We were recently asked by a couple of Primary Schools if we could build play equipment that conforms to British Standards but does not cost a small fortune.
Well in short the answer was…Yes of course we could!
Schools' budgets are getting ever tighter and public money needs to go further and further these days. That’s where Arbworx comes in.
As usual we researched the products out there and looked at what could be built for the restricted budget that the schools had. Certain items that cost more than others were slides and features with an increased critical fall height. All these would need safety flooring to compensate for the additional height so we soon realised that savings could be made if we lowered the construction height to remove the need for the flooring. Savings could also be made in other areas if specialist mouldings and fabricated structures were avoided. So it was out with the bright coloured plastic slide and fireman’s pole and in with the timber ramp and climbing bars.
Kids' imaginations are amazing things and just because it's not a bright flashing structure or it's a stainless steel pole does not mean that it can't also be a pirate ship sailing the high seas. At primary school age it's all about the imagination and where the kids go with it.
So when we looked a little deeper we found that it was possible to make a quality playground and not break the bank in the process. We started by creating 3D computer images of each of the chosen pieces of playground equipment and then built a virtual playground for the school staff to tweak so that it was unique to their requirements and location.
Then we applied safety distances to the model so that we could use the final plans to construct the playground. Once we had settled on a firm plan, orders were placed with our suppliers to deliver the materials and start the work. We chose a supplier who offered a 25 year guarantee on the posts and I am convinced that we will never get a warranty problem having seen the excellent quality of the delivered materials!
Then it was all hands to the pump to get the positioning of the timbers correct and set out all the pieces in the way that we had designed it. Not so easy when some of the materials were around 45kg+ and about 3M long!
We got busy with the post hole borer and in no time there were posts going in and frame works being attached to the posts. With so many staff on site we were all required to complete CRB checks which the school kindly carried out on our behalf. Our only real hold up with the works was having to stop whilst the kids were in the playground for their breaks. We actually managed to get our own tea breaks coinciding with theirs so it was smiles all round. (And one eye on the tools in relation to where any of the children were of course!)
As the playground took shape the overall size of the project started to show through and we were very happy that our careful attention to detail in the planning stage had ironed out many of the potential problems so that we avoided them whilst on site. It is obviously much easier to get the works done out of school time but we were conscious of the costings so with good planning this was avoided.
We kept the actual construction very close to the original designs as we were very conscious of the need to be ‘fit for purpose’ and the safety aspects of the entire project.
By the end of the build we were all very pleased with the outcome and we still managed to keep our promise… works on time, within budget, and still good value for money.
The best part will be seeing the children go mad on it at play time!!
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