Why a new skatepark in Britain could be perfect for Asia, where skateboarding is booming but in dense urban areas like Hong Kong, space for the sport is expensive
- The skateboard park, in Folkestone on England’s south coast, has three levels of skating areas, as well as boxing facilities and a climbing wall
- The three-storey split affords freedom in programming so that a floor may be time-allocated to skaters of specific skills levels, and to female-only usage slots
Skateboarding is booming in Asia. When skateboarders first started clattering around Hong Kong plazas in the 1980s, they were moved on by security, and notices went up to deter them. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department was initially sceptical about skateparks, but eventually approved one in Lai Chi Kok Park that opened in 2000. Now Hong Kong has almost 20.
Skateboarding was included in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, and when it debuted as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021, Japan took five of 12 medals, with two going to the US, where skateboarding had its mid-20th-century street roots in free-spirited California.
The number of skateboarders, now in the millions, continues to grow, so demand for skateparks will almost certainly increase. That presents a challenge in a dense city like Hong Kong, where space is at a premium.
Architect Guy Hollaway has a solution. He says that “the concept of the multistorey skatepark enables you to place the building in the heart of a city, where it is accessible by public transport and can be enjoyed by many more young people”. The first such facility he designed opened in April, not in Asia but the small English seaside town of Folkestone. The dramatically jutting, angular building called F51 offers three stacked levels of skatepark.
Hollaway, the founder of the UK-based architectural practice Hollaway Studio, is adamant to share the credit with the tycoon who instigated the scheme, Sir Roger de Haan, founder of the Saga Group, which provides products for the over-50s. “He’s like a wannabe architect and he gets involved,” says Hollaway.