News
Snakes & Ladders Playground Revisited
Posted 07 09 2023
in News
Kevin Kingston, Team leader – Programme Delivery at Tauranga City Council, recently reflected on his time working on the Snakes and Ladders playground in Farm Cove, Auckland. Kevin was a Project Manager at Manukau City Council and managed the project from the client-side perspective. NZILA registered member, Leigh Wilson (Bespoke Landscape Architects), was the landscape architect engaged for the project, facilitating the design and 'buildability' aspects of the plan.
Kevin recently returned to the playground with his young family, and shared his thoughts.
No kids will use it…
There’s no kids in the area…
It’ll ruin the views…
It’ll be too noisy…
It’ll bring anti-social behavior to the area…
It’ll ruin the landscape…
There’s too much risk with cars…
These were some of the comments we received through the consultation process.
This slope was steep, wet and difficult to maintain. Turning this into a dynamic ‘Snakes and Ladders’ playground offered an opportunity to build a community hub in and around the Pakuranga Sailing Club and the amazing Rotary walkway in Farm Cove, East Auckland.
This was a small project early in my career, but it’s one that’s stuck with me for a long time. A few lessons learnt:
Thinking outside the box allows great ideas to come to fruition.
Most adversity and concern can be overcome with clever design.
Illustrate the vision – images bring an idea to life.
‘Community’ extends beyond the immediate neighbours at boundary of the site. Bring them on the journey too.
Advocate for the greater good. This playground may never have eventuated had we not been able to sell the vision. Credit to the Rotary Club and the Pakuranga CommunityBoard for sharing this vision and seeing it through. We now have a great asset for people to enjoy.
I wanted to bring my kids back here one day. I’m happy to say that they enjoyed it
