Royal Automobile Club - Woodcote Park

The Royal Automobile Club was founded in London in 1897 by motoring pioneers of the day. The club was established to provide first-class facilities and a programme of sports to its’ members and families. Woodcote park was added as an ‘out-of-town’ retreat for the club’s members to attend for further leisure and recreation pursuits. Spread across a 350 acre site, Woodcote Park includes a 5 star hotel, two 18 hole golf courses, large indoor swimming pool, treatment rooms and 3 restaurants and bars. The existing walled garden was identified as an ideal site for a brand new facility for family and kids services, to include new dining, kids swimming pool, outside play area and an indoor softplay facility. Play Creations was approached early on in the process by the club, having seen the quality of our equipment elsewhere. Given the exclusive nature of the club, quality was the top priority for the equipment and its’ delivery. After initial meetings with the Royal Automobile Club development team, a firm softplay design brief was set and we went to work on designing a softplay frame that packed the most play value into the space afforded to us. The indoor softplay area was a key aspect of the development as it would offer kids the opportunity to play and exert themselves no matter what the UK weather had in store. There was around 3.2m of head height to play with, so the frame was designed as a 2 level structure that would have maximum appeal to the 2-6 years age range. A small dedicated and separate baby area was also included, so that the 0-2 year olds could also have somewhere to play. The softplay design also had to account for the underfloor heating that would be in place. We have had to account for this in previous builds and placed the entire softplay frame on a ‘raft’ of jointed timber, so that the softplay legs could be securely fixed in place. As well as our usual softplay slides and features, we also included interactive sensory elements into the softplay design, by way of an interactive LED light tube and interactive LED infinity mirror. Despite the turmoil afforded to us during the summer of 2020, the softplay installation was completed on-time and on-budget. The softplay equipment has proved to be a popular and worthwhile addition to the Woodcote Park site and continues to be a worthwhile and well-used facility to it’s younger (and arguably older) members. Since opening, Play Creations have also been contracted by The Royal Automobile Club, to provide softplay maintenance services to ensure the indoor play structure is kept safe and in tip-top condition.