New Hope School is a caring Christian school community that caters for students with a mild to moderate level of Intellectual delay or Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Earlier this year, the school relocated from its previous location to a brand new 2.5 hectare site which will accommodate up to 72 students from Year 1 – 12. The bespoke design features cottage-style buildings designed to make students feel at home.
With new classrooms for both learning and therapy, the interior of the school was designed for peace, security and tranquillity. New Hope School now needed an exterior to match, and the school leadership team wanted to introduce a warm and inviting ‘village’ feel to their play environments across several areas of the school.
The project design consisted of both synthetic turf and softfall rubber surfaces in different areas of the school. However, due to the village-style construction featuring multiple single-storey buildings linked by gardens, paths and common areas, access to the centre of the site was quite challenging.
The intricate synthetic turf staircase component required precision and care, taking a long time to install, however the Preferred Turf team had accurately planned for this and we delivered the project on time and within budget.
Preferred Turf’s brief was to deliver a creative, inviting project that complemented the school and its surroundings. We achieved this through our use of safe and tactile synthetic turf and soft fall rubber in sky blue, creating a fun and inviting play surface for students.
Our 40mm premium synthetic landscaping turf provided a touch of softness and a natural look, as well as offering strong UV resistance and good durability appropriate for school applications. The playground design included a synthetic turf covered staircase adjacent to the play equipment – this staircase turned out beautifully and was certainly worth the additional time and effort to install.
Beneath the playground equipment, bright and safe softfall rubber surfacing was installed, creating a flexible and soft landing underneath the slides and climbing frames.
Overall, seven individual outdoor areas were transformed with our 40mm premium synthetic turf, with two areas also benefiting from rubber soft fall installation.
The school’s Business Manager, Chris Baldry, is impressed with the result, noting that the new playground areas are being well utilised by students.
“We couldn’t be happier with the NHS project, and the artificial grass mound and steps are a favourite place for the students to gather.”
Preferred Turf is an experienced supplier and installer of commercial synthetic turf and rubber softfall surfaces in Sydney and beyond. Get in touch with our team for advice on the best synthetic surfaces for your next project.
*Photos courtesy New Hope School.
