The Brief: Cavell House had a small budget to develop an outdoor play area for the centre in a very limited space. The play area needed to suit the very different play needs of this age range and allow the children to spend more time learning outdoors. Following a recommendation by Bradford Council’s landscape division, they chose Outdoor & Play forthe project.

Joan Mortimer, Manager of the centre adds: “I liked the fact that they are a small and hands-on company. The owners, Ian and Lynne Roberts got heavily involved from the start and I felt I trusted them to come up with the goods.”

The Proposal: The main ideas and elements for the playscheme were developed by the Bradford Council design team and Joan Mortimer of Cavell house. Outdoor & Play’s role was to interpret the requirements and make them work in practice.

The site was a difficult area to work with given its dark aspect and the narrowness of the space designated for the main feature; a meandering sensory footpath path. Outdoor & Play’s proposal focused on simplifying and reconfiguring the overall plans and making additional recommendations to enhance the area.

Ian Roberts of Outdoor & Play says: “Creating play space which is stimulating, attractive, safe and functional is the core business of Outdoor & Play so I was confident we could transform the play space. The biggest challenge for us was to redesign the footpath to fit the space while providing an immediate visual impact and creating an element of discovery. It took a lot of working out but once this was achieved, the rest fell into place.”

The Job: The final play space divided into three themed areas:

• Firstly a “fairy den” activity area with log throne seats, soft fill surfacing, log dens, log tunnels, rope walk, toadstool seats, vegetation archway and a wooden bridge over the wall to:
• A sensory Footpath with series of steel hoops across and log stepping stones
• A range of play equipment featuring:
  a timber sand box with sliding lid and seating
  giant chalkboard talk tubes percussion fence
  shallow splash pool

Joan Mortimer made these comments about the playscheme:

“I am very pleased with the play area. The whole job was completed inside three weeks and incorporates some great new ideas. From start to finish I have nothing but praise for Outdoor & Play.”//Joan Mortimer – Centre Manager