preventative safety measure. If maintenance and repairs are too time-consuming, the surfacing can become worn down and lose its effectiveness as it is not kept in good condition. Therefore, all of our surfacing comes with a ten-year product and five-year installation guarantee when cared for with minimal maintenance, even with the heavy use that naturally comes in a sports area.
Bring Smart Design into Your Outdoor Fitness Space with PlaySmart!
PlaySmart’s experts can help you renovate and redesign your outdoor space into the ideal sports and fitness area for your development. Get in touch today with the handy contact form at the top of the page, or call us at 01564 742811.