A new climbing centre and skatepark for Chippenham is due to open in early 2022, with Chippenham Borough Lands appointing Rigg Construction (Southern) Ltd as lead Contractor to build the facility. The construction work is due to start on from Monday 23 November and will take approximately 46 weeks to complete.
The £2.7 million project includes a climbing centre plans with interior and exterior climbing walls, bouldering, changing areas and indoor and outdoor café areas, alongside a new skatepark, landscaping and picnic benches.
“We are fortunate to be in a position to create this unique and exciting new facility for Chippenham and the local area, and continue our long history of support to the town,” said Don Steele, CBLC Chair of Trustees. “It’s taken us longer than we’d wanted to get to this point, but nobody could have foreseen this year’s pandemic. We took the opportunity to revisit some of the project costs, without losing any of the essential quality of the design, and are looking forward to working with Rigg to turn our vision into reality.”
Rob Elkin of Chippenham firm, Elkins Architects, has designed the unique, purpose built climbing centre, the surrounding landscaping and led the design team working on the project. The project is being managed by CMS Project Managers & Surveyors Ltd. The climbing centre will be owned by CBLC who will work with a partner who will run the whole activity centre, including the café and skatepark area.
CBLC has benefitted from the support of a £100,000 grant from Sport England towards building the climbing centre and £200,000 from Wiltshire Council towards the skatepark design and build.
The skate park has been designed by Bristol Skatepark design specialists, Canvas, who have produced a bespoke design in consultation with a local skater’s user group. “We are very grateful to all the skaters who have been involved in this project from initial ideas through to giving feedback on more detailed designs,” added Don Steele. “A big thank you to the local skater’s community who have been involved in our journey so far.
“The skatepark will provide an exciting long-awaited new facility for the young people of the town. It will be adjacent to the climbing centre and will include additional landscaping and seating. The skatepark has been designed to cope with flooding in extreme weather and be self-draining.”