Thinking of setting up an indoor Skatepark in Dublin

Bastack

Hi there,

Does any body know who the people in the Dublin City Council are to talk to regarding possibly setting up an indoor park in Dublin ? I thinkit is great of all the moves on Skateparks but I feel indoor is the way to go with all the good rain we get ( I kayak too so I like the rain)

If anyone can help me I would apreciate as I want to get something moving....

Thanks

Brian

Culchie

I'd say first thing you should do is identify a location, and get some figures together (rent, insurance etc...) ... have a plan, and project idea written out.

Then I would go about approaching councillors or whoever.

bigpoppa

Brian

I think you should, all I have is a big curb and a bus timetable, want to look at it?

Bastack

Ooooo Broke Me Board!

red_ice

I know just the chaps to build the ramps if it goes ahead.

I mate of mine used to skate with some of the dog-town boys when he was about 15. Hes been in thrasher mag a few times and was one of the pioneers of skating(or so he says). Hes in the process of building a mini ramp out his backgarden at the moment, and hes always going on about the right ramp length and transition n stuff. He knows his stuff with ramps, and would make a very very creative park for rollerblading, skateboarding(thats what he does best) and bmxing. im talking, ramps on ramps with gaps/rails and ledges like you see on the globe skatetour or in your dreams

If you want any details with a quote/design he could price stuff up for you no hassle if you give him dimensions.

Just thought i'd throw that out there

shagman

Just buy ramp and rail and redevelop it.

Skatedude

yes, buy ramp n rail. i still have shares in it.
Not sure it would be suitable as the landlord wants to develop the property.
One of the main keys to building an indoor park is a suitable premises. the building we got for r n r wasnt the best but the rent was fairly cheap at the time. we did plan to move to a better building later, but it didnt happen due to the insurance problems a few years ago which closed us down for so long.
It might be worth looking for a site that nots too close to city center, the rents are too high as the land is worth too much to developers

Bastack

Thanks for the replies guys. I trying to meet up with the Council people and see if that may be an option.

Thanks again.

Brian

wideangle

What about going one better and opening a Irish branch of Woodward Camp here in Ireland.Its an American company so the government can give tax incentives to American companies...right.

Imagine that...a mecca for skateboarding,inline and bmx on our doorstep,with top European pros doing the coaching.Makes sence.

There was talk of someone opening a woodward camp type of thing in England last summer,they are gone back to the drawing board stage.

wideangle

Oh yeah..whats the story with ramp n rail...has it closed down or something?

red_ice

wideangle wrote:

What about going one better and opening a Irish branch of Woodward Camp here in Ireland.Its an American company so the government can give tax incentives to American companies...right.

Imagine that...a mecca for skateboarding,inline and bmx on our doorstep,with top European pros doing the coaching.Makes sence.

There was talk of someone opening a woodward camp type of thing in England last summer,they are gone back to the drawing board stage.

If only!

Santa Claus

I know someone who looked into this before.
He had to abandon the plan as he couldn't get insurance for less than 140K a year !

Skatedude

lo
No R n R is still open, its just that me(trev) and mike had to leave. i got injured and couldnt work for 6 months, so its just frank running the place now.

It will probably close eventually as i believe the landlord wants to rent out the unit to the snooker club next door or is planing to sell the property for development.
Since we are now getting new parks opening around the country it wont be too bad, at the end of the day thats why we opened RnR in the first place, to show the councils that parks can work and are wanted.
It was fun working there but i couldnt afford to stay any longer, i simply have too many bills to pay so i went back to tech work

fisheye

wideangle wrote:

What about going one better and opening a Irish branch of Woodward Camp here in Ireland.Its an American company so the government can give tax incentives to American companies...right.

Imagine that...a mecca for skateboarding,inline and bmx on our doorstep,with top European pros doing the coaching.Makes sence.

There was talk of someone opening a woodward camp type of thing in England last summer,they are gone back to the drawing board stage.

