Project lead Dr Glen Hazelton and reporter Ruby Shaw took a walk through St Kilda’s Marlow Park to discuss the upgrades’ finer points and, of course, the dinosaur slide.
A bitterly cold wind scurries off the Pacific Ocean into Dunedin and still a few hardy souls have made their way to Marlow Park.
One of the first ports of call for those determined folk is the dinosaur slide tucked in the playground’s far corner.
The pastel pink and green dinosaur, of indeterminate species, has been a fixture and namesake of the ‘‘dinosaur park’’ since the late 1960s.
Hardly a magnet for controversy, it found itself at the centre of a social media storm last week after the Otago Daily Times reported discussions to replace or refurbish it as part of the Dunedin City Council’s $4.6 million destination playground upgrades to Marlow Park.
The hubbub, which spread to national media outlets, was driven by waves of nostalgia and prompted some city councillors to pledge themselves to a campaign to ‘‘save’’ the dinosaur.
All elements of the upgrades’ detailed design, including decisions on a new or refurbished dinosaur, are subject to council approval and will be considered by elected members later this year.
Project lead Dr Glen Hazelton said Dunedin people were ‘‘passionate about their places’’ and the outpouring of public affection for the dinosaur and playground came as no surprise.
Dr Hazelton and his team wanted to do the best possible job ‘‘to make sure that we’ve got a park that people are so fiercely defending as well in another 40, 50 years’’.
‘‘We’re really excited to look at the options for making the park even more accessible to a range of people with different abilities, but also different ages as well.
‘‘That destination playground idea, somewhere that people can go for a longer period of time, spend a family day there, but also involve the whole family — I think that’s going to be a really great opportunity.’’
The park’s cultural narrative, developed by Aukaha, describes leading visitors on a voyage across the Pacific Ocean, through a series of ‘‘islands of play’’, to prehistoric Aotearoa.
In the coming weeks, the council will start working with a contractor to finalise a detailed design and costs.
Dr Hazelton said, as things stood, the new park was partitioned into about a dozen areas, each with its own recreational focus — slides, climbing, swings and grass play to name a few.
‘‘The younger play equipment is towards the front [entrance off John Wilson Ocean Dr], so it’s more visible for families,’’ he said.
‘‘As we get further towards the back, the stuff gets a bit more challenging ... some big towers and stuff like that.’’
Equipment for a sand-based play zone might include diggers and cranes, while a water pump and channels could form part of a neighbouring water-based play zone.
What won’t be part of any water feature or the future playground is Marlow Park’s concrete whale, at present beached in a long-defunct paddling pool.
Reinstating such a large water feature would be costly, while replacing it with a new, larger whale provided more play opportunities, Dr Hazelton said.
‘‘[It’s about] making each piece of equipment work as hard for the money we put into it as we can.’’
Several other notable residents of Marlow Park — the serpent swings, the boot slide and the mound riddled with tunnels — are also not planned for the park’s future.
Dr Hazelton said the council completely understood people’s affection for the equipment. However, they were visibly cracked and in poor condition.
‘‘We want to replace those experiences with new versions — there’ll still be swings, there’ll still be tunnels.’’
A key goal of the upgrade was to make the playground as accessible as possible, with a range of inclusive equipment and play opportunities, drawing on the philosophy of ‘‘challenge by choice’’.
‘‘There’s people that don’t want to take risks and want everything to be completely safe, and then there’s people ... who constantly take risks and push the envelope,’’ Dr Hazelton said.
‘‘There’ll be stuff here that can cater to all of those communities.’’
The design included a new pump track, replacing the park’s modular track, a skate area and parkour equipment.
A space for food trucks and a picnic area were planned near the area where the Noah’s Ark tearooms once stood.
The neighbouring learn-to-ride park was not part of upgrades, although a wheeled path through the playground was intended to provide a safe connection from John Wilson Ocean Dr. Consultation on lowering the speed limit on the section of the drive near the playground was proposed.
Staff would develop a fundraising plan to grow the budget for the upgrades, subject to council approval.
Crouched under its belly, which provides some shelter from the biting wind, Dr Hazelton points out patched-over boreholes up into the dinosaur’s stomach.
Like much of the unique play equipment at Marlow Park, the dinosaur was built by community groups in 1960s — ‘‘I don’t imagine that at the time anyone was thinking 60 years into the future’’.
Initial testing, the cause of the boreholes, raised questions about the dinosaur’s condition and quality of concrete used, Dr Hazelton said.
‘‘It’s been here 60 years in a pretty harsh coastal environment.
‘‘We don’t know the depth of what needs to be done, but we know we need to do some things.’’
A raft of test results would be reported to councillors when they considered the park’s final design.
By then, staff would have a clear idea of the work and costs required if councillors elected to retain the dinosaur, Dr Hazelton said.
Two options on the dinosaur slide’s future had been put forward.
One proposed upgrading the slide, the other proposed replacing it with a new dinosaur slide or ‘‘dinosaur-themed apparatus’’.
Either option could be integrated with a ‘‘prehistoric forest’’ of towers and design elements suggestive of prehistoric Aotearoa fauna — moa, pouākai or Haast’s eagle and tuatara.
‘‘We know that people are passionate about the park — we’re passionate about the park,’’ Dr Hazelton said.
‘‘It was going to be something that generated a lot of interest and a lot of thoughts, so many people have connections with it.
‘‘All I want to say really on that is we want to do the best possible job.’’
Councillors approved $11.22m to develop destination playgrounds in Marlow Park ($4.6m), Woodhaugh ($3.5m) and Mosgiel ($3m) during nine-year plan deliberations last year.
Dr Hazelton said he expected a final design would go to councillors for approval by September.
It was likely the park would be closed for construction during the coming Christmas period, and it was expected to reopen by the following summer, possibly by mid-year 2027.
