SPRING 2016
The final design has a water-based theme in response to the coastal location, and the overwhelming
popularity of “water-play” among the responses. It
includes a five-metre high tube slide connected to an
octagon-shaped tower with an internal spiral staircase. From the top platform there are views of the
Northwestern motorway, Waitemata Harbour, Unitec
Campus and surrounding Waterview streets. Nearby
are sandpit areas and two water play spaces including
sprayers, water cannons, dams, weirs and channels in
which water can be diverted before it falls into planted rain gardens and swales.
The playground caters for toddlers through to youth
age groups, with tunneled mounds separating the play
areas. Along with water-play, risk-taking activities
were popular among the students, so opportunities
for this are included through bridges, climbing nets,
tunnels, a 3-metre climbing wall, as well as the usual
swings and roundabouts.
Along with the playspace, social features desired
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by the local community were incorporated, including
barbeques, a fale for shade and a sculptural waka feature. A circulating path provides a spot for young bike
riders and scooters, and there are adjacent basketball,
volleyball and netball training courts,
As part of the opening ceremonies, children from
Waterview Primary buried a time capsule. The second
stage of redevelopment – including a skate park and
BMX track – opens later this year, while a heritage
area around Oakley Creek and improved walking and
cycling access will be completed in 2017.
Recognition for the consultation process for the
playground came from the NZ Planning Institute
(NZPI) – whose panel of judges unanimously awarded
the Best Practice Award for Consultation and Participation Strategies and Processes to the Well-Connected Alliance (of which Boffa Miskell was a part),
Auckland Council and the Albert-Eden Local Board for
their “outstanding creativity, innovation and service”
in the design of the Waterview playground.