Concept designs for new Tūrangi playground complete

Concept designs for the new Tūrangi papa tākaro (playground) at Te Kapua Park are complete and construction is expected to get underway in the new year, following the detailed designs being completed, contractors secured and play equipment manufactured.

The new play space is a partnership between Ngāti Tūrangitukua, who own the land, and Taupō District Council.

Project manager Pete Bradshaw said the aim was to create a play space that was an asset for Tūrangi, with a theme that told the story of the Tongariro River Delta as seen from above.

“We want the play space to be something that is uniquely Tūrangi and that is accessible to all the community,” Mr Bradshaw said.

“The council has now budgeted a total of $1.12 million for the project and it is great that we have been given this level of resourcing. We have been through a very robust process around the design of the playground, and have engaged with our community on what they’d like to see, so it is exciting to be reaching the point where we can look forward to construction getting underway.”

Southern Lake Taupō engagement partner Marama Isherwood, who led the community engagement for the new playground, said it was important that the playground had a variety of ways for tamariki to play and that it shared stories of the surrounding rohe, such as the Tongariro River and maunga which are important to the people of Tūrangi.

“We partnered with Ngāti Tūrangitukua to talk to our playground experts – our tamariki in local schools – and also got a lot of really valuable feedback from our community survey,” Ms Isherwood said.

“We’ve taken that input on board and while we obviously can’t deliver absolutely everything, we are confident that we will be able to build a playground that the community will embrace. We’d like to thank everyone who gave us input on the play space and we are keen to incorporate the common themes that we saw into our design."