Bushy park skatepark update

shagman

As most of yiz know we've been working a lot with various councils down here on averting more waterford type skatepark planning disasters.
Education and steering them towards the cream of park builders and out of cowboy-land was the name of the game. Dublin city councils skatepark project in Bushy park is nearly ready to go ahead after much hard work and dedication by one Mr Sean Redmond.

It will be concrete !!!
It will be built by Oregon park builders Airspeed skateparks (as seen in KM64)!!!!!

About a month ago it nearly all went on the shelf due to narky residents having a big meeting saying they weren't consulted and that we'd be blocking them in their driveways with our cars and that the park should be moved to Ballyfermot and all the usual "not in my backyard" rubbish.

Now the good news , Dublin City Council have decided to go ahead with the project and want our support. Please send e-mails of support stating where you live and how important this project is to you to

sean.redmond@dublincity.ie

AIRSPEED WEBSITE.. http://www.airspeedskateparks.com/

asto

Sounds Good Man Keep up the Good Work, And Keep us Posted

fisheye

Who's designing it? What will it be based on? Plaza or transitions? What is the size of the area involved? A tennis court or a GAA pitch? Looking at Airspeed's portfolio, a lot of their parks look quite similar, although the finishing of the concrete looks spot on. Will they be supervising the concrete finishing or doing it themselves? Are the council going to gay it up by putting size restrictions on the transitions or whatever?

Go to Australia or Oregon or whereever there are similar, massive parks like that and you'll see how it shapes the way locals skate. Learning and building your skills on 10ft quarter might scare the bejaysus out of you at first, but it'll make you a far better, well rounded skater than a ****ty, tight arsed 6ft quarter.

Who ever is designing this NEEDS to put the plans up on the web and let others see what's going on and offer criticism and advice. Personally, I'd like to see elements from Baggot St, the old Trinity Berkley Library banks which are now unskateable, UCD banks, a 3up3down like in SF or Newtownpark Avenue, a couple of benches in a row, flat gaps, a large, fairly steep hip, banks with ledges sticking out of them, Wembeley gaps... Basically something more like a plaza or contemporary street design. Not the bogstandard W design - if it's going to be transition-based, then use your imagination and let it run riot.

Check the designs for the park in Middlesborough and Stoke to see how they've incorporated some classic and contemporary local and international spots into the park designs.

shagman

Airspeed will be designing and building the park, there are no restrictions bar size and budget.Size is limited at a little over two tennis courts. Park will most likely be a little bit of plaza with a sprinkling of transition. Now some history.

Burnside skatepark in Portland Oregon was built (without city permission) by a crew headed up by dude called Red. When a neighbouring city (Lincoln) called on them to build a new park they formed dreamland skateparks. Since way back then Dreamland and the original crew have splintered into a number of different skatepark companies, including PTR, Grindline, Dreamland and Airspeed.
Basically these guys have tons of experience and are one of the top 5 park builders in the world. Go watch KM64 and you'll get a feel for what these guys are about, the park couldn't be in safer hands.
SO GO AND SEND A MAIL NOW TO sean.redmond@dublincity.ie

jozi

Nice to see it all coming together, good work shagman.

Now can we do cavan next

fisheye

shagman wrote:

Airspeed will be designing and building the park, there are no restrictions bar size and budget

All well and good, but they haven't lived or skated the spots here. Looking at their portfolio, which is pretty impressive to be honest, but all their parks are on the same vibe - giant transitions all over the place. It would be better for all involved to get some ideas and designs together and have a lengthy consultation process before a fixed design is agreed upon.

edit - what's the budget? That sounds the most important restriction to me. Will there be any health and safety muppets sticking their oar in to dictate that there's to be no obstacle over 3ft high? 2 tennis courts really isn't that big at all. The Milton Keynes plaza is only about the size of 1 tennis court - at a guess, I'd say that Ramp City would be of a similar area to 2 tennis courts and you can see how cramped and rubbish that park is from trying to throw in too much of everthing. If there's going to be any steps in the park, there should be nothing over 3 or 4 steps high as that creates negative flow - you can only go down 10 steps, but if you replace it with a bank or Wembeley gap, you get the same distance for a gap and it increases the flow and lines in the park. Just a few ideas...

