With its flowing curves, stairs, rails and a distinctive protruding sphere feature that is skateable from inside and out, Knox Skate and BMX Park is a sports mecca in a municipality where almost 40 per cent of the population is aged under 24 years.
Located 25 kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD, Knox City Council decided to install the park to cater for the area’s estimated 10,000 actual and potential skaters and BMX riders.
It also wanted the park to offer something for non skaters/BMX riders, such as spectators and families.
Officially opened last December, the facility has achieved just that.
“It has been a hit with young people, with skaters even coming from overseas to try it out,” said Project Leader Heather Callahan.
“It has become a place where everyone in the community can hang out, breaking down barriers between youth and other groups in the community and fostering greater social cohesion.
“It has fostered broad family involvement in skating and BMX; more females are getting involved in the sport and skaters and BMX riders are voting with their wheels and flocking to the facility for competition, practice and fun.”
The project was founded through an innovative and extensive consultation program, comprising ‘roving interviews’ with traders in local shopping centres; a portable skate ramp at the Knox Festival to attract skaters to a survey; a short film to bring the project to life for consultation participants; school workshops; and an online forum on a skating website.
Following this, the park was designed by Concrete Skate Parks, with construction undertaken by Convic Skate Parks.
Unique features include the fact that every surface is skateable, including a creative path leading from the car park.
Convic also suggested improvements as the project unfolded, enabling a minor design modification to be made that allowed the skate park’s trademark sphere feature to be skated from both the inside and the outside.
“The park caters for a wide cross section of users, with features that challenge everyone from beginners to advanced skaters,” said Council’s Director Community Services, Kerry Stubbings.
“With surfaces including concrete, granite and metal, it has dedicated areas for BMX and scooter riding.
“Specific features include euro gap, slide rail, quarter pipe to vert pillar, 1.5 metre shallow bowl, 2.7 metre deep bowl, 2.5 metre hemisphere cup, grind blocks to flat bank, diamond fun box, stairs rails, and a manual pad.”
Kerry Stubbings said construction was not without its problems.
“During construction of the park, two severe storms flooded the bowls,” she said.
As the inverts of the bowls were built below the flood levels of the adjacent land, water was coming up through outlet pipes into the bowls.
“We were able to install a one way valve in the outfall drainage line to solve this water inflow.”
For further information contact Kerry Stubbings on (03) 9298 8000.
