Overall Winner: Irish Concrete Society’s 39th Awards
The project set out to transform the Lawns at Le Fanu Park in Ballyfermot as a new play and skate park.
As a centre piece, the project provides a much-needed space for local youths to practice with state-of-the-art skate and BMX facilities.
There are two differentiated concrete skate areas: A skate-BMX plaza located at the entrance which primarily has jumps, ramps and linear elements and a skate-BMX bowl area. These are the main attraction features of the park and include a deep bowl (3m) and shallow bowl (1.5m). Three grass mounds are located along the perimeter of the bowls looking out at the skate area for the community to gather and look at the skaters/BMX riders.
The construction methodology followed strict guidelines set out by the design team with a focus on the type of finish and the correct installation of coping to run flush with the concrete at edges. In addition, the avoidance of irregular geometry on ramps was seen as crucial, with a 2mm tolerance applying to depressions, protrusions and undulations on the finished concrete.
Through careful planning and prescription of a suitable concrete mix the skate-BMX plaza was completed in June 2020.
Careful consideration of the mix cement type and the use of admixtures was seen as essential for allowing for placement and finishing operations to be completed in a timely manner.
As the project progressed from winter months into spring, admixture dosages were adjusted based on the contractor’s feedback to slow the set of the mix.