Percy Thomas Architects has been recently appointed, via our Redstart Framework, to assist Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council in the design and development of a new outdoor skate park, adjacent to the local Leisure Centre.
The positioning of the new park is aimed to help promote community physical activity, within the close oversight of the Leisure Centre - with new site being 100m closer than the previous.

The proposal is being developed to satisfy the project brief for an open public accessible skate park, whilst at the same time introducing measures that mitigate the risks of serious injury beyond the actual skate area itself. There are inherent risks of injury in skate parks, but the adherence to industry standard design guidance, and robust operator protocols will be essential in these mitigations.

The skate park element itself will be of specialist design and construct, with our Architectural team providing leadership of the overall project, along with responsibility for the master-planning and associated landscaping works.
The elevated sections of the skating slopes are bounded at the perimeters with gently sloping artificial grass banks and dense shrub planting.

New flood-lighting to the park and low-level lighting to the associated public realm, will make the whole area safe and pleasant to use and mitigate any anti-social behaviours.

The public realm seating and hard landscaped areas, either side of the re-aligned throughfare pathway and linking the Leisure Centre with the town centre, will be retained but reconfigured and updated to fit the new skate park design.
As one of the practice’s smaller schemes , it has presented us with a unique project opportunity and a insight into perhaps a more niche area of sports and leisure design.