Melrose Nursery approached us to create a dynamic outdoor play environment that would engage nursery-aged children experiencing important developmental stages. After collaborating on a few different iterations, we developed a playground design that delivered on all key requirements that the children would love.
Melrose Nursery provides high-quality Early Years Education for children from birth to 5 years old. Their philosophy focuses on treating every child as an individual while delivering the EYFS framework through a stimulating, educational, and fun environment.
The nursery identified three essential elements for their new playground that we knew to include from the get go:
Our final design brought together two distinct play zones: the Ridgeway Clubhouse standing proudly on its sand base along with their existing seat, and an artificial grass area with an exciting crawl tube, flowing track system, and the interactive water play feature.
Ground conditions: Unexpected levels of clay required additional concrete work for the constructed mound, extending the groundworks phase beyond initial timelines.
Weather impact: Variable weather conditions, including both hot temperatures and rainfall, created surfacing challenges that affected the installation schedule and impacted other concurrent projects.
Staffing: Our main installer experienced sick days during the project, requiring careful schedule management to maintain quality standards.
Transparency approach: We maintained communication with Melrose Nursery throughout challenges, explaining delays and adjusted timelines as they occurred.
Despite the challenges, the final installation has transformed Melrose Nursery's outdoor space into an engaging, multi-sensory playground that delivers exceptional play value.
The combination of climbing, sand play, water features, and varied surfaces creates distinct play zones while maintaining an aesthetic appeal. The surfacings ensure year-round accessibility while providing safe, comfortable play environments.
The design process involved lots of collaboration, where we worked through multiple versions, before reaching a concept that ticked every box and we could all get super excited about!
The finished playground now serves as a cornerstone of outdoor learning and play at Melrose Nursery, supporting child development across a number of areas - physical, social, mental, and sensory.
