Playground Design
Bring your playground ideas to life with a design built around your space, users and budget.
Playscape brings equipment, surfacing and layout together in one clear playground design. Start with a free, no-obligation consultation and site visit, then review your ideas through a 3D design before work starts on site.
Playground Design Built Around Your Space and Users
You may already have a detailed list of equipment, activities and ideas that have been discussed with staff, parents, governors or other people involved in the project. If that is the case, great. We can sit down with you, go through what you have in mind and start looking at how those ideas could work within the space.
On the other hand, you might simply know that the playground you have now is not doing what you need it to do anymore. Perhaps children have outgrown parts of it, the space could be used better, or you would just like to give them more to do.
That is absolutely enough for us to start a conversation.
Before we begin putting together the layout, we look at the people who will use the playground, their ages, access to the site, any existing equipment, the surfacing already in place and the budget you are working with.
Playscape designs playgrounds for schools and academies, nurseries and early years settings, councils and public spaces, as well as leisure and commercial sites.
The important thing at this stage is not to rush straight into choosing equipment. It is to understand what you have, what you want to achieve and what will make the best use of the space available.
What Goes Into a Playground Design?
There is much more to playground design than choosing a few pieces of equipment and working out where they will fit. Looking at those things at the start gives everyone a much clearer idea of what can be achieved before the project moves towards installation.
Users and age groups
Available space and site access
Existing playground equipment
The type of play you want to create
Inclusive access and play
Playground surfacing
Your project budget
How Our Playground Design Process Works
Every playground starts with a conversation, but there is quite a lot that happens between that first chat and an agreed design.
Here is how we work through the playground design process with you.
01
DISCUSS YOUR PROJECT
Start by telling us what you would like the new playground to do.
You may already have equipment in mind, or ideas from staff, children, parents, governors or councillors that need bringing together. We will talk through who uses the playground, what needs to change, site access, existing equipment and the budget available. You do not need to have every answer. That is what the first conversation is for.
03
VIEW YOUR 3D PLAYGROUND DESIGN
This is where those conversations start to look like a playground. Playscape can create a 3D design showing how the equipment, surfacing and different areas could work together. Staff, governors, councillors and other stakeholders can then review the proposal before work begins on site.
02
SITE VISIT ASSESSMENT
Once we understand the project, the next step can include a free, no-obligation site visit. It gives us the chance to look at the existing playground, understand access and pick up on practical details that are easier to discuss on site than over the phone.
04
REFINE THE DESIGN AND QUOTATION
Seeing the design often brings out useful comments and questions. You may want to adjust the layout, reconsider a piece of equipment or discuss the surfacing. We can work through that feedback and refine the proposal so the design and quotation are clear before the project moves towards installation.
Designing the Right Mix of Playground Equipment
Choosing playground equipment is one of the enjoyable parts of planning a new play area, but it is worth looking at the whole playground rather than choosing each item on its own.
A piece of equipment might look fantastic in isolation, but the real question is how it works with the age groups using the space, the activities you want to provide, the equipment around it and the amount of room available.
As part of the design process, we can look at the equipment alongside the surfacing and site layout and then show those different elements together within the 3D proposal.
That way, you are not trying to imagine how a list of products might eventually fit together. You can actually see the playground taking shape.
Playground Surfacing as Part of the Design
Surfacing can sometimes feel like the thing you choose once the equipment has been decided, but it makes much more sense to look at the two together. The surface sits around the equipment, joins different parts of the playground and has a big influence on how the finished play area looks.
Playscape’s surfacing range includes EPDM rubber wetpour, bonded rubber mulch, artificial grass, grassmats, play-grade bark or woodchip and Playpave.
Which option is right will depend on the playground, the equipment and what you need the different areas of the site to do.
By including surfacing in the design discussion from the beginning, you can look at it as part of the complete playground rather than coming back to it as a separate decision once everything else has been agreed.
Designing Inclusive Playgrounds
If you are designing a playground that needs to work for a broad range of children and users, inclusive play is something worth talking about right from the first conversation.
It is much easier to consider access, different play opportunities and inclusive equipment while the playground is still being planned than to try to find space for those things once the rest of the design has already been decided.
Playscape can include inclusive play equipment within the playground proposal and look at those choices alongside the wider layout and other equipment.
From Playground Design to Installation
Eventually, there comes a point where everybody is happy with the drawings, and it is time to turn the playground on the screen into the playground on your site. Once the design and quotation are agreed, the project can move towards installation.
Playscape provides playground design and installation so the ideas discussed during the design stage remain connected to the work that happens on site. Access, preparation, equipment, surfacing and the order in which the playground comes together can all be planned around the scheme that has been agreed.
And once the installation team has finished and the playground starts being used properly, that does not have to be the end of the relationship either.
Playscape also provides playground maintenance and repair services to help with the ongoing care of the play area.
What Customers Say About Our Playground Work
Schools and other organisations work with us on new playgrounds, individual equipment installations and improvements to existing play areas.
See what customers say about working with our team on playground design, installation, surfacing and repairs.