So here it is, the first edit from the new Campus Pool down in Bristol with footage of Jess Young, Andy Coleman, and many more getting stuck into the fresh ‘crete laid and designed by the wizards at Canvas Spaces.
The park opens next Sunday 26th July so get down there, eat free BBQ food and celebrate a phenomenal feat that is now Bristol’s only indoor, concrete park.
Find it on the corner of Whitchurch Rd and Church Rd, Bishopsworth, Bristol, BS13 7RW. Map here.
Maverick Industries have opened a new skatepark in Cromer, Norfolk recently with a gnarly looking concrete wave. Aside from the unique features and styling, the park is also furnished with all the functional items you might expect in a small skatepark, these include a spined mini-ramp with roll-overs, extensions, hips, a clam-shell pocket, jump-box and a small flat bank with ledges and a rail.
“Cromer is a coastal town in north Norfolk, just up the road from Sheringham, whose skatepark features a nautical theme and a concrete fishing boat,” says Maverick’s Ian Jennings. “Not to be out-done, Cromer went for a themed approach again, with a skateable replica of the towns’ iconic lighthouse and a nod to the local beach and surf culture in the form of an over-vert wave. The park has coloured concrete and is lots of fun, lots of flow, and has something for everyone. Once again built to an exceptionally high standard by our fantastic build team.”
You can find the new skatepark behind the Meadow Golf Course, off Hall road, Cromer, NR27 9JF. Map here.
Head here for their proposals on the Concrete Wave park down in Cornwall and the newly opened Duck Lane skatepark in Bournemouth.
If you have ever taken a trip down to Bournemouth for a day out skating then you will know that their scene is full of characters who frequent Kings Park. We’ve had some great days down there over the years so the news that a new park was being opened not far from there by Maverick was music to our ears, whose design and build on this new combi-bowl looks solid.
Duck Lane has been built as part of a new Mansell Homes housing development in Kinson, put together by Bournemouth Council. It consists of a unique combi-bowl and uncompromising design as explained by Maverick’s Russ Holbert who has been working on the project:
“The design has a retro feel with endless, flowing lines. At the top end, the facility features a micro clover bowl with a superfun, triple 8 pumpline. The clover bowl opens out into a unconventional snake run with offset hips and links up with a large bowled mini ramp. The walls of the mini ramp and snake run have been designed to direct riders straight down into the pool which is 9ft deep and features two monster hips. We are so stoked on this project and just so happy to have been a part of it. Hats off to all involved!”
One of the locals involved to make this happen was Richard ‘Geordie’ Inskip, whose input working alongside the council was key:
“Being stoked with my involvement of this park is an understatement. This is by far the most american style bowl I have skated in England. The design is amazing and the lines bring concrete surfing to a whole new level, saying that, so does the build quality. Maverick have just lifted the bar for UK skateparks. If this is what we can expect from new parks, UK skating is about to enter a whole new dimension.”
Duck Lane’s new combi-bowl opened this weekend, timed perfectly for the summer months ahead. Note that the site around the bowl is newly seeded, so if you visit, make sure you respect the site and clean up after yourselves.
We will leave you with a quote from Maverick‘s Ian Jennings who sums up this new feat perfectly: “It has tons of lines, it’s progressive and accessible – yet also really gnarly, fast and above all, LOADS of FUN!” Start planning your trip as this area has a variety of parks to skate.
You can find the park just off the Ringwood Rd (A348) on Holloway Avenue, Kinson, BH11 9JS. Directions and map here.
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.
The legendary glow in the dark skatepark installation, conceptualised by leading South Korean artist Koo Jeong A, has been commissioned to be built in North Liverpool, following the success of her work on the popular Otro Park in France (pictured below).
Liverpool Biennial in partnership with Friends of Everton Park, Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Vision are behind the project who have invited Wheelscape to build a flourescent, glow-in-the-dark bowl for skateboarding with Koo Jeong A’s involvement.
“This will be the flagship project of a citywide scheme by Liverpool City Council to produce and build five wheels parks in Liverpool” say Liverpool Biennial, which can only mean good things for local skaters and those who wish to visit one of the best cities in the UK.
The installation should be open in Everton Park on October 5th, Halloween in Liverpool just got a new twist!
Her previous work. Ph: Pilar Corrias
Manchester’s skate scene are looking forward to a new indoor skatepark opening this Sunday 5th May. The layout of the new 27,500 sq ft indoor Beast Rampz Skatepark has been designed by the good folk at Four One Four Skateparks and is located inside a warehouse just outside of town in the Eastern quarter, two minutes from Ashbury train station.
