Jungle Catz – Morley

Jungle Catz is an established soft play cafe in Morley, with a 5,000 sq.ft. building and a play area built for children aged 0-8.

When owner Vicci approached Play Creations, the original plan was to refurbish the existing soft play equipment. However, after surveying the frame, we found significant issues with its original manufacture and installation. The existing structure wasn't suitable for refurbishment, so rather than trying to repair a system that couldn't give the venue the quality and reliability it needed, we recommended starting again.

Working with Vicci, our in-house design team created a completely system for the venue. The brief was to create a jungle themed play area that made the most of the existing building while providing separate spaces for the younger and older children.

The result was a £44,000 commercial soft play area designed specifically around Jungle Catz and its 5,000 sq.ft. space. The building presented a few challenges of its own. Existing steelwork within the roof void meant the upper levels couldn't simply follow a standard layout, so the new frame had to be designed around the building's supporting structure.

We also discovered an old ventilation shaft that restricted parents' view of part of the play area. Instead of allowing this awkward feature to dictate the layout, we made a small alteration to the design to improve visibility and make better use of the available space.

The finished soft play was split into two main areas. The larger multi-level adventure frame was designed for children aged 4-8, while a dedicated enclosed area at the front provides a separate space for babies and toddlers.

The jungle theme runs throughout the design, with animal artwork and themed details incorporated into the equipment. The main adventure area includes a mixture of climbing, spinning, swinging and level changing challenges.

On the ground floor, children can use the aerial skyglide with facing splat pads, a spinng dizzy disc with zebra artwork and horizontal rollers featuring tiger artwork.

The first floor includes a 180 degree tube slide, which makes use of the otherwise awkward area within the building. Other features include a spider's web, V-net bridge and crawl tube with viewing windows.

Higher up, the structure includes bouncing ball boards, a cargo bridge and a large interactive pinwheel which is above the crawl tube.

The separate baby and toddler area includes soft animal rockers, soft play shapes and two interactive games panels. We use the space beneath the log ramp for a ball pool, turning unused space into another play feature. With Jungle Catz already operating as a business, keeping the venue's downtime as short as possible was an important part of the project.

Once manufacturing was complete, the existing frame was dismantled immediately before installation of the new equipment. The changeover from the old play frame to the new system was completed in just over seven days.

Jungle Catz was able to reopen to the public in less than ten days.

The finished project gave the venue a completely new jungle themed soft play system, designed around its existing building rather than trying to force a standard structure into the space.