Railway Park Byron Bay | Fleetwood Urban

Railway Park Byron Bay.


Client	Byron Shire Council
Design Partners	Plummer & Smith Landscape Architects
State	New South Wales

Reinventing Byron Bay’s old railway precinct.

After Byron Bay’s old train station was closed in 2004, the adjacent park at Railway Square became increasingly forgotten and underutilised. More than a decade later, Byron Shire Council drew up ambitious plans to revitalise the community space through the creation of Byron Bay Railway Park, designed by Plummer & Smith Landscape Architects.

As part of the wider project, Fleetwood Urban was contracted to collaborate on a highly creative custom play structure to encourage local families to rediscover the once-buzzing heritage precinct in Byron’s town centre.

Our involvement.

Fleetwood was appointed on the direct recommendation of Plummer & Smith Landscape Architects to collaborate on the new park’s hero play structure.

Guided by our proprietary project methodology, we began by discussing and refining Plummer & Smith’s early concept sketches, turning them into detailed 3D drawings which proved critical in garnering local support via the Council’s community group consultations.

A number of revisions were made and we then progressed the approved concept designs into drafting and design detailing, before leading the construction and assembly stages.

To maximise project efficiencies, while simultaneously reducing disruptions at the site, the main structural components were pre-assembled in the controlled environment of our Wetherill Park facility in Sydney, before being transported north to Bryon Bay for smooth and safe installation.

How does this project inspire people to love the outdoors?

This is the hero piece in an award-winning playground and speaks for itself, creating both physical and imagination-inspiring activity. The structure provides both adults and kids with all the benefits of physical and emotional play and will entice from as far as it can be seen from.

Design Challenge

With generally negative attitudes towards the run-down space, both Council and Plummer & Smith Landscape Architects knew the vision for Byron Bay Railway Park needed to be exciting enough to recapture the community’s imagination.

Rather than settle for an off-the-shelf solution they opted for something that had never been built before, creating a fully bespoke play structure.

Delivering each of the play elements accurately was absolutely critical, but far from easy – especially from a constructability and methodology point of view.

Even more challenging was ensuring the overall creative intent didn’t get lost due to the many Play standards and restraints that needed to be met.
Construction Challenge

The shape of the structure was truly custom, utilising an artistic take on the cladding to emulate a bird’s nest.

Beyond its unusual design, another major challenge was the location – nestled in a corner at the back of the block, making access quite difficult.

To deliver the structure successfully, our fabrication and installation teams had to constantly consider the wider architectural intent, making ongoing adjustments and being highly resourceful to ensure the ideal balance of creativity, safety and functionality was achieved.
Innovations

The playground had to be designed around existing stormwater services. This required the original placement of the structure to be moved with several design innovations used to compensate for the presence of the stormwater services.

The whole structure was fully pre-assembled in our workshop in Wetherill Park to reduce the risk of error during install while increasing safety on site in Byron Bay, some 760km away.
Features
- 2 x slides
- Climbing Platforms
- Balancing Log
- Rope elements
- Dual rope climbing challenge
- Birds Nest
Safety & Risk Considerations

It was essential that every element within Byron Bay Railway Park, including the new play structure, was fully compliant with all relevant Australian Standards for safety and quality of construction.

As one of NSW’s most popular year-round tourist destinations, additional planning and safety measures were also undertaken to ensure minimal risks to tourists and locals during the construction and installation stages.
Sustainability Considerations

All materials used for the play structure were sustainably sourced, with recycled materials selected wherever possible.