The project has been built by a team headed up by long time skater Dave Arnold, whose ongoing commitment to building pools, bowls and parks in the North should be commended. We spoke to him this week to get the lowdown on the new build:
“The guys behind this project have a background in building rollercoasters and worked on the infamous ‘Son of Beast‘ in the USA, that’s where the name comes from. The project has been simmering for the last two years but it all came together this January. The preliminary design was drawn up by Sean Scarfe (Four One Four) and then myself and Tim Stamp from Uniform Skatepark Construction were drafted in to carry out the ramp construction and tweak the design alongside ‘The Beasters’ themselves.”
The Manchester scene seems to be spoiled with options right now. The completion of the new Projekts Plaza from Freestyle has handed locals another fantastic dry spot to skate in the winter months in addition to Black Sheep’s indoor Central Skatepark. Drive out of town though and you are surrounded by other options too. This area of the country is awash with fantastic parks right now including Liverpool’s Rampworx down the M62 who are also looking to develop further to push their park to a whopping 70,000 sq ft.
“Beast skatepark is certainly living up to its name!” says Arnold. “Although there are bigger parks (sq footage) in the UK this place looks huge! the actual structures look like they are on steroids, the sort of place The Thing and The Incredible Hulk would skate.”
Beast Rampz has been designed to cater for everyone. The impressive 60ft wide hipped Midi-Ramp stands at 6.5ft high and rises to 10 ft at one end. There’s also a 24ft wide Mini Ramp and a 20ft wide Micro Mini Ramp alonside a beginners area for the nippers. Add a 16ft high x 24ft wide Vert Wall into the equation, a Taco Wall-Ride plus a huge BMX Rhythm Section (also very skateable) and a lavish split-level street course with bowled corners, hubbas, driveways, steps, gaps, pyramid, ledges, rails and more, you start to get the picture that this place will bring something special on the opening day.
The Beast would not be as beastly without the addition of a vert ramp though. The North have always enjoyed being part of a very strong vert scene so its inclusion in the design seemed like a no-brainer. Heathen Skateboards rider Riess Johnson made a plea for local vert skaters to help in funding this and with great support it became a reality. Nobody is more stoked on this than Arnold himself though due to the legendary history that is involved in the erection of this ramp:
“It’s 36ft in length and 12ft high, made possible via online donations. This ramp has been built by the skaters for the skaters, the way it should be. The funny thing is, that this ramp is a stones throw from the site of the original Ardwick Vert Ramp also built by myself and Tim Stamp back in 1985. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy that we have built yet another skate structure for a ‘minority’ group 28 years later.”
Ph: Tony Alva skates Ardwick back in 1985. Dave’s sister and Mike Pardon in the background.
You can find Beast Rampz at www.beastrampz.com and on Facebook. Address is Montague House, Matthews Street, Ardwick, Manchester, M12 5BB.
Maybe this could well be a first for all new skatepark builds, maybe this is a one off. Who knows, but right now, Oxford’s skaters will be celebrating the fact that they will not have to run the risk of injuring themselves with scooter kids rolling around everywhere now a ban has been enforced in their new park when it opens.
“OWP appreciate that scooter riders are the next generation of skater and BMXers and we may one day eat our words but for the success of this unique facility the management committee have decided to ban the use of scooters. This we believe will ensure maximum fair usage of the facility and safeyy of park users. Bare in mind – people are not banned from this park we have built. Just scooters. If you want to ride a board or a bike you are welcome.”
Visit the Oxford Skate Project for updates on the new build underway by Wheelscape that is situated at Meadow Lane, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX4 4BJ. It’s not finished yet so look out for updates on the opening date when it is announced.
Those of you following the updated feature of the new Bay Sixty 6 Skatepark will be stoked to know that the new park will be open at 3pm on Saturday 15th September. Expect it to open with a bang. If you missed the last video we published from the site build then get stuck into this where Croyde Mirandon who built the park explains the secrets of the bowl and await the final video update next week.
The address is Bay 65-66 Acklam Road, London W10 5YU. Telephone: +44 (020) 8969 4669. Nearest tube is Ladbroke grove on the Hammersmith and City line.
The good folk at Wheelscape have been busy getting stuck into Stoke Park’s new creation in Guildford, Surrey. The new skate park situated on the same site as the old one nearby to the Lido is almost ready for you to skate. Once the landscaping is finished, it will open to the public so keep an eye on the news. For now though, view what’s coming from this gallery of pics from the Wheelscape facebook page.
Get ready for some fun this winter at the Bay Sixty 6 skatepark. Not only does the new park boast a bowl for the first time, the new street course now has a ledge that works on hydraulics as revealed in a recent video update from NikeSB today. Set the size of your choice and skate it. Simple.
This is the ledge that has the magic system built in below. Click here for the rolling feature of the park’s progress.
Nike Bay Sixty6 – The Builders from Nike Skateboarding on Vimeo.