On Monday, 5 April Manukau City Council approved the final concept plan for the skatepark. P&M Civil Ltd have been awarded the construction contract. They will be assisted by James Blas of Custom Skateparks.
Construction has started and in a few months Manukau will have a first-class skatepark complete with New Zealand’s first cradle, a combination bowl, and a modern skate plaza. Stay tuned to this website for regular construction updates. Thanks for your continued support and input.
April 14th, 2010 at 12:39 am
It’s looking great.
I just spent two weeks in the USA (San Diego) skating. I mainly rode Washington (under the bridge) and Martin Luther King Jnr. Awesome parks. I also skated Memorial and Encinitas YMCA (considered the best vert bowl setup in the States – with concrete coping) Washington is a hardcore park – no metal coping anywhere. All of the large/vert bowls at the other parks have concrete coping and the smaller bowls/snake runs have steel coping. Apart from Washington they all have street areas.
It gave me a pretty good idea of what a good skatepark is and what Auckland is lacking. I’ve been skating 35 years (grew up at New Lynn) My main concern is concrete coping on the larger pools. Do James Blas and Custom have that experience? I hope so. It is an important aspect to be considered. None of the large/vert bowls I rode in the Sates had steel coping – they were all concrete. Again, an important aspect of a ‘first-class skatepark’.
I saw a lot of ’street’ skaters having a quick slash/jam in the larger pools/bowls and loving the ‘grind’. To achieve that ‘first-class’ standarad, balance the coping… steel all the way will be a mistake.
All the best and good luck.
April 14th, 2010 at 11:09 am
In regards to the comment about Jim Blas and Custom Sk8parks, Jim blas was responsible for the bowl at Keri Downs reserve in Papakura which has concrete coping.
April 14th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I agree to BDEI but only make concrete coping on the bowl because steel coping on the boxes,rail etc would be better than concrete.
April 15th, 2010 at 10:18 am
Jim Blas has built Keri Downs, Wanganui and Hawera. This park is in good hands as long as the other contractors listen to him.
April 17th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
keri downs reserve bowl has a metal coping, not concrete
April 18th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
sorry it is concrete, looks a bit like steel
April 18th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
have faith .
May 1st, 2010 at 7:42 pm
hurry up and finnish already I want this skatepark to be finnished on time.