Playground shares stories of the rohe
Work to start early next year on new playground for Te Kapua Park
Concept designs for the new Tūrangi papa tākaro (playground) at Te Kapua Park are complete. Construction will get under way early next year once detailed designs are complete, contractors secured and the play equipment has been manufactured.
The new play space is a partnership between Ngāti Tūrangitukua, who own the land, and Taupō District Council. Project manager Pete Bradshaw says the aim is to create a play space that is an asset for Tūrangi, with a theme that tells the story of the Tongariro River Delta as seen from above. “We want the play space to be something that is uniquely Tū rangi and that is accessible to all the community.
The council has budgeted $1.12 million for the project.
“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 under way.”
Southern Lake Taupō engagement partner Marama Isherwood led the community engagement for the new playground.
She says it is important there is a variety of ways for tamariki to play in the playground and that it shares stories of the surrounding rohe, such as the Tongariro River and maunga which are important to the people of Tū rangi.
“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.
“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.”