New skatepark at Kings Beach underway

I met up with Jean, site manager for Newport Plant Hire, to have a quick chat about the new skate park being built at King’s Beach.

So Jean, the question on everyone’s lips is when will this be ready to skate!?

We’re just starting to lay the concrete on the ramps, which should take about a week, and then get started with laying the rest of the surface concrete. We hope to finish before builder’s shutdown on the 15th Dec.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s ready to skate from then. It’s really important that the concrete cures for the right length of time before anyone skates it, else it can get damaged.

So how long does it need to cure?

Ideally about 28 days from when it’s laid. After that it should be rock hard. If you skate it too early you run the risk of damaging the concrete surface as it has not hardened enough to take any abrasive action, which means it can break down more easily and you end up with a wearing surface that will powder and eventually be uneven and covered in chips and holes etc. We’re also going to be putting on a hardener over the concrete, this will help keep the surface smooth, and protect it. So a tentative date for when it should be ready to skate is mid January all going well.

So what all do we have going on in the park?

It’s a street park design. There are banks running length-wise down either side of the park. In the middle we have a fun box with ledges and a rail running over it. There’s a few “love-bumps” scattered around as well; transitions all over, and in the NE corner we have stairs and 2 rails. It’s got a slight fall-off from east to west, which means the water should drain off it pretty well. There’ll be a staircase joining the bowl and the park.

Who designed the park?

Allen from Rampin SA designed the park. He’s been a skate park designer for the last 20 years, and has put something together here that’ll stay relevant for a long time to come.

ML bumped into Allen the park designer on-site – he said it was pretty cool to be standing in his drawing, and see it all come to life. He also mentioned he thought the current bowl could be tweaked a bit to get it running nicely – so let’s hope the Madiba Bay Development Agency springs for a few gorilla’s to get that sorted as well!

So there we have it, a pretty insane looking skate park is underway. But please ou’s, DON’T be tempted to try skate it before it’s officially opened. Cos all that you’ll be doing is stuffing up the concrete meaning you’ll have a lumpy bumpy damaged park in future. Not clever! Be patient, and before you know it, it’ll be good to go.

Allen (park designer) and Jean (site manager) taking a break from gooi-ing concrete

Newport Plant Hire is owned by local surfer Emile Zoetmulder, and his son, local ripper Donovan, works with his pop in the business. Lekker to have some surfers building something rad! Nice one guys!
Thanks to Marius Bosch for the 3D graphics of the park.