Government Sustainability

The guide, supported by CABE Space, advocates a fresh design-led approach to commissioning, based on ten principles. The rules ask practitioners to imagine a play space that is:

1. Designed to enhance its setting — successful play spaces are designed to fit their surroundings and enhance the local environment, complementing attractive spaces and enhancing poorer environments.
2. Located in the best possible place — successful play spaces are located carefully ‘to be where children would play naturally’. 
3. Close to nature — grassy mounds, planting, logs and boulders can all help to make a more attractive and playable setting for equipment, and planting can also help attract birds and other wildlife to bring the play space to life. 
4. Designed so that children can play in different ways — successful play spaces can be used in different ways by children and young people of different ages and interests.
5. Geared towards encouraging disabled and able-bodied children to play together.
6. Loved by the community — a successful community engagement process will help create a site that the community likes and which meets its needs. 
7. Where children of all ages play together — good play spaces avoid segregating children based on age or ability.
8. Designed to enable children to stretch and challenge themselves in every way 
9. Maintained for play value and environmental sustainability — good play spaces are designed and constructed using sustainable materials and maintained to encourage different play experiences.
10. Flexible and able to evolve as the children grow — building some ‘slack space’ into the layout, areas with no pre-defined function, can help introduce the potential for change and evolution.