Poole company making waves for 2020 Olympics

The UK’s Olympic skate hopefuls will be rolling into Tokyo 2020 thanks to Poole based Maverick Skateparks, who has just completed work on a ‘world class’ training ground in Newquay.

A decade in the making, Concrete Waves skatepark is being lauded as the new benchmark for all UK parks.

Situated in the Country’s extreme sports capital, this behemoth took 18,000 square ft of hand-finished concrete, £600,000 of funding and 24 weeks of construction to complete.

Designer and skatepark consultant at Maverick Skateparks, Ian Jennings, designed the park and managed the build from day one to ensure that the design was executed perfectly. This attention to detail paid off as skate industry heads have proclaimed the park’s layout as ‘inspired’, ‘brilliantly realised’ and ‘absolutely worth shouting about’.

Ian says: “The brief was to create a community facility first, but one that was designed to an international standard for future events and comps, and potentially, an Olympic training ground.”

Making its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, the skateboarding competition consists of two disciplines; street and park. Both elements have been accommodated in the combination of features at Concrete Waves; which offers a long unbroken street course, retro pool bowl and big high end flow bowl.

Based on the old Wooden Waves skatepark site, once the local council had identified the old park as a ‘moneypit’, costing £15,000 a year to maintain, they made the decision to create Concrete Waves. After winning a tender process, the team at Maverick worked closely with the council to source funding for the project.

Russ Holbert, director at Maverick Skateparks, says: “Maverick made no compromise in the delivery of this design. It is the most progressive space that we have ever built and redraws the boundaries of what is possible for communities to achieve working in partnership with Maverick and their local Council.”

Newquay councilor, Olly Monk, who spearheaded the project, says: “Over the past twenty years, I have seen how facilities like this empower the youth and change their lives positively, which was our driving force.”

Russ agrees: “We are super excited to see what the future brings for the skate youth of Newquay.”