The Shed indoor skate park wins at LGPro Awards

The City of Casey's 'The Shed' indoor skate park has won the 2012 LGPro (Local Government Professionals) Award for Best Community Asset and Infrastructure Initiative over $1 million.

The award, presented during the 2012 LGPro Annual Conference this week, recognised, according the to the award organisers, The Shed for having "set a new benchmark for skate facilities across Victoria and Australia."

The City of Casey invested $1.2 million in the project and researched the top indoor skate facilities in Australia and around the world before implementing the best design, construction and management practices in the skate industry.

In redeveloping The Shed, the Council's goal was to build a facility for action sports that offered an exciting, safe and affordable venue for Casey's 70,000 strong youth population.

The venue had to cater for all ability levels of participants of skate, BMX, inline and scooters.

The Council's Manager Sport and Leisure Richard Amon, believes that the input of industry experts and experienced participants, including professional skaters, throughout the design and construction process was fundamental to achieving the City of Casey's objective of building a signature leisure facility to meet the needs of its growing community.

Amon explains "the collective knowledge of the team of experts has undoubtedly led to the creation of one of the world's most innovative skate facilities.

"Not only does it cater for all levels of ability, it also offers something for the whole community ï¾ individuals, families, local schools and community groups."

With an area of 6,500 metres2, The Shed is the largest indoor skate park in the southern hemisphere and is renowned for having the ultimate ramp offering in Australia - which took six qualified skater tradesmen 16 weeks to build.

The facility includes a vert ramp (u-shaped maximum depth), bowl (kidney bowl shape) and a huge street course with both BMX and skate features. There is also a foam pit and a resi ramp with more forgiving surfaces for beginners and those trialling new manoeuvres and tricks, before trying the other surfaces.

The innovative design and layout of the structures was the work of Shane Serena who has designed and constructed many of the temporary facilities used in Crusty Demons and X-Game events around the world.

One of the most innovative design features is the surface of the ramps. Unlike the traditional concrete surfaces of outdoor skate parks, The Shed's ramps are made of wooden structures with a specially formulated skate surface made of resin and paper. Known as Redz Ramp Surface, it not only provides skaters with the smoothest possible ride, its durability is second to none as it is graffiti proof, fire proof, 100% UV resistant and virtually indestructible. It is therefore extremely low maintenance and long lasting.

Since reopening in November 2010, The Shed has attracted more than 12,700 registered users with more than 70,000 visits.

Most recently, in September 2011, the Council unveiled a new public artwork called 'Fuse' at The Shed which was developed with input from local young people.

Reflecting on the receipt of the LGPro award, Richard Amon adds "the award was due recognition for this project and reflected excellence in recreation planning (including the use of innovative community consultation methods with stakeholders utilising social media), design, construction and management practices that involved a number of Casey officers from Sports & Leisure, Building Services, Contracts and Finance.

"This award follows previous awards won for The Shed redevelopment project including the 2011 National Parks and Leisure Australia award for excellence in Design Development and Management of a Leisure Facility."

More than 740 delegates attended the two-day LGPro 2012 Annual Conference.

For more information go to www.lgpro.com/

21st December 2010 - CITY OF CASEY OPENS REJUVENTATED SHED SKATEPARK 

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