The children’s playground in College St, Caversham is set to receive a $100,000 makeover as part of the Dunedin City Council’s new play spaces plan, which was adopted in August.
Now the council is calling for public feedback on the College St playground proposal, and various upgrades to the existing play equipment have been mooted.
It is proposed the existing wooden forts be retained and refurbished, and a new slide and new climbing structures added.
Balance beams over the swale and a log scramble with toadstool stepping pods would be built from timber recycled from other existing play equipment.
The current swing set would be replaced with a larger two-person basket swing with a single separate toddler seat swing also.
As well as traditional play equipment, other types of play would also be encouraged.
Talking tubes would encourage sound play, while patterned soft-fall surfaces and additional native planting would encourage imaginative and nature-based play.
The completed playground will be aimed primarily at children aged between 5 and 9, although there will also be certain activities available for younger children.
Parks and recreation group manager Scott MacLean said the plan had identified greater South Dunedin as a high-priority area for playground investment as the area was found to have a high number of children and a small number of public playgrounds.
The council worked alongside Caversham Community Group 9012 and Carisbrook School pupils to design the upgraded playground, and is now seeking public feedback on the resulting design.
Feedback will close on November 1 and a contractor will be selected at the end of the year.
The playground will be closed for eight weeks to allow construction to take place, and the project is expected to be completed by July next year at the latest.
Under the new play spaces plan $1.3million has been earmarked for upgrading play equipment in 2021-22, with a further $600,000 for new equipment.
Design work is ongoing for playground upgrades at Bathgate Park and Karitane, both of which are also expected to be completed by July next year.
