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Albany Sk8park
Any time outside school hours down Sanford Road in Albany’s sporting precinct, the casual observer will see anywhere between 40 and 60 young people on BMX bikes, skateboards, scooters and mountain bikes tearing across a thousand square metres of concrete in what appears to be an intricately choreographed performance.
The spectacle is created by the confluence of bodies, space, time and motion in a well designed skate park, allowing experienced skaters to carve rails and ramps and the less experienced to practise their first ollie without intimidation.
Parents watch apprehensively (and secretly enthralled by their offspring’s prowess) from the comfort of their car or the gazebo while clusters of young people crowd the grassed embankment checking out each other’s style and form.
The dynamic activities occurring in the space arrest not only the attention of parents and participants, but anyone that might be passing through the precinct.
This is a far cry from 12 months ago, when the City had an old skate park that could only accommodate eight skaters at a time. The old park rarely drew an audience and bullying and misbehaviour were rampant due to it being in an isolated location.
Identifying the need
City of Albany manager community development Mark Weller and community development officer youth Tammy Flett were part of a dedicated team of council staff that organised the development of the new skate park.
Mr Weller said it was an involved process.
“The need was initially identified in precinct planning for the area where substantial community consultations were conducted to formulate key planning strategies to meet the demands of the growing population of Albany and the increasing youth demographic,” Mr Weller said.
The consultations led to the development of a 400-page document recommending, among other things, a major regional skate and BMX park facility to be integrated into the Centennial Park recreation and youth precinct. Once the recommendations were ranked, the City of Albany budgeted $308,000 for the facility.
Having received a commitment from the City, recreation planners consulted with young people to develop a comprehensive project plan and design process for creating a skate park that would be suitable for both beginners and advanced users.
As the plans took shape the skate park rapidly became a more expensive proposition, particularly as it was to be constructed during a time when the Western Australian construction industry was running close to capacity and the price of construction was at a premium.
Consulting with stakeholders
Ms Flett and Mr Weller were encouraged to submit a grant application to Lotterywest for what became a $100,000 shortfall after discussing the merits of the skate park in a phone call with a member of the grants team.
At key stages during the preparation of the application, they sought advice and met with Lotterywest staff to discuss the application requirements and project development.
“This, and the work previously undertaken, helped us to navigate the grant process,” Mr Weller said.
“We had sufficient supporting documentation for the application because the City had already completed a risk assessment, management plan, design brief, project plan and concept plan for the facility, so applying for the $100,000 grant from Lotterywest was a relatively straightforward process.”
The grant supported the facility design, building works, landscaping and lighting.
These features needed to be designed to meet the needs of users of the facility, so Ms Flett established a consultative group of skate and BMX riders. She regularly visited the existing skate park and invited people to take part in a consultative group through radio, newspapers, school notices and placing posters around town.
Once the consultative group was established Ms Flett took them on an inspection trip to Perth so they could view recently constructed skate parks.
She said the tour of Perth facilities enabled her to get feedback from users on favourite obstacles and identify park features that they considered to be integral to a successful skate park as well as elements that they didn’t find desirable.
“The group looked at details like the gradients of ramps and coping heights, and they ranked features and shared favourite park experiences and the elements that make parks popular,” Ms Flett said.
Following the research trip the consultative group met with the designer and provided a brief on the elements they found essential as end users.
Once the designer had incorporated their advice into the specifications the group was asked for further input. Several minor modifications later, they were ready to ‘hit the ground running’ for the next phase.
“Time was against us as building boom was driving costs upwards, and there was a very small window of time before winter settled in,” Ms Flett said.
“We were fortunate that the construction team that won the tender was able to start on time and complete the park before the rain set in.”
In spite of the tight timing, consultation remained high on the agenda and was fundamental to a successful outcome.
“Because of the close consultation between the skate and BMX community, the City of Albany and the consultation group we were fortunate to have no problems with vandalism during or after construction,” Ms Flett said.
“The team building the park were open to supervised visits by the consultation group during construction and answered many of their questions.
“This sense of ownership by the consultation group has been very beneficial and the relationship developed between the park users and me as youth community development officer has meant that any issues have been quickly addressed.”
New turf and a web cam are the finishing touches yet to be installed.
The park has already seen an increase in the number of local young people engaging in physical activity and increased access to the existing youth and aquatic centres, which are also within the precinct.
As the most expansive skate park in the south west, it is also proving to be a regional attraction, encouraged by the City establishing a series of annual regional skate, BMX and roller blade competitions, and coaching sessions to improve skill levels and to teach park etiquette.
The skate park team’s vision and consultative approach was fundamental to the success of the project but Ms Flett also expressed gratitude for the support received.
“Both the City of Albany and the skate and BMX community are indebted to Lotterywest for their support throughout the grant writing, approval and acquittal process so we could have this fantastic regional facility,” she said.