About the space

Grange Recreation Reserve is bounded by Fort Street, Military Road and Trimmer Parade in Grange. It's a sportsground that currently hosts soccer, cricket and hockey and two sports clubrooms.

It has two playgrounds - one on the eastern side off Fort Street and one on the western-side along Military Road. It also has shelter and picnic settings with extra seating, a basketball half-court, public toilet block, and perimeter fencing (some chain link, some post and rail).

Dogs can be exercised in the reserve area off-leash (under effective control) but must stay away from the playground areas.

The playgrounds are 'District' level and, together, they should cater for various age groups. The play equipment and landscape should be innovative and very good quality with the aim of creating unique and appealing play experiences.

Other projects on this reserve:

• Clubroom Upgrade (underway): A new, multi-story sport and community facility with canteen, kitchen and bar, and 240 capacity function room. The facility will support the Grange Cricket Club and South Australian Amateur Soccer league, as well as several other sub-users including the Lions and Monarch's Soccer Clubs.
• Installation of Telecommunication Infrastructure (pending Development Application outcome): A lease request over a small portion of the reserve for the purpose of constructing telecommunications infrastructure was recently approved, following two-stages of consultation with the community. The proposed construction of the telecommunication infrastructure is yet to be determined with a Development Application underway. You can find more about this project and the consultation here.

What's happening?

We are replacing all play equipment in both the eastern and western play spaces in Grange Recreation Reserve from early-2026. We're doing this because the equipment is old and should be replaced to ensure its safe and meets your needs, and the needs of future residents.

The new playground designs are complete. Feedback you provided during consultation and hearing how you love to play helped us to make decisions about what equipment and features to include, and the look and feel of the western and eastern playgrounds. We are also pleased to share that, based on your feedback, we have been able to include playground shade and renewal of the basketball court as part of this project.

There's still a bit to do before we can start replacing the playgrounds. We expect we will start removing and replacing the existing playgrounds from late 2025/early 2026 and we will do our best to have them completed by end-June 2026. We will share an update with project followers and participants when we're getting ready to start work.

To find out what we asked you to share when feedback on the current playground was open, and things in the playground (or reserve) that we don't consider in a playground replacement visit the Grange Recreation Reserve playground engagement page. On this page, you can also see some examples of other recent playgrounds replacements we have finished across the City that could be similar to what we can deliver across the two Grange Recreation Reserve playgrounds.

If you are interested in reading about how we made design decisions for this playground, you can read the Eastern Playground Design Checklist and/or the Western Playground Design Checklist, which explain how each playground has been designed for different users and all the things that were considered.

We asked you to share who you visit the reserve with and why.

We asked how you like to play, your favourite play activities, and what you like about the playground now and what you would change about it.

You also shared which was your favourite playground from images of recent playgrounds we have replaced, shared your theme ideas for the new playground, and anything else about the playground or reserve that you would like us to know about now, or to consider in future if we are making improvements.

Other comments and requests

• Top comments related specifically to play equipment types.
• There were requests for ninja-style equipment, sensory or nature play, or imagination equipment (like pirate ship, boats, rickety bridge etc). Other requests included more challenging and climbing equipment, more swings, including age specific swings, and equipment specifically for toddlers to use vs older children to use like a large flying fox and monkey bars.
• Comment on less or no rubber soft fall.
• Some are concerned about dogs here as many owners use this location for dog exercise, while others appreciate being able to bring their dogs here.
• Visitors like the location of the playground here and closeness to the river and walking paths that encouraging exploring and a 'nature experience'.
• The basketball court and large open space is enjoyed by many, and on the western side, visitors enjoy the unique play equipment that you can’t find in other playgrounds.
• Many requested this court be upgraded. This was not scheduled, but we decided to resurface the court, now, as part of the playground renewal.

Opportunities for future reserve improvements:

• Playground shade over both playgrounds
• Water play
• Fenced play area/s
• Designated dog park
• Closer access to public toilets
• Fruit trees
• Basketball court closer to military road
• Small pump track
• Drink fountain with dog bowl
• Seating and picnic furniture
• BBQ