06.0 Design

6.1        The design, materials used and construction techniques should reflect the exact nature of requirement.

6.2        Innovative, varied and challenging design is a key factor in maintaining sustained interest in any skate park. If consultation has concluded that the requirement is largely for skateboarding then the design and layout should reflect this.

6.3        One of the most overlooked areas when building a skate park is design. No two skate parks are the same. Design of a skate park should be thought of along the lines of golf course design – The user group is essentially there to define ideas and approve the final skate park layout – but not to take those ideas and turn it into a design to be submitted for approval. This is the job of a professional Skatepark designer.

Slight change in one area can affect ‘lines’ and ability to effectively ride other parts of the park and for this reason along with many others this is why selecting ‘obstacles’ from catalogues should not be the chosen route if your user group wish to create a skate park which will hold their interest for years to come.

6.4        Unabrasive, responsive and fast surfaces should be priority. Tarmac should not be specially laid as a skate surface unless unavoidable. Tarmac becomes soft during the summer months and can render the skatepark unusable. It is also slow and unresponsive to the needs of skateboarders as well as it also causing injury due to it’s abrasive qualities. Ideally, a power floated concrete should be used.

6.5        At present there is no specialist equipment to support and enable people with a disability to take part in this activity. No adequate answer is available at this time.

07.0 Material And Construction Options

7.1        There are several different materials used for skate park construction, and a long list of suppliers offering glossy complete design and build service. Care should be taken when choosing such consultants to ensure that they are truly independent of manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that impartiality is maintained.

7.2        There are hundreds of so called "skate parks" across the UK which have been installed by manufacturers and almost without exception, they are ignored and abandoned by the skate fraternity virtually immediately after opening. Colourful, attractive layout illustrations are usually offered to aid purchasers in deciding on a solution. These can appear to be very attractive when shown to inexperienced young people who have been campaigning for a facility. It must be understood that these people very rarely have experience of excellent facilities and who, a few months later, will tell you that the new skate park Is useless. Put simply, skaters who do not have a local skate park are caught up in the euphoria of the new project and are very vulnerable to this kind of presentation.

7.3        Concrete is undoubtedly the preferred running surface for experienced riders. Concrete lends itself well to the shapes and forms which appear regularly in skate parks whilst also offering a reliable unchanging surface meaning that the ‘feel’ throughout whilst riding is constantly of the best quality and the ‘flow’ or ‘lines’ created during design are unparalleled. Facilities such as the StokePlaza, Camden, Prissick Plaza, Dundee, Mudchute, Dartford and more are being really well received by skate press, local users, beginners, professionals and councils alike.

Concrete requires little to no maintenance and is almost impossible to vandalise and offer high resilience against inclement weather. For all of the above reasons, concrete facilities are an excellent potential investment. The major drawback to utilising concrete has traditionally been build cost, but several companies now offer cost effective solutions.

There are two distinct types of concrete facilities currently available "Above Ground" which are a collection of prefabricated ramps installed on a concrete base, and "landscape" which involves landscaping an area to create bowls, ledges, rails and hips as well as other shapes which are then covered in a concrete running surface.

All major outdoor competitions and events use landscape concrete facilities.

7.4        New timber provides a good riding surface. It is far less expensive than concrete or steel. The weather in the UK means that ramps can be sometimes unusable for days after heavy downpours. This also leads to the disadvantage of constant maintenance – especially under heavy usage. Timber ramps are also an easy target for vandalism, particularly fire. Timber is a simple solution for secure, covered areas but will require more thought when used in other areas.

7.5        Several companies offer metal framed systems with a timber running surface which has the advantage of being more resilient to structural damage. However, from the end user point of view, the actual riding surface is likely to be damaged through wear and tear and if not regularly replaced, can render a skate park useless or worse – dangerous. If this route is pursued, alternative composite surface materials such as ‘Skatelite Pro’ which ride and feel like new timber, but are less susceptible to damage, can further increase longevity and decrease maintenance costs.

7.6        Only a very inexperienced rider will consider metal to be an acceptable riding surface. To the inexperienced purchaser these systems appear very attractive. They are easy to purchase through existing approved suppliers of play equipment, they are available at reasonable cost and high resilience against vandalism. They have one major drawback: skate-parks are not playgrounds. The qualities of metal do not allow for many of the shapes and forms used in skate parks and therefore really limit which designs and ideas can be implemented. The design of individual apparatus and the lack of "flow" available within overall layouts is extremely poor. Many suppliers demonstrate little or no understanding of the requirements of the end user – this is further demonstrated by processes such as buying your facility from pieces in a catalogue.

Many councils are currently looking to remove and replace systems such as this which were heavily, and thoughtlessly bought up during the early 1990’s. Steel does however have it’s place and should not be discouraged totally. An example is a parish council with around 12k and they suffer heavily from vandalism.  It isn’t enough to have concrete and timber isn’t practical in this situation.  Therefore if designed and built properly steel can be successful however currently steel design to the level of timber and concrete is rarely seen.