Well, we are making progress, it's just taking a bit longer than we would like.

The playground equipment that we ordered earlier in the year, is currently being made. Some is coming from around the world, and the bespoke items like the lighthouse, ship, flying fox etc are being prefabricated as we type! 

Once we reached our fundraising target, we were able to engage with a professional playground auditor to ensure that we tick all the boxes for best practice and the big health and safety sign off.

We then handed over our community led concept design to Creo Ltd (they are architects who specialise in playground design) to create working drawings for us.

The working drawings are a guide for the construction of the playground and specify how we need to:

• prepare the ground for equipment foundations, raised mounds, drainage and pathways,
• accurately place equipment to meet fall zones, safety requirements,
• define the extent and position of fall zones and specialised safety surfacing areas,
• specify all surface types (concrete, hot mix, grass, gardens, trees, artificial turf and rubber play surfacing etc).

A couple of weeks ago Creo supplied us with a whopping 92 pages of working drawings. This was a huge amount of work and a massive milestone for us to reach as it meant that we could move from budgeting off estimates based on the concept design to gathering fully detailed quotes.

Working drawings have enabled more detailed estimates 

Unfortunately, and just like many build projects across the country, we saw an increase in some of the estimated costs which if not addressed would mean our project costs would be greater than the $2.5 million that we raised together as a community. These potential cost increases only apply to around half of the budget as we locked in our playground equipment supply contract (which included large bespoke items) at a fixed price earlier this year (phew!).

As we have done all through this project, our committee is working hard to refine our landscape design, work alongside the Timaru District Council and negotiate with all potential suppliers to bring the project budget and design to a level that best serves our community and our supporters.

We will not commit to any formal agreement on these aspects of the playground until we know we can deliver what the community expects at a price we can afford.

Reducing the costs without compromising the quality is key

We are confident we have several options to reduce costs while not compromising on the quality and functionality of our space.

We have also executed a plan to apply for further funding to bridge the gap that is left between our currently raised funds and any possible shortfall that remains after we have fully confirmed and refined our budget.

We do not intend to go back the community or business for further funds, however our door is obviously open to anyone who would like to discuss ways to support the project.

We will be looking for skilled members of the community to assist us with work in kind.

Our intention is to start construction by March 2022

This is later than many of you may have hoped. This stage of careful project management and design refinement and specification has taken longer than expected for a variety of reasons.

We realised as a committee that if we were to break ground this year, it would mean the playground would be fenced off to the public right through summer holidays, including carnival and pre booked events. We felt it was in the best community interest not to do this, and use the extra time to ensure the best outcome for everyone.

We want to deliver a playground that Timaru can be proud of and provide lot's of happy memories for locals and visitors, but we just need a few more months to deliver it. 

From all of the volunteers at CPlay, we thank you for your ongoing support, thank you for your understanding and look forward to welcoming all of you to experience our new playground in 2023.