Woodward are also responsible for Huna Ramps which are some of the worst possible modular ramps which masquerade as parks in some of the more unfortunate towns around the US and UK - to be avoided at all costs. Woodward started off a summer camp for gymnasts and then later branched into skating/BMXing/blading/extreme ****. Why would you want a US company to come in and set that up? All profits leave the country straight away and it's just part of a massive corporate empire with no real interest in skating other than the money it'd bring in. Skate camps and the like are fine if you're under 15, but that's about it - Titus, a German distributor, started doing skate camp trips to Barcelona a couple of years ago. Armies of wristbanded German kids, 40-50 strong, decended on all the main spots and were largely responsible for getting a lot of spots skatestopped. I wouldn't encourage them at all - I think Shagman used to coach skatecamps in UCD/Camp 2000 in the late 80s.

skapunkkeith

if u r gonna do it, do it on the southside, thats were we need it most

wideangle

Woodward is class,it is responsible for pushing the bounderies of skatepark sports to the limits.Thay have their own skate park ramp builders on site,one of them is a bmx rider builds the skatelite ramps there..forget his name.I think its a good idea even if its on a much smaller scale.


Regarding the insurance:that is why it would be better if it was woodward set it up as they could get cover via whoever they get it from in the states...or is that possible.

shagman

You wont get sensibly priced insurance anywhere BUT you don't really need it. Run it as a club and it can be done without insurance as has been proved by RNR..... you can't sue a club you're a member of. I have to agree with Fisheye about Woodward they may have taken on the whole thing very professionally and employed the right people here and there, but essentially they're just another bunch of bandwagon jumpers in it purely for the cash. You'll end up with a stack of overpriced modular cack and I doubht they'd get involved in a market as unpredictable as Ireland (in terms of commercial skateparks that is).
Low overheads will be the key to sucess.

rebelbmx

wideangle wrote:

Woodward is class,it is responsible for pushing the bounderies of skatepark sports to the limits.Thay have their own skate park ramp builders on site,one of them is a bmx rider builds the skatelite ramps there..forget his name.I think its a good idea even if its on a much smaller scale.


Nate Wessel is the BMXer who builds at woodward

GoofySkater

How about a simple outdoor skatepark, but with a shelter... Too bad for ramp n rail, I'm gona miss it so much. It was my crew's rainy day spot. I feel really sorry for two kids that skate there, Donal and Ronan Murray(9 and 7). If ramp n rail goes and the council doesnt provide a skatepark soon enough they could end up quiting skating due to lack of places to go, and trust me that would be such a waste of talent. The 7 year old can kickflip the 5 at RnR.

shagman

I don't think Nate Wessel is directly employed by Woodward or Kuna, I think he is brought in on contract to do specific projects.I think he is an independant contractor. He is a damn good ramp builder though and has built some amazing stuff. Much props to him and his everlasting pen!

lifesgood

kinda goin off topic here with the whole woodward thing woodward camp can only work in america because ders so many skaters there the government would never spend that much on a skating facility so just stick to an indoor park make a thread and ask people to just write there name if they would use it and when you get enough people then look for a location and then see how much insurance and rent would cost then you could approach the council

Phaeton

That would be good, but it must be a private investment. Skateparks like Woodward or Eisenbergs are in private hands. Something with professional management. Good indoor skatepark should be huge, has a bar, shop, competitions every month, music bands playing live whan you skate Only BIG thing can bring people interest in it, sponsors, money, donations. Do you know anyone with spare 2M Euro?

lifesgood

just make sure its skater owned and not owned by some company or sumtin. thats the problem with ramp city everything they sell is overpriced bcoz they want as much money as posssinble(its a good park though) but skaters are usually more genuine about the price of entry fee etc.:D

ethanb

hi lifesgood
guess what? life would be fantastic:D if your skatepark idea is pulled off. at the moment i commute with my 16yr old to bring him to different parks. he's not keen on santry over priced for what you get. lucan, bushy pk, and blanchardstown too weather dependant.
Anyone remember the skatepark in Drumcondra? was a lot of rumors re why it closed down maybe worth checking out. my son loved it said although fairly small had best layout.
keep in touch with me re your idea and where you think would best located etc
GOOD LUCK

sfnk!

Santa Claus wrote:

I know someone who looked into this before.
He had to abandon the plan as he couldn't get insurance for less than 140K a year !

they closed the indoor park in Cork cuz of insane insurance fee's as well...

lifesgood

and where you think would best located etc


somewhere far enough from town bcoz the closer it is too town the higher the rent will be.theres an old closed down woodys in omni its huge and isnt being used for anything seems like a good location to me. oh ye and someone said earlier in the post that you dont have to pay insurance if you make it a club and whoever uses it has too sign a form saying that they wont sue etc.(this was done by ramp n rail)

cheers for the reply!:D