New Exeter skate park designs revealed

Exciting new designs have been revealed for a new skate park in Exeter.

The new facility at Arena Park is to be built in September and is expected to be finished before Christmas. The design of the park has been chosen by a group of local pro skaters working to a design brief heavily influenced by the local skating community.

Exeter City Council this week appointed Maverick Industries to build the skate park. Designs show a range of features popular with skaters including ramps, quarterpipes, flatbanks, ledges and rails. The plaza style design will also feature a viewing/seating area overlooking all the action.

The old skate park had to be broken up last year after it came to the end of its usable life. It had proved immensely popular over the last ten years but had fallen into disrepair and was unsafe to use.

In November, after the old skate park had been removed, the City Council installed temporary equipment to keep local skaters going. The work was carried out with Tim Ruck of the Boarding House and proved popular with skaters.

Cllr David Harvey, Lead Councillor for Place, said that right from the start, the Council had been keen to get the views and wishes of the skater community to help influence a design that they were happy with.

“In the end we had more than 300 people taking part in a consultation exercise to contribute ideas for the designs of the new facility,” he added.

The temporary skate park will stay open over the summer holidays before closing in September to allow for the building work to begin. This is expected to take around 14 weeks. During this time, other skate parks will be available to use at Flowerpot Playing Fields, Heavitree Pleasure Ground , Station Road Playing Field in Pinhoe and Topsham Recreation Ground.