Flagstone Waterpark

LEADERS RECREATIONAL INNOVATION

We are a specialist team thinking beyond the conventional to create unique, award winning recreational spaces to benefit children, families and communities across Australia.

We are proud to take you on the journey from design through to completion of our latest aquatics project, Flagstone Waterpark.

Throughout this project, we have provided our clients with full end to end design, engineering and construction services to deliver a key infrastructure asset to the wider Logan City community.

As the leader in the design and construction of adventure, inter-generational and aquatic play environments, we excel in creating unique recreational spaces.

FLAGSTONE WATERPARK

Opened in December 2019, the Flagstone waterpark is a ground-breaking design for the Flagstone development. This pivotal project not only highlights the unbound abilities of Playscape Creations design team but also showcases our in-house ability to bring these design ideas to life through engineering and construction.

Flagstone is part of the Logan City Council and is located 60km south-west of Brisbane’s CBD. The Flagstone waterpark is designed to be a destination park in this region and a beacon to both local residents and others that want to come and try it out, explore the area, and maybe even buy a home there.

Community Snapshot
The Flagstone development will take several years to complete, masterplanned for 50,000 dwellings to house a population of up to 120,000 people.

In 2019 Flagstone is in its first stages of housing development, with 6,000 lots currently released.

Construction of a rail network to the community has commenced and there are development plans in place for a thriving CBD.

RECREATION CENTRAL
With an investment of over $12 Million in the current regional recreational parklands, facilities include:

• Custom waterpark
• Adventure playground
• Splash and play dog park
• Skate plaza
• Fitness hub
• 10 ha of green and open recreational space
• Ongoing community events and engagment

CBD MASTERPLAN
Plans are in place for a 126 ha city centre, with 4,000 sqm of retail space and 58,000 sqm of office space.

GREEN SPACE
Dedicated green space a bounds, with more than 330 ha of jogging tracks and parkland.

Playscape Creations designed, engineered and constructed the Flagstone waterpark project. The clients for this project were:

• Urbis-the Landscape Architectural Firm and Superintendent
• PEET-the Developer
• Logan City Council-the eventual recipient of the park (Joint Venture Partner)

Playscape Creations were engaged to create a concept for Urbis as part of a Design Consultation Contract. Within this process, all elements and factors were considered, analysed and tested through rigorous iterations, engineering tests and client approval phases.

During the Construction Contract phase our client transitioned from the Landscape Architect to the Developer, PEET Limited, and the rigorous processes that they demanded demonstrated Playscape Creations' ability to perform at a higher level and meet the expectations set from tier one developers.

Logan City Council will be the final recipients of this asset and were a fundamental stakeholder throughout the process to ensure that the asset they received met their desires and aligned with their abilities to provide ongoing maintenance and upkeep.

The entire project was managed by Playscape Creations from start to finish. Breaking ground in the first week of July 2019 and achieving practical completion (on-time and on-budget) in the first week of December 2019, this new waterpark was open just in time for Christmas.

DESIGN PHASE

Inspired by magical treehouses from our childhood and meeting a childs' innate need to climb, fantasise, socialise and play, the design team collaborated over more than 500 design hours to create this concept.

The creation of such an ambitious design required a deep understanding of the fundamental logistics of water management, playground and aquatic safety standards and of course a generous dose of fun and imagination.

Incorporating three raintrees into a compact site, the central raintree stands at over 10m high and reaches 10m wide, overflowing with fun including two intense discharge buckets, a rainfall curtain surrounding the canopy and water cannons to encourage multi-level play. A further two raintrees decorate the site, providing quieter opportunities for younger children with cherry inspired tipping buckets and over 20 ground sprays.

The hero feature of the raintrees are the massive geodesic domes which form the canopy of each tree; clad in hexagonal "leaves" to inspire a tree canopy cover.

ENGINEERING PHASE

From this design came the need to engineer the structure. A number of elements required an engineers perspective to ensure that it was going to be structurally possible, efficient to build, aesthetically pleasing and most of all safe. The following items were thoroughly considered and design documented:

• Core concrete column
• The curved frames that embrace the column to create the 'tree trunk'
• Stair design
• Platform level
• Outer balustrades and safety mesh
• Internal canopy with build in "surprises"
• External canopy façade

BREAKING GROUND

Breaking ground commenced on the 8 July 2019 with more than 200m of bulk earthworks and installation of 98 screw piers to stabilise the site. To get the water flowing, over 10km+ of pipe runs were installed before the structural slab could be poured.

