Case Studies
Bibra Lake Regional Playground

Design Feature

Type of project
Playground
State
Western Australia
Location
Urban
Bibra Lake Regional Playground is a 7,000 square metre regionally significant playground located in the southern suburb of Bibra Lake in Perth, Western Australia.  
An engaging space to learn and play
Led by the City of Cockburn, the project concept was to provide the community with a variety of ways to learn, play and explore their local area, while introducing and connecting children of all ages and abilities to the natural environment. As such, the space has been created as a regional destination, featuring interactive public art, shelters, barbecues, drinking fountains and themed vegetation for the community to access and enjoy. 

The unique space has utilised existing tree canopies, recycled materials, and additionally drawn on the flora and wildlife, through the inclusion of features such as long neck tortoises, dragonflies, butterflies and native plants. The cultural significance of the area for local Aboriginal people has also prompted the inclusion of features that celebrate the heritage of the site as a food source and place of mythological importance.
The park was initiated and sponsored by City of Cockburn Human Services. The design and development of the park was directed by various Council departments and local organisations, and extensive community consultation was conducted via the City of Cockburn Children's Reference Group and Aboriginal Reference Group, ensuring it met community and cultural needs of the area. It includes features for children, adults and those with disabilities, to ensure inclusivity and promote diversity.
The playground features a multitude of creative play elements that cater to the needs of different ages and abilities. Key play equipment includes:
  • A double flying fox
  • Tree top aerial rope walk
  • Rope obstacle course and climbing frames
  • Water play area with sandpit
  • In ground trampolines
  • Seesaws
  • A bird’s nest swing
  • The Diprotodon fossil dig (revealing the prehistoric marsupial that inhabited Bibra Lake 25,000 years ago)
  • Climbing frames
  • Cubby houses.

In prioritising inclusivity, the playground also includes:

  • Disability change rooms with tracking hoists with height adjustable adult sized changing bench, automatic doors and enough space for two carers (the first of its kind in Western Australia)
  • Ambulant and barrier free toilets
  • Wheelchair accessible pool fence gates
  • New innovative wheelchair accessible barbeques
  • Wheelchair accessible drinking fountains
  • Supportive seating on play equipment
  • A wheelchair accessible movement network, featuring accessible ramps and rubber matting.
  • Microwave activated sound sculptures in the form of talking rocks
  • Wheelchair accessible/user activated play water play sprays.

Regarding functionality, the playground features amenities that allow the community to actively engage with the public space, promote passive surveillance and safety, and support social connection.  This includes:

  • Tree sheltered picnic areas
  • Six sheltered barbeques with movement activated lighting
  • Drinking fountains
  • Toilet facilities
  • An enclosed perimeter safety fence.

The play space also includes large basket-like climbing frames, which were inspired by Aboriginal fish traps, and a family of highly detailed giant long neck tortoise sculptures. The mother tortoise is nine-metres long, and her nest of hatching eggs explain to children the life cycle of this important local environmental indicator.
Project team
  • City of Cockburn Environmental Health Services (site contamination remediation, and use of water in public areas technical advice)
  • City of Cockburn Parks Services , design and documentation of construction contract.
  • City of Cockburn Infrastructure Services, Administration of construction contract,Disability Services Commission

Project Cost
$3.4 Million
Health value
  • The playground provides opportunities for people of all abilities to engage in active play, and to mingle with people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.
  • The features have been designed to target upper and lower body strength, coordination, balance and encourage cooperative behaviour.
  • The use of climbable objects of an irregular form and a challenging nature assist with reducing the instance of dyspraxia in children using the site.
  • Children are offered play experiences of progressive difficulty to ensure that the playground offers physically demanding and interesting challenges for the children.

Economic Value

The Bibra Lake Regional Playground is located in a rural entertainment precinct within a large regional open space. Natural recreational assets include surrounding irrigated parkland and the large open water of Bibra Lake itself.
Private recreational facilities located close to the Regional Playground include:
  • a large water play theme park (Adventure World)
  • an indoor ice skating rink and
  • a paintball skirmish facility.

The inclusion of a free facility and other extensive rural pursuits such as jogging, cycling and bird watching around the lake enhances the economic value of the private businesses in the area by attracting a wider spectrum of the population than might otherwise visit this location.
Environmental Value
  • The playground was built over a former unregulated tip site. Its construction involved enhancing the capping over the unregulated fill beneath, and the removal of contamination where excavation for foundations and underground services were required. In this way, the condition of the site as a former unregulated tip has been substantially improved.
  • Where necessary, existing exotic tree species were removed, and replaced with a large number of locally indigenous species to create the local ecosystems.
  • Much of the planting within the playground was selected as a food source for both children and the local wildlife. Mulberry Trees and Poinciana trees produce flamboyant snacks for the children, whereas local berry bearing shrubs such as Berry Saltbush and Dianella provide an opportunity for children to experience ‘bush tucker’ first hand.

Social Value
  • The playground offers a community facility that encourages various forms of social connection and engagement. For example, children of all abilities are able to take part in play activities together, and parents, carers and the general public are able to utilise the facilities of the playground to socialise with one another.
  • Informal instruction in natural features and Aboriginal culture is offered seamlessly in the play environment. It facilitates a culture of social inclusivity, whereby non–Aboriginal migrant communities can become familiar with their Aboriginal hosts. This enhances social capital, community interconnectedness and reduces social isolation.

Use Value
  • The playground offers unique and valuable infrastructure that supports the use of the space by people of all abilities, thereby offering use value beyond that of a typical playground.
  • Playground features, including lights, and an anti-snake perimeter pool fence enhance the safety of the area for unsupervised children.

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