Marlborough Park is a modern recreational area for all ages located in Glenfield on Auckland’s North Shore. A colourful playground was added in 2017 and recently the skateboard park which has been a feature of the landscape for years was reopened after being given a complete makeover.
The redeveloped ‘Flow Park’ skateboard area was designed and built by Jason Parkes of Premium Skate Designs. Jason is internationally recognised for his award-winning work which includes 39 years skateboarding experience, 15 of those as a sponsored pro skateboarder. He started Premium Skate Designs in 1998 and has vast experience when it comes to creating and building high quality Olympic standard bowls that suit both recreational and budding international skateboarders.
The sport of skate boarding has huge appeal to young people and has become so popular worldwide that these days local Government bodies regularly include skate park developments as part of their public amenity plans. “Early skate parks were essentially thrown together by councils without any real thought for quality construction or challenging design considerations,” says Jason. “However, that is changing and with the help of Youngman Richardson & Co Ltd, who we have dealt with for some years, we are now able to construct parks using quality products and sound technical advice.”
One of the products that Jason Parkes has a lot of time for is Fosroc, a brand that Youngman Richardson & Co Ltd is an approved agent for in New Zealand. Jason learnt to skate on the original Marlborough Park bowl so his choice of Fosroc products for the project was born out of his knowledge and experience of the conditions.
Fosroc has a comprehensive range of above and below the ground waterproofing products and systems such as repair mortars, corrosion management, protective coatings and strengthening systems.
“In this instance we went with a range of Fosroc repair materials including Conbextra EP10 for crack repair, Renderoc FC for detailing render, Hydrotite DSS0220 for construction joint waterproofing, and Vandex plug for water-stop repair,” says Jason.
In addition to Fosroc, a Mikasa plate compactor MVCF60HVASC, Honda EU30IS and Husqvarna K535i battery powered power cutter were also purchased for the Marlborough Park job but also with other future projects in mind. Battery powered products in particular are proving more valuable these days on job sites because of their flexibility and cost-effective applications according to Jason.
The Mikasa vibratory plate compactor is ideal for smaller to medium compaction jobs including driveways, garage floors and landscaping, to name a few. At only 65kg it is lightweight and can easily be lifted by one person. Likewise, the Honda EU30IS is portable and great for keeping small power tools active for longer. The Husqvarna K535i battery powered power cutter is part of the Husqvarna Prime series, a product range of high-performance electric concrete cutting equipment. By innovative utilisation of high frequency current and digital processing a whole new level of efficiency and usability increases performance, productivity and mobility. With low vibrations and user friendly economics it comes with an excellent power to weight ratio providing perfect, quick and efficient cuts on concrete surfaces.
Premium Skate Designs is described as New Zealand’s most experienced and trusted skate park design and build company specialising in unique custom built concrete and wooden parks, speciality structures, backyard skateable pools and event courses. As a well as being a pro skate boarder and designer Jason is also a qualified builder so what you get is a very professional and ‘hands on’ approach.
“They (Youngman Richardson) are easy to deal with and are very responsive to my requirements. I couldn’t ask for better,” he says.