Excavation of the site was undertaken with minimal disturbances and flawless execution of foundational plumbing and pipework. Several Inspection Test Plans (ITP) and Engineering Hold Points ensured that all critical factors were met prior to key construction phases.

The construction programme was established to ensure on time completion and easy management of subcontractors. The large amount of early site establishment works; including screw piers, underground tank excavation, and underground pipe runs; were all the first priorities to get right. Once all of these elements were completed and tested, the main structural slab was poured.

148 m³ CONCRETE
Was poured into the structural waterplay slab, the central 'Raintree' support column and the surrounding footpaths and walkways. Some of the concrete is 1 metre thick!

98 SCREW PIERS
Underpin the structural slab. Beneath the feature 'Raintree', the screw pier is deeper than the tree's total height (over 10m deep).

FABRICATION PHASE

Fabrication of the raintree components and structural steel frames took over four months to complete off site. During this time, all of the civil works were being conducted in parallel, reducing total construction timeframes.

Prior to delivery on-site, several non-destructive tests were conducted to ensure the structural integrity of every element and guarantee the pieces would fit together perfectly. All elements were then protected by hot dipped galvanisation post fabrication and then a three coat paint system, ensuring ultimate longevity of the structure.

100,000 LITRES/HOUR
Can be accommodated by the filtration pumps in the water treatment plant. Water is filtered 2.5 times per hour.

PLANT ROOM

As a key component of the waterpark infrastructure, the plant room was constructed early in the programme to integrate with the balance tanks and equipment pipe runs.

To maintain water quality, high-tech specialist equipment is used to recirculate and save our precious water resources. All of the water used in the park is drained into underground balance tanks which then pass through an automatic filtration and sanitation system, ensuring only clean filtered water is delivered to the splash pad.

11 m³ CONCRETE
Was poured into the central Raintree support column. With all of the water delivery lines integrated into the formwork and concrete, the column itself stands at 9.6m high!

CONSTRUCTION PHASE

The pouring of the concrete slab was closely followed by the formwork and pouring of the central concrete column. The major framework components (the curves that create the tree trunk) that were fabricated and prepared for site were craned into place and the tree started to take its shape.

The platform and the stairs were the next to be installed, closely followed by the external framework that forms the dome canopy for the tree.

The development of the domes through the use of geometric mathematics and multiple 3D programs was critical to create a structure that can be built through the layering of curved bars and connecting nodes.

In addition to this complex design, an ingenious and unique one-point fixing method was created to allow the façade plates to be positioned and adjusted to produce an aesthetically clean form over the canopy structure.

360 HEXAGON FAÇADE PLATES
Create the roof structure of the trees, with each piece individually engineered, crafted and installed to fit perfectly over the canopy domes.

OVER 900 BOLTS
Connect the Raintree roof section and the hexagonal façade ‘leaf’ plates

1,870 LITRES/MINUTE
Flow through this system, making every splash an exciting adventure. The plant room is fitted withfiltration systems and variable flow controllers to allow this volume of water to be managed effectively.

FINAL TOUCHES

Ground sprays were installed in the slab surrounding each of the smaller trees, providing an interactive play element for smaller children. Each of the water elements has been programmed into the water control systems to both provide variety and surprise to the park users, while allowing each of the elements to rotate through an energy saving cycle to prevent water pump overload.

The splashpad’s surface has been finished with flowing lines of vibrant “Tuff Coat” surfacing; a state of the art, non-slip, durable coating capable of withstanding a waterplay environment. The vibrant blue and sandy colours are complemented by a stencilled hexagonal pattern that pays homage to the tree top canopy and frames the whole play space.

To escape the hot summer sun, the park has been equipped with four custom hyper shade sails ranging at heights of 4.5 – 7.5m, providing 220m shade all year round.

KEY MILESTONES
Project Construction Start: 8th July 2019
Practical Completion: 9th December 2019
Grand Opening: 21st December 2019
Project Budget: $2.8 Million

With numerous aquatic, waterplay and bespoke adventure towers already completed, Playscape Creations were well qualified and experienced to complete the design, engineering and construction of this project.

Throughout construction Playscape Creations maintained a consistent and systematic approach to ensure safety, quality and environmental requirements were upheld. The project was successfully completed with zero Loss Time injuries (LTI’s) .

In collaboration with our subcontractors and local supply chain, this project was delivered on-time and on-budget in December 2019; providing an incredible recreational space for the Flagstone community and showcasing Playscape Creations’ capability to deliver iconic community assets.