Trailblazing destination playground
Anderson Park is home to one of New Zealand’s most celebrated playgrounds. Completed in 2017, this pioneering inclusive playspace was recognised with the New Zealand Recreation Association’s Outstanding Park Award in 2018 and quickly became a family favourite.
Fast forward to 2024, and the playground continues to delight – with Napier City Council and Playground Centre once again partnering to extend the fun with the very latest in inclusive and accessible play equipment.
Taking inclusion to new heights
When Napier City Council and Boffa Miskell first came to Playground Centre, their vision was to create a world-class destination playground offering a diverse range of experiences for a complete family day out. The aim was to allow people of all ages and abilities to play alongside each other in areas offering similar experiences, but with different challenge levels.
The project represented a close to two-year collaboration with Boffa Miskell – resulting in a destination-level park with a huge variety of ‘wow’ play experiences.
Skilful design was essential to protect the park’s mature trees while creating a friendly family environment where natural play spaces balanced with high-energy equipment.
Anderson Park’s playground offers out-of-the-box fun and physical and sensory adventures for all. The standout feature is one of New Zealand’s tallest playground towers, standing 10m high with two tube slides. Three unique tower structures are linked by fantastic and challenging equipment – and visitors can test their agility by seeing if they make it all the way across without touching the ground.
Other highlights include customised towers of varying heights, fun talking tubes, climbing ropes and activities, a spinning carousel, tunnels, multiple swings, and a twin flying fox.
Inclusivity was a central focus. Features include a mini-tower accessible via a wheelchair ramp, a double-width slide so caregivers can slide with children, artwork with messages in braille for the sight-impaired, and a range of sensory play equipment such as a large xylophone, drums and an interactive musical bridge.
2024 Inclusive Playground Upgrade
Seven years on from the playground’s opening, Napier City Council worked with Playground Centre to extend Anderson Park’s all-inclusive fun with the very latest in wheelchair accessible equipment.
Playground Centre provided full design, equipment supply, and construction services to deliver an accessible playspace extension.
The upgrade introduced a Wheelchair Trampoline, Inclusive Carousel, Inclusive Seesaw and Wheelchair Swing.
These new additions, bring fresh opportunities for fun, movement, and social play, ensuring everyone can experience the joy of play at Anderson Park – and cementing its status as an outstanding inclusive destination playground.
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