Mother and daughter playing on a merry-go-round at Livvy's Place playground
Parks & Recreation

Design concepts released for regionally significant Riverside Stage 2 playground

Published: 05 Feb 2021 12:24pm

Wagga Wagga City Council is seeking the community’s help in choosing the design of a new, regionally significant playground.

Council has received four concept designs from playground suppliers for the large-scale playground to be constructed as part of Riverside – Stage 2.

The overall $9.93M project is being funded by NSW Government’s Restart NSW ($5M), the Federal Government’s Local Roads & Community Infrastructure Fund ($3.08M) and Wagga Wagga City Council ($1.85M).

Playground equipment
OPTION 1: This design concept, titled ‘The Murrumbidgee’, is in the shape of a goanna. The playground features towers, representing a water tank and a silo, climbing embankments, an elevated walking deck with swings underneath and shade pods above some of the play elements.

Council’s Strategic Assets Planner Parks and Recreation Ben Creighton said a $2M portion of the Federal funding will go towards delivering a ‘regionally significant” playground for the city.

“As part of Riverside – Stage 2 we will be constructing an all-abilities play space that will be unique for a regional centre,” Mr Creighton said.

“It is uncommon to see a playground of this scale outside metropolitan areas, in terms of the number of pieces and the type of equipment that will be installed as part of the playground.

Playground equipment
OPTION 2: This design concept presents a multi-themed adventure playground inspired by parts of Wagga Wagga’s history, from the paddle steamers which traded along the Murrumbidgee River to the Whirly Wizz water slide.

“All four concept designs received by Council include a mix of standard playground equipment, while each also feature some bespoke elements, which would be a first for this city.

“We expect the playground will become a major drawcard, bringing people to the Riverside precinct from across the city and broader region.”

Playground equipment
OPTION 3: This design concept focuses on an adventure playground, featuring a tall climbing tower element, linking to other climbing structures via a suspended tunnel net. The playground also includes a Viking swing, double cable ride (flying fox) and interactive musical elements.

During the detailed planning phase of the project, the inclusion of a water play park in the concept design was extensively investigated.

Director Regional Activation Michael Keys said these investigations concluded that it would not be practical due to several factors.

“Council worked closely with contractors to develop options to create a major community facility that is unique and will attract visitors from across the whole region and beyond. Underlying this is the need to be practical in terms of installation and ongoing cost and maintenance,” Mr. Keys said.

“Water play parks require day-to-day maintenance and ongoing treatment and testing to ensure water quality, creating significant on-going costs. The complication of being in a flood area increases the installation and ongoing maintenance costs.

“In light of this we have determined that the best outcome from an operational point-of-view would be to incorporate a water play park into the design concept for the Bolton Park Precinct Masterplan.

“We already have the infrastructure for water treatment, maintenance and testing in the Bolton Park precinct, and experienced staff located at the Oasis Regional Aquatic Centre who can manage those tasks.”

The design concept for the Bolton Park Precinct Masterplan process is expected to be put before Council in late March.

Playground
OPTION 4: This playground concept is a large-scale play space inspired by key events and features of Wagga Wagga’s history and present day, with the Murrumbidgee River at its heart.

The Wagga Wagga community now has the chance to choose one of the four Riverside playground concept designs as their own preferred concept.

“A survey with images and details on each option will be on the Riverside page of Council’s website for the next two weeks,” Mr Creighton said.

“We are encouraging residents to go online and view these designs and tell us which concept they like the most and why.

“These are really exciting concepts and we want to give the community the opportunity to give us their feedback.”

Vote for your favourite at wagga.nsw.gov.au/riverside. Voting ends at 5pm, Friday 19 February 2021.