Bringing Bayside's new inclusive playground to life

Construction on the new Thomas Street Reserve playground is set to commence in late October 2020.

This an exciting first step on the journey to transform the park and deliver the first fully inclusive playspace in Bayside, a place where everyone can play.

Whether you want to relax in the new shaded areas, play, splash around in the unique water play feature or go for a walk and have a picnic with friends, the new and improved park will cater for a wide range of abilities and interests.

The ideas for the new playground have been developed through extensive community consultation undertaken in 2019 and in collaboration with the Community Advisory Group. The opportunity to participate in designing the new playground was widely promoted with feedback received from future users including parents of children with a disability, neighbours of the park, the Bayside Healthy Ageing Reference Group and Bayside Special Developmental School.

Works are expected to commence in late October 2020 to remove the existing wooden fort playground structure.  We are intending to retain and reuse several of the turrets from the original structure in the new playground, to acknowledge the history of the park and the enormous community contribution it has made over the years.  

We expect the new and improved playground will be ready for play again in June 2021. While works are underway, the playground area will remain fenced off from the public.

The current toilet block will be replaced with a new, larger facility better suited to the needs of kids and parents of all abilities and will include a Changing Places hoist-assisted change facility.

The public toilet upgrade is being delivered as part of Council’s Public Toilet Strategy (2019- 2023). Please refer to the image above for an indication of what the new facilities will look like once complete.

We will continue to keep you regularly informed of any updates regarding the delivery of this project.

We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this causes and thank you for your cooperation.

Background information on the consultation can be found at bayside.vic.gov.au/HaveYourSay and details regarding the parks progress will be regularly uploaded to Bayside.vic.gov.au/ThomasStreetPlayground