Playground and sports safety surfaces

Safety is at the front of everyone’s mind when designing a play area or a sports ground, but it’s also important to think about the look and design of any area before you decide what you’re going to use to surface it.

Adding a safer surface to play areas helps to avoid nasty injuries and cushions the impact of falls – which can’t ever be avoided! To meet the requirements of BS EN 1176 and BS EN 1177, it’s recommended that impact absorbing surfaces in play areas should be installed beneath all equipment that has a free height of fall greater than 0.6m.

All the different options for surfaces have different levels of safety, functional characteristics, maintenance requirements and of course cost. 

So, what are the different types of surfaces you might consider for a play or sports area?

 

 

 

Wet Pour

 This is a continuous, hard-wearing and slip-resistant rubber surface that gives a high quality finish and needs very little maintenance once it’s down.  Once the free height of fall has been worked out, the wet pour can be laid underneath any playground equipment to give a good impact absorber.Wet pour can be a very versatile type of surfacing as it’s available in a range of colours and can be adapted for sports surfaces and play areas, with logos, shapes and floor games like hopscotch easily added.

Loosefill

Loose-fill surfacing is also great for absorbing impact in play and sports facilities, and has the advantage of being easy to match with play units and equipment so that it gives a natural look too. It also costs less than tiling and wet-pour surfacing, but there’s more maintenance involved as it needs
topping up and regular raking.

Popular loosefill surfaces are recycled timber and bark, and sand is a traditional style loosefill option that’s still favoured by many play areas.

Tiles

Rubber and Matta tiles look great in play areas, and with some designs they can be adapted so that weeds are kept at bay and grass grows through the tile to keep the area looking natural.

Rubber tiles can give a finished surface with similar properties as wet pour, and are usually laid onto a concrete base. Rubber tiles are available in a range of colours for sport and play areas.

Matta tiles are an open mesh style tile which is made from pre-fabricated, interlocking recycled rubber & PVC tiles.

Bonded Rubber Mulch

This is a type of solid rubber shred which is made from recycled rubber and then coloured. The rubber shred is then bound with a specially formulated PU binder. Bonded rubber mulch is laid onto solid, compacted ground with a membrane and is designed to follow the contours of the existing surface, so is similar to wet pour but often works out as a more cost-effective option.

If you’re looking for advice on the best surfacing for your play area or sports ground, contact one of
our team.