Spinners and a train watching stand are two of the customer desired installations that will feature at the new waterfront playground when it opens before the end of June.

The first sod was turned today in a ceremony attended by children from a number of the Tauranga schools who consulted on the new playground, along with councillors from the waterfront development taskforce, council staff and parents.

Councillors and children meet at the site of the new waterfront playground.

'Swings and slides are always high on the lists,” says council planner Clinton Bowyer.

'And spinners are very popular.”

The spinners for the waterfront playground will be the first of its kind in the country, using thick loops of rope for the seating and swinging part. There will also be an almost conventional swing, a small scale ropes course and slides.

'The other thing we noticed here is when the trains come past the smaller kids grab the fencing and watch the trains come past,” says Clinton.

'We are going to build a little stand where they can look at the trains over the fence.”

The train watching stand will be erected on the waterfront side of the tracks at a safe distance from the fencing.

Also underway is work to repair a nearby fountain that has been un-operational since water flooded the adjacent underground control chamber about a year ago. The fountain is said by councillors at the scene to have cost in the region of $400,000. The repairs are incomplete but could cost $25,000-$30,000.

The repaired workings will be linked to the city's pumping station alarm network, so that next time the underground waterfront control chamber floods and the emergency batteries fail, an alarm will be sent.

The $300,000 playground, the fountain, and the yet to be installed nearby Hairy Maclary sculpture will transform the section of waterfront into ‘kids zone', linked by the walkway from the car parking at the north end, to the to the food concessions soon to appear nearer the Edgewater Fan.

Artists impression of the waterfront playground.

A swing as part of the new playground.

The ropes course at the waterfront.