West Midlands Interchange (WMI) is celebrating Love Parks Week, a week-long celebration to highlight the vital role green spaces play in boosting both health and wellbeing.  

All week, we will share how the two parks will support healthier and stronger communities, as well as taking care of nature and supporting wildlife.  

Creating a final design 

With the detailed design of the parks due soon, it continues to be developed in conjunction with a number of specialists, incorporating arboriculture, ecology, award-winning play area designers, a local sculptor, community feedback and advice from the charity Make Space for Girls.  

A space for everyone, from families, runners, cyclists, children, teens, wheelchair users, dog walkers and more. The parks will be a space to be enjoyed by multiple people, in multiple ways.  

Natural play areas – connecting young people back to nature   

Wildwood UK is an award-winning company that designs unique natural play areas. Helping young people to feel more connected to the natural world, their designs offer the chance to climb on tree trunks amongst the backdrop of other native trees and plants.   

Using recycled timber from the site, Wildwood UK have designed multiple play features for WMI and we are working with talented local sculptor Anthony Hammond to carve personalised engravings. Reflecting the story of the environment and wildlife surrounding it.  

 “Very few children are getting access to nature and natural play experiences. Play areas are often artificial, where imaginative play is constrained, risk taking is limited and contact with nature is non-existent. Through this exciting project, WMI is providing natural play experiences for everyone. We’re helping young people thrive from early years to teens and beyond by using the scientifically proven benefits of nature. It has been great to be a part of it, helping to deliver something that I am so passionate about.” – Lawrence Trowbridge, Wildwood UK. 

Designed with girls in mind 

Another pillar to the development of the design have been conversations with Make Space for Girls, a charity whose research evidences how girls are designed out of public spaces.  

Susannah Walker, the co-founder says, ““Being safe and welcome in public spaces is really important for teenage girls.  It’s good for their physical and mental health, and it’s an important part of feeling that they belong in the community.  So it’s essential that architects, councils and developers consider their needs when creating new outdoor spaces.”  

The charity’s extensive research has found that girls often prefer play features, including swings, social seating areas and looped walking paths. Evidence shows how an inclusively designed park with girls in mind does in turn, create welcoming safe spaces for all.  

Paved and mown routes 

Continuing the importance of accessibility, the parks will include paved routes that will be wheelchair accessible, as well as mown routes for dog walkers. Routes will connect key areas of the park, encouraging visitors to explore. 

Community consultation on the parks took place in April 2023 and produced valuable feedback on how the parks could be used, what was most important to people and what additional facilities they would like to see.