smois

somone said to me today that bushy is not going ahead in the end because of having too many complaints...and the park has been relocated to ballymun....can snyone confirm this????shag????

shagman

See my first post >>>>>>>

About a month ago it nearly all went on the shelf due to narky residents having a big meeting saying they weren't consulted and that we'd be blocking them in their driveways with our cars and that the park should be moved to Ballyfermot and all the usual "not in my backyard" rubbish.

Now the good news , Dublin City Council have decided to go ahead with the project and want our support. Please send e-mails of support stating where you live and how important this project is to you to .........

sean.redmond@dublincity.ie

smois

the guy that said this to me said he only read it in the paper the other day????

moonboy

fisheye wrote:

All well and good, but they haven't lived or skated the spots here. Looking at their portfolio, which is pretty impressive to be honest, but all their parks are on the same vibe - giant transitions all over the place. It would be better for all involved to get some ideas and designs together and have a lengthy consultation process before a fixed design is agreed upon.

edit - what's the budget? That sounds the most important restriction to me. Will there be any health and safety muppets sticking their oar in to dictate that there's to be no obstacle over 3ft high? 2 tennis courts really isn't that big at all. The Milton Keynes plaza is only about the size of 1 tennis court - at a guess, I'd say that Ramp City would be of a similar area to 2 tennis courts and you can see how cramped and rubbish that park is from trying to throw in too much of everthing. If there's going to be any steps in the park, there should be nothing over 3 or 4 steps high as that creates negative flow - you can only go down 10 steps, but if you replace it with a bank or Wembeley gap, you get the same distance for a gap and it increases the flow and lines in the park. Just a few ideas...

you're getting very picky about the whole thing..
this is a big deal..dont ask for a bigger deal..
let it all come together and then go skate it..

shagman

Heres a mail I got from the council........

From Dublin city council :

Dear Skaters/BMXers/In-liners,
As many of you may know the last South Central Area Committee Meeting at City Hall (20,07,05) agreed to allow the Parks Section of Dublin City Council to continue with the consultation and design stage ONLY of the Proposal to build a skatepark in Bushy Park. We were asked to complete this stage and then make a report with the proposed design to the next Area Meeting. If this is passed at that meeting, construction can begin. At the moment I am trying to organise the successful contractor (Airspeed Skateparks, of Oregon U.S.A - check out their website) to come to Ireland to help us complete the design/consultation stage of the project.
As you may also realise there has been a lot of opposition to the building of the facility from local residents. Those opposing the plan have made sure to let their feelings known to their local councillors. As time progresses support against the project seems to be increasing. This is why I am writing to you today. If any of you have any ideas on how you can get together to make your voice heard, please get back to me. I am most interested in those living in the area close to Bushy Park, especially Terenure, Kimmage, Rathgar, Rathfarnham, Templeogue etc. If you are from, or know of interested individuals in this area I'd be grateful in hearing from you with your ideas.
regards,
Sean Redmond
Assistant Parks Superintendent
Dublin City Council.

Latest news is that Airspeed are coming over soon for meetings. The council are trying to get this built but we need to show that there is more support for the park than there is opposition against it. So heres some ideas.

Contact the mediaJoe Duffy, Local Papers (southside people etc), RTE news whoever you can think of.

Sign the petition, the good folks at www.bentfork.com BMX website have got a petition at the skate shops go and sign it.Start a petition in your school once you go back especially if you live in the area.

Get local councillors and residents comitees to sign a letter of support, visit their meeetings and clinics .

SHAGGY.

weetabixs

There is a lot of local Objections to the Park at the moment, i would reckon there will be some meetings before this park will ever get started.