Wicksteed Playgrounds Review

Sourcing playground equipment can be a frustrating and complex experience, and installing and maintaining that equipment can be even harder. Finding a reliable supplier and installer for playground equipment is an important part of the process, and the best companies in the sports facility construction contracting industry can provide a cost-effective, safe, and valuable service in helping you to get your perfect facilities set up efficiently and with the minimum of stress.

One of the longest-running companies in the sports and playground surfacing and equipment industries is Wicksteed Playgrounds, a company promising over a century of experience in its field. But is that experience worth anything? Has Wicksteed Playgrounds managed to stay up to date in a rapidly changing industry? You might be surprised by our Wicksteed Playgrounds review and its information about what this company can offer you.

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Wicksteed Playgrounds Overview

Wicksteed Playgrounds is a company based in Kettering, Northamptonshire, but providing services to clients across the UK. The company was founded in 1918, meaning that they have over 100 years of experience in the play industry – far more than almost any competitor in the entire country.

The team of staff at Wicksteed Playgrounds is one of the largest in the country, bringing a well-trained and effective workforce to bear with all of their collective skill and experience. A large team of experienced playground designers and area sales managers can help clients to realise their visions for their play areas or sports facilities.

Wicksteed Playgrounds offers complete installation services supported by fully trained inspection engineers, and all of their products and services are checked to ensure that they comply with all relevant British and European safety standards. The company has worked with local authorities, town, parish, and community councils, schools, leisure parks and holiday centres, as well as landscape architects and designers, and housing developers, to provide a wide range of facilities and services to clients of differing sizes, budgets, and requirements over the years.

All of the services offered by Wicksteed Playgrounds are fully customisable, and the team works with clients to create bespoke play areas and equipment, with a strong focus on designing accessible facilities. All leisure products and playground equipment come with extensive guarantees and full safety inspections both before and after installation.

Wicksteed Playgrounds holds full safety accreditation with CHAS, Constructionline, EXOR, and SMAS Worksafe, as well as being a member of the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS).

Services Offered By Wicksteed Playgrounds

Wicksteed Playgrounds offers a wide range of different services to clients, all of which can be personalised in consultation with the client to perfectly fit their needs. Many of these services are often taken in combination, and the team can fluidly adjust and adapt to fit the client’s needs. The main areas of service in which Wicksteed Playgrounds operates are as follows:

 Playground Design

Wicksteed Playgrounds have one of the most advanced in-house design facilities in the entire industry, and this facility is operated by a team of highly skilled and innovative designers to provide the best solutions for your playground’s specific needs. Both in terms of practical considerations such as budget and space and major considerations about the play needs of the children themselves. The design team works to fully integrate their playground designs with the local environment in terms of both visual coherence and meeting the needs of the specific community for which the facilities will be set up. Projects are designed with an isometric drawing, and every aspect can be fully approved by clients before construction begins.

Product Design

All outdoor playground equipment designed by Wicksteed Playgrounds is fully compliant with European Safety Standard EN1176 for playground equipment. Because the company manufactures all playground equipment in the UK, a fully bespoke design service is available, and special pieces of playground equipment can be commissioned from Wicksteed Playgrounds with ease, even if they are outside the normally available pieces of equipment. Over the last century of work, the company has developed a vast portfolio of diverse, dynamic design and elements, and now all of these can be brought together to create something truly fresh and unique for every piece of play equipment in your playground or other play areas.

Playground Installation

Even the best quality playground equipment is useless or potentially even dangerous if it is installed poorly and irresponsibly. Wicksteed Playgrounds offers a trusted installation service nationwide, using staff fully trained in both British and European safety standards for playgrounds. The company has full accreditation with CHAS, Constructionline, EXOR and SMAS Worksafe, as well as being a participant in the Considerate Constructors Scheme. This means that their installation services can be trusted to be efficient, safe, professional, and fully cognizant of environmental issues and neighbourliness in the local area.

