Picnic tables and benches

1.0Overview 2.0Location/function 3.0Summary 4.0Site planning 5.0Design 6.0Positioning 7.0Equal access 8.0Standards 9.0Project management 10.0Technical drawings

Site planning

Best practice guidance for site planning

Decision framework

There are a range of Australian Standards / best practice guidelines, relating to this category. Key documents are referenced throughout and in the LIM Picnic tables and benches - Standards.

Site decisions

All decisions, including the location of the embellishment and related infrastructure, must be made in conjunction with council (determined by site location), including officers from such areas as:

Council (Parks and Gardens)

Council (Environmental Operations)

Users

Consult with council stakeholders, neighbouring properties and identified park users in the planning stage of a project.

Site conditions

Consider the physical characteristics of a site and requirements of the activities to be conducted:

prevailing winds
orientation to minimise sun impact
location of utilities
well drained site
level surface
flood immunity requirements.

Co-location of facilities

Facilities, including parking and pathways, are often already established and need to be considered in the overall park design.
Picnic tables and benches should be considered near facilities, such as play spaces, picnic and barbecue areas, and walking and cycling paths.
Include connecting pathways for universal access and provide shade.

Safety

Safety clearances must be met.
Adopt principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) – Guidelines for Queensland. Locate picnic tables and benches to allow users to feel safe, and to provide an opportunity for casual surveillance.
Carefully consider material selection that mitigates the heat build up on surfaces and the risk of hot surfaces to users (refer ISO 13732-1: 2006 – Ergonomics of the thermal environment – Methods for the assessment of human responses to contact with surfaces – Part 1: hot surfaces).

Potential site conflicts

Locate picnic tables and benches away from:

Residential areas, where possible, to avoid noise issues.
High use bikeways, busy roads and steep slopes, to avoid accidents.
Avoid interfering with other open space users. Picnic tables and benches installed too close to the edge of pathways will interrupt the free flow of pedestrian/cyclist traffic.
Hazards such as waterways, fire and flood prone areas, sewers and stormwater drains, underground services.

Planning for sustainability

Refer Design principles – Sustainability for guidance.

Planning for future works

Co-locate embellishments requiring similar services e.g. water, to reduce infrastructure, where possible.
Where underground utilities are installed, set brass markers to concrete slab edges to indicate the location.
Consider installation of additional conduits under concrete slabs for future provision, where utilities (e.g. electrical, water) and irrigation systems are planned. Ensure additional conduit is capped to prevent ingress of water and debris.
Consider climate change impacts on the embellishment location and construction ¹.
- In coastal areas, or near waterways, design should consider rise in sea level predictions, storm tide, salt inundation and severe storm events.
- Positioning should also consider flooding, seasonal/ephemeral water bodies and water table changes.
- Near bushland areas, design should consider the occurrence of bushfires.

^{Source 1: Sunshine Coast Environment and Liveability Strategy 2017.}

Page payload data

This component is currently in development

Sunshine Coast Open Space Landscape Infrastructure Manual (LIM) DISCLAIMER

Disclaimer

Information contained in this document may change without notice and you should use the current material available from Council’s website and not rely on material previously printed or stored by you.

All figures and diagrams are intended to be used as an aid to design and include Council’s preferred elements but they are not intended to be prescriptive and may need to be varied as dictated by site specific factors. While Council has exercised reasonable care in preparing this document, it does not warrant or represent that it is accurate or complete. The Council will not accept responsibility for any loss, damage, cost or expense that you may incur as a result of the use of or reliance upon any material contained in this document.

This document is produced to convey general information and is not intended to constitute advice whether professional or legal. Any reference to legislation in this document is not an interpretation of the law. It is to be used as a guide only. Consult relevant authority websites for current documents, revisions and amendments.

Where a particular product or supplier is profiled in this document, Council is NOT nominating this product or supplier as the selected choice. Product/supplier information has been provided to allow users to source products which contain the correct elements required for Council embellishments. Each product profiled states ‘or equivalent’ which means that different products may be supplied provided they satisfy the identified performance criteria, recommended standards, equal access guidance and product specifications.

Product design, manufacture and installation requires appropriately qualified people to provide site specific solutions to ensure the embellishment is appropriately adapted to local conditions and data.

This document does not override requirements stipulated in a development approval. Project specific variations may be appropriate as a result of site, environmental or other constraints. Any variations to these standards must be approved in writing by council prior to commencement of variation works. Components of this document may be used within a contract document but users should undertake their own investigations to confirm the information is suitable for this purpose.

Drawings contained in this document are NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION.

Details in this document are deemed to be the minimum standard and the user may wish to apply a higher standard subject to approval by council.

Acknowledgements

Council wishes to thank all contributors and stakeholders involved in the development of this document.

Sunshine Coast Regional Council (Council) supports and encourages the distribution of its material however, copyright protects this document. Council has no objection to this material being reproduced but only if council is recognised as the owner of the copyright and this material remains unaltered.

https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au [email protected]07 5475 7272