Bath’s outdoor skatepark found in Royal Victoria Park has a solid past in skateboarding history. Its transitions were a travel magnet, attracting people from afar to skate its ramp set up back in the day. The likes of Flynn Trotman and Ben Nordberg cut their teeth on those metal structures but that era is long gone, making way for amazing, new concrete parks, and Bath are next on the list to receive a complete refit.
The good folk at Canvas Spaces have sent us their final plans for the new Bath skatepark to exclusively announce today. The construction for this new spot is underway as you read this, backed by Bath and North East Somerset Council who worked with a user group of locals who chipped in what they wanted, and it looks like they chose well.
The main feature is the bowl, a replica of the old vert and midi ramp in terms of transitions and depths (10’+ and 6’) for continuity. It has a rounded end (for those who enjoy rock n’ roll slides) and comes with tight corners and hips that connect to a huge new 16m long midi ramp. Imagine the sessions on that for a second.
There’s also room in the plan for a 3.5ft high mini-ramp that has an adjoining steep bank with a grindable, rounded concrete lip. A free-standing concrete painted curb should provide many slappy sessions that will take you into the flat land area. You will also find a long mellow bank with a ledge, a classic pyramid driveway and hipped jump box and the raised area has a Wembley gap with stair set, hubba’s and a handrail.
Canvas Spaces have added a couple of nice touches in homage to the previous park, so expect to find some of the old, original coping gracing your trucks. Also, when the excavation of the land was underway, it revealed a bunch of amazing fossils from Bath’s incredible historical past, so these will be used for seating in the existing mound. Perfect for summer chill outs overlooking the sessions that will be going down.
Finally, the area around the large existing tree will remain relatively low level and spacious with a concrete ledge wrapping around the tree area – one side of it hosting round coping.
As the concrete pours over the next 4 months, take in the final designs and await the news of the opening jam in September. The new skatepark can be found in Royal Victoria Park, Park Lane, Bath BA1 3BA. Map here.
Canvas Spaces are also close to finishing the incredible new swimming pool refit, the Campus Pool Project in Bristol. Follow them on FB and Insta for updates on their quality design work and builds.
