Skate parks
Site planning
Best practice guidance for site planning
Decision framework
Sunshine Coast Skate and BMX Plan (2011-2021)
Sunshine Coast Skate and BMX Plan
The Skate and BMX Plan guides the provision, development and management of the region’s skate and BMX network.
Design and construction of skate parks is to be undertaken by an experienced professional skate park company, in consultation with users and in accordance with AS EN 14974:2021 Skateparks - Safety requirements and test methods.
Skate Australia is the National Sporting Organisation for Skate Sports including Skateboarding, recognised by Sport Australia, the Australian Institute of Sport, the Australian Olympic Committee and the international federation, World Skate. Skate Queensland is affiliated with this organisation and may be able to provide advice.
There are a range of Australian Standards/best practice guidelines, relating to this category. Key documents are referenced throughout and in the LIM Skate parks - 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 (Sport and Community Venues)
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 various activities to be conducted:
- prevailing winds
- orientation to minimise sun impact
- location of utilities
- well drained site
- flood immunity requirements
- ability to be developed to create deep skate bowls and provide level surrounds at entry level.
Co-location of facilities
- Facilities, including parking and pathways, are often already established and need to be considered in the overall park design.
- Skate parks should be located adjacent to active spaces to create youth activity and active recreation precincts, and with ancillary facilities such as shopping centres, commercial areas, youth centres, sporting facilities and picnic areas.
- Skate parks should be located close to public transport, bicycle and pedestrian links and car parking.
- Consider locating skateparks with other park facilities, such as kick and throw areas.
- Locate near toilets, drinking fountains, taps, bins and bike rails.
- Position skate park with provision for spectator seating and shade.
- Venues capable of hosting competitions can include public art, public toilet facilities and events infrastructure, such as power for microphones.
Safety
- 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).
- Safety clearances must be met.
- Adopt principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) Guidelines for Queensland. Locate skatepark to allow users to feel safe, and to provide an opportunity for supervision and casual surveillance.
- The park must be located within sight of the road and avoid screen planting.
Potential site conflicts
Locate skateparks away from:
- Play spaces and sports grounds – as per AS EN 14974:2021, where skateparks are erected or built in combination with playgrounds, sports grounds (or similar), they shall be separated by an appropriate distance using structural or spatial measures.
- Residential areas (where possible), to avoid noise issues.
- Refer EPA Environmental Protection (Noise) Policy 1997 for further guidance.
- High use bikeways and busy roads to avoid accidents
- Hazards such as waterways, fire and flood prone areas, sewers and stormwater drains, underground services, power poles and overhead power lines.
- The Smoking Act 1998 prohibits smoking within 10 m of a skate park. Do not provide outdoor ashtrays within this zone.
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.
This component is currently in development