The skatepark is very near completion now with only a few remaining areas of concrete to be poured and then the landscaping and access paths to be completed. The park is now scheduled to be finished around mid May so be patient as it is only a few more weeks before it will be open to use. Here are a few photos of the park but continue checking the Build page of the website for regular photo updates...

View all the photos on the Build page

News updates have been few and far between recently but hopefully this one will make up for it!

Clachan Construction are on site now in Penicuik starting the process of building the skatepark with a completion date set for 23rd March 2007. Clachan Construction won the tender bid and were appointed to be the skatepark builders in October 2006. This is good news as they are experienced skatepark builders with successful parks such as Perth and Saltcoats already on their CV. Clachan's tender bid came in a little over the budget of £238,000 so the width of the skatepark design has been reduced by 1 meter to bring it within budget. Other than that the park being built remains more or less the same as the concept designs which can be viewed in detail in the Design section of the website. View the skatepark design

Now that the skatepark build is underway we will be keeping the website updated with photos of its progress on the Build page
Check back over the coming months to see how things are progressing....

It’s official! The Big Lottery Fund has agreed to put £135,000 into funding the design and construction of the Penicuik skatepark. Midlothian Council confirmed on 8 June 05 that their submission for funding had been approved by the Lottery board. This means that a total of £165,000 has been committed to date from outside bodies. It’s up to the Council now to meet the balance of funding needed to complete the project, the final cost of which is currently estimated at around £230,000.

As mentioned elsewhere on this website, there is a lot of design work still to be completed before construction can actually start; more meetings are planned with local skaters and bikers to make sure the final design fits as closely as possible with their expectations.

The Big Lottery Fund is close to making its decision on funding for PSP. Their committee meets on 25 May 2005 and the outcome of this meeting will be announced within days.

Revised designs had to be submitted to BLF to take account of technical difficulties with the preferred site in Penicuik Public Park. If these plans meet with the approval of the BLF awards committee, the skate park will be given the go-ahead very soon – watch this space!

Ground investigation work was carried out at the proposed site for PSP in the Public Park earlier this year. While it was good to see the drill vehicles on the site at last, the results were, unfortunately, less favourable and have caused delays to the project.

Tests showed that the water table in the park was quite close to the surface and ground conditions were tricky. This means that the excavation of deep bowls, as appeared in the original design, would be out of the question. The concrete structure would simply be eaten away by water in the soil, so greatly reducing the park’s lifespan.

Once the results were announced, the Council looked at a number of alternative sites for the skate park within Penicuik. However, none of these were as suitable, in terms of location, as the Public Park. It is also doubtful if we would have been given planning permission for any of these sites anyway, because they were all much closer to existing housing areas, and people would have raised objections to the project. The last thing we want is a public backlash against the plans, like the Edinburgh project is having to handle at the moment.

Going back to the original site in the Public Park has forced quite major design changes on the project. Most of the structure will now be built on or above ground level, giving the park more of a street plaza feel to it.

More work still needs to be done to the design and Dave Sowerby will be looking to work with local skaters and bikers to make sure it will still provide an exciting venue. We will be posting details of these planning sessions on this site once the Big Lottery Fund announces its decision on funding for the park.

An open meeting was held in Jackson Street community centre at the end of September for all interested boarders, BMXers and skaters. There was a good turn out to meet one of the team working on the design for the Edinburgh Skatepark, Dave Sowerby.

Dave has been a skateboarder, though is now a BMX fanatic and has ridden parks across Scotland, England and abroad. A group of people have volunteered to work with Dave on the design for the Penicuik skatepark. The group will be meeting regularly over the next couple of months so if you have any ideas on how the park should look, or there are features you think must be included, get in contact with us

On 27 September 2004, Councillor Adam Montgomery and Council officials made a site visit to Angle Park and Loanburn Park (the bit over the hedge from Angle Park) to check if there were suitable places to build a skatepark. Hopefully, a site somewhere in the park will be approved and then plans can be drawn up for the skatepark.

Sounds highly suspicious, we know but …….! One of the conditions of the lottery award to Midlothian Council is that the skatepark should be used during at least part of the week by PE or sports activity classes. The Education Division is looking at ways this can be included into school timetables.

Can you see YOUR gym teacher on a skateboard???? Watch this space.