We would like, in cooperation with the Supplier Development Project (LUP), to extend an invitation to a digital dialogue conference on 1 November 2022 from 0900-1030.
Oslo Municipality and Bergen Municipality are cooperating on a before-commercial procurement in order to develop a new safe fall surface for tomorrow's playgrounds and other activity areas!
We have made a video as an introduction to the challenge:
https://youtu.be/emGZgPUyZFE
How do you develop a new safe fall surface that takes care of the environment, universal design, and operational considerations better than the current solutions - how do you avoid large use of rubber or plastic based solutions?
We need help - and would like to have a dialogue with innovative entities and professional environments that want to contribute to our goal of more sustainable, available, and reliable safe fall surfaces.
Follow the project's homepage for ongoing information!
https://www.oslo.kommune.no/prosjekter/nye-fallunderlag/
Oslo Municipality and Bergen Municipality extend an invitation to a market conference on a before-commercial procurement in order to develop new safe fall surfaces for use in public outdoor areas that are for play and activities in our cities. We would like to work in an innovative way together with the supplier market in order to develop sustainable and reliable safe fall surfaces for all types of play and activity surfaces - without using large amounts of rubber and plastic components.
We run many thousands of square metres of play areas. There is a need for safe fall surfaces in considerable areas in these play areas. There are strict requirements regarding the quality of these play areas, pursuant to, amongst other things, the play area regulations and technical regulations. We would like safe fall surfaces that are cost efficient, sustainable, and, at the same time, fulfil the quality requirements in the regulations.
Can we have solutions that do not require amounts of plastic and chemicals having to be disposed of when they are taken out of use. There are currently many different types of safe fall surfaces in play areas, local community sites, sports pitches, and other play and activity areas such as grass, artificial grass, sand, and bark surfaces. Lower running costs, increased safety, and increased availability for all user groups has lead to surfaces made out of rubber cast on site have gradually been the dominant solution. Research has shown that old rubber surfaces with a high percentage of recycled rubber emit environmentally damaging substances into the surrounding area. Even though rubber surfaces are now installed with newly produced rubber, loose rubber particles can break off such as micro plastics, for example, through wear on the surfaces. Questions can be asked from several standpoints as to what consequences large use of plastic products in today's society can have for human health and the natural environment. The current safe fall surfaces cannot be reused, nor can they be recycled. We would like to do something about this!
Oslo and Bergen would like sustainable and reliable safe fall surfaces, without the use of rubber or plastic based solutions, where users are safe and thrive. We are therefore contributing with NOK 10 million as part of the development costs for new and better solutions!
We would like tomorrow's safe fall surface to:
- take care of users' needs for fall cushioning in accordance with the play area regulations and NS EN 1176
- be universally designed and ensure availability to play apparatuses for all user groups
- have low lifecycle and maintenance costs for the municipality
- be reliable: Easy to inspect for unwanted objects and predictable in maintenance and replacements
- not be a health or environmental risk
- have the lowest possible climate gas emission in a lifecycle perspective
- not generate waste after the end of the lifetime or replacement
- have considerably less, and preferably no chemical use compared to the current solutions
- have no risk of possible health and environmentally hazardous substances or particles coming loose
Follow our website:
https://www.oslo.kommune.no/prosjekter/nye-fallunderlag/ for ongoing information on the market dialogue and the subsequent contest.
Did you miss the above video? Watch is here!
https://youtu.be/emGZgPUyZFE
Attention is drawn to the fact that this s an invitation to a market dialogue. The tender documentation for the before-commercial procurement will be published in February/March 2023.