Armada Way is now open – and what a day!
Thousands of people flocked to the city centre to witness a short ribbon cutting ceremony before hordes of children swarmed onto the huge play area aptly themed on exploring new worlds. They include:
• Sandy desert toddlers play – with wooden huts, swings and slides
• The new lands adventure play area – with a rocky mountain to climb and a pirate shipwreck for young wannabe buccaneers from Britain’s Ocean City to let their imagination run wild.
• Water jet and interactive stream – dancing water jets and a system of scoops, buckets and weirs for budding engineers
• Woodland tree houses and climbing – for games and climbing. There’s a giant dodecahedron hideaway, cargo nets to climb, bars to swing from and a layer of mulch for soft landings
• Grassland sound sensory play space – a calmer zone for children who prefer something gentler. It has a sound stone – a singing hollow for children to hum into and feel the vibration their own voice makes, tubular chimes, mesmerising impulse spheres – a giant Newton’s cradle – and step-on windpipes.
Children made a bee line for the water jets and got thoroughly soaked. The entire stretch of the city centre was packed with people as well as one or two pirates, giant sized gulls and a range of stands. The fun continued well into the afternoon.
This half kilometre stretch has been transformed into gardens, terraces with 176 new trees and fabulous new flora and fauna from wildflowers to grasses, reed beds and shrubs.
The £29.89 million project opens up the grand sweeping vista of Armada Way from North Cross to the Hoe once more, which was part of Abercrombie’s original Plan for Plymouth.
Take a walk down Armada Way and the difference is breathtaking. From a dated run down space in need of serious investment, it is now open, spacious, has 25,000 new plants, landscaped levels and plenty of places to sit.
Every step has been thought through, from the view to the War Memorial and Smeaton’s Tower to the types of grass and wild flowers and new lighting.
Below the ground there’s a myriad of pipes, connections and tanks which are part of the sustainable urban drainage system. The rill – or man-made stream – is part of this system and manages all surface water falling on Armada Way, mimicking a natural drainage system. It reduces the amount of runoff into the sewer system by up to 77 per cent using rain gardens and underground storage tanks to store rainwater after its filtered through natural reed beds.
Councillor Mark Lowry, Cabinet Member responsible for Armada Way, said:“It’s certainly been a journey to get here. We know it has been tough at times for our businesses just look at it now. It is brilliant! This scheme has utterly transformed the look and feel of the city centre. We invested in this scheme because we want our city centre to be a great place to visit, to be a destination.
“Our city centre is already bucking national trends with footfall well and truly up and we hope this regeneration will encourage more families in particular to enjoy this fabulous FREE facility and perhaps treat themselves to a pasty and a coffee while their children enjoy this new play village.
“This scheme has so many features worth reminding people about – over 25,000 flowers planted, over 500 spaces for people to sit on – and we’ve seen so many people enjoy the south facing views on sunny days. We have opened up the city centre as a place to be and a place to enjoy.”
Steve Hughes, chief executive of the Plymouth City Centre Company which represents the interests of the 550 businesses in the city centre, said: “We are delighted with the way Armada Way has been transformed into a beautiful urban park where people can gather, watch or join in events or sit outside at one of the many pavement cafes. With new seating, lighting and lots of open space it is more welcoming and attracting lots of interest from new businesses wanting to open here. It’s great news for the city centre.”
Other features include
• 12- and 15-metre-high lighting throughout and feature lighting to up-light plants and create patterns on the ground.
• A much-improved CCTV system and clear views across Armada Way
• Cycling path that meanders down steeper sections of the route to reduce speeds. Cycle racks and Beryl Bike hubs have also been installed
• Pop-up spaces with water and power – pop-up spaces will be available for retail, arts and entertainment.
• Solar panels that contribute energy to running the new surface water drainage system that recycles the water to maintain the plants and trees.
• A range of habitats, shrubs, wildflowers and reed beds, as well as bug hotels and bird boxes.
