Neath Play Team
Where do you go if you want to design some of the best playground equipment in the world? You go to the real experts: the kids themselves.
That's exactly what leading playground manufacturer Wicksteed Playscapes did when it developed its new Monsta range - and discovered the toughest clients of all are the children themselves.
One of the first Play Teams Wicksteed worked with were children from Neath Primary School and they helped design Wicksteed's Monsta-Zone Multi-Play System.
"We wanted a multi-tiered vertical platform system that was imposing, challenging and aesthetically different," says Wicksteed's sales director Stuart Wetherell. "The skeleton system was developed with the kids from Neath, but it was when the prototype was built that it really took off. The children from Neath School were responsible for a large part of the design - and they got what they wanted."
The young designers wanted a "chill out area"; they said "A spinner would make a great exit and entrance point"; they said "we want more of us on it"; they were keen for the banister slide to be altered from a gentle 30 degrees to a more exciting 45 degrees; and they asked the question "can we climb inside the tower". Wicksteed took into accountNeath Play Team's "wish list" and Monsta Zone evolved.
The first-ever Monsta playpark for 2-16-year-olds has now been installed in Bridgend and the unit, known as the Maxx-Zone, has already been tested by the Neath Play Team.
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Neath Primary School helps design the Monsta Zone Multi-Play System
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The grand opening of the Bridgend play area and the first Monsta Zone unit installed in the UK