Playground Inspection

Wicksteed Playgrounds employs a number of licensed Inspection Engineers, and one of these will check all of the equipment in your playground and write up a full report with detailed recommendations on maintenance, upgrades, or any other issues involved. They can also perform a risk assessment, allowing playground operators to fulfil all necessary requirements under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992. All Wicksteed Inspection Engineers are members of the RPII (Register of Play Inspectors International).

Repair and Maintenance

Many pieces of play equipment experience a great deal of strain on moving parts in day-to-day use, and those parts will eventually start to show signs of wear and tear. Wicksteed Playgrounds offer replacement parts and maintenance for the repair of all playground equipment installed by the company, even the products that are outside their warranty period. Replacement parts can all be delivered within 3-4 weeks, with the most popular parts kept in stock for delivery within 10 working days. Swing components, which experience the most wear and tear through average use, are kept on hand for 72-hour delivery.

Playground Surfacing

As well as play equipment and installation, Wicksteed Playgrounds provide high-quality playground surfacing materials and services to ensure the best playground design and safety possible. Their most popular material is wet pour rubber safety surfacing, which is a durable and reliable surfacing option that is great for situations where a high level of impact absorption is required. Wet pour rubber playground surfacing can be applied in a range of different colours, allowing for vibrant, fun graphics on the floor of your playground, with games such as hopscotch or snakes and ladders built into the flooring itself. Another popular option is playground safety grass, an unobtrusive honeycomb matting that can be installed onto the grass for added durability and impact absorption, with natural grass growing through its cells.

Inclusive Play Equipment

Wicksteed Playgrounds is dedicated to accommodating the needs of less able users, ensuring that playgrounds are designed to be as accessible as possible to the widest range of children possible, allowing for mobility needs to be met wherever that can be achieved.

Wicksteed Playgrounds offers a wide range of services, but the company really specialises in providing play equipment and playground designs that are fully inclusive of all children. This philosophy underpins all of their design work, making them stand out from the crowd thanks to their considerate design and inclusive approach to playground building for all, regardless of mobility or ability.

Wicksteed Playgrounds Contact Details

There is also a contact form available on their website, which you can use to make enquiries about their business or start a conversation about any aspect of their services. You can also request a callback from the company if a phone conversation is better suited to your needs.

Wicksteed Playgrounds Reviews

Reviews of Wicksteed Playgrounds are almost universally positive, with the company holding 4.3 stars out of 5 rating on Google Reviews. There are several detailed reviews from customers available online, and all of these are pleased with the quality of the company’s products and communication.

Satisfied customers highlight a number of different features of this company’s services:

“the Wicksteed folks have made some terrific additions to the children’s play area.”

 

“Would highly recommend!”

 

“Their work on our child’s school was fantastic. They literally transformed a dilapidated grassy area with a rusty climbing frame into a paradise for growing children. They supplied a variety of equipment and play areas, all of which have lead to some thoroughly happy school children!”

 

“Excellent variety of equipment and plenty to keep the kids entertained. Great job!”

 

“Couldn’t have raised all our money without Wicksteed playgrounds help. Nothing ever seemed a problem or too much to ask.”

 

“We are extremely happy with the play equipment- it looks amazing and it is very sturdy and should last for a long time and provide lots of fun for all the children. The service provided by the area sales manager was faultless throughout.”

 

“This is why we work with Wicksteed, they always do a fantastic job and they always deliver.”

 

“The whole process was made easier by the Wicksteed rep, project manager and the contractor who did a fantastic job.”

Summary

Wicksteed Playgrounds is a company with great reviews, and for a good reason. With over 100 years of experience, they know what they are doing and bring all of that expertise to bear on every single project the company completes. The biggest reason to consider this company over others, however, is their focus on inclusivity in play. The play needs of less mobile or less able children are often overlooked in playground design and construction, and Wicksteed Playgrounds aims to rectify that as far as possible.

Our Wicksteed Playgrounds review has covered the basics of the company, but if you have any further questions, Wicksteed Playgrounds are very responsive to inquiries and can easily be reached via their website or social media presences!

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