Kellett Reserve Playground upgrade

Status

We’ll start upgrading the playground from Monday 3 February 2025.

We plan to finish the upgrade and reopen it by mid-2025 (subject to weather conditions).

Works will take place Monday to Friday between 7 am and 4 pm (excluding public holidays).

Impact on you during construction

The playground will be closed.
An area for the builders’ vehicles will occupy 3 to 4 parking spaces.
You may hear some construction noise
Pedestrian access to all other areas of Kellett Reserve will remain open, including the open space opposite the playground, walking routes and pathways.

Nearby playgrounds

While the new playground is under construction, we encourage you to visit:

Hull Street Reserve playground

Location: 1 Hull Street, Hawthorn
Distance: 11-minute walk or 2-minute drive (900 m away).

Reservoir Reserve playground

Location: 20 Grange Road, Kew
Distance: 22-minute walk or 3-minute drive (1.5 km away).

Why we’re building a new playground

We’ve prioritised this playground to be updated as some equipment is ageing and the posts in the main timber play structures are starting to rot.

The new playground design aims to:

improve accessibility
offer a range of play experiences for children
complement the natural parkland while showcasing Melbourne's city views
ensure the space is a welcoming, inclusive and fun space for the community to enjoy now and into the future.

Community consultation

We asked our community to have their say on the design of the new playground.

We received 142 responses from community members (including children) over 2 stages of consultation. Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback.

Visit our Kellett Reserve Playground upgrade consultation page to:

learn what our community told us
understand how feedback was incorporated in the design process
view the key features in the design.

Our final design

New features

Key features of the new playground include:

a 4.8 metre play tower with a view towards the city
a basket swing
a tunnel slide
a climbing cube
fitness equipment.

Updated play equipment

We are updating some features from the existing playground that we heard are much-loved by our community, including:

teacup spinner (flying saucer)
2 junior swings and 2 senior swings
play units
monkey bars
track glide
bird spring rocker.

Existing features around the playground that will also be updated include:

park seat overlooking the playground
picnic table setting
seating
drink fountain with dog bowl.

What isn’t included in the design

Some features our community told us they’d like to see that couldn’t be included, such as:

barbecue
fencing
sand and water play
shaded areas
public toilets.

This is because Kellett Reserve is classified as a ‘local’ playground, and certain features fall out of this project’s scope in the Boroondara Playground Strategy.

Read more about this on our Upgrading Boroondara's playgrounds page.

Timeline

Date	Project stage	Progress update
September to October 2023	First stage of community consultation	98 community members shared their local knowledge, special memories, stories and ideas to help us develop the draft design.
February to March 2024	Second stage of community consultation	44 community members shared their feedback the draft design, to further refine and finalise the design.
July 2024	Final design released	We shared the final design for the new playground, which incorporates our community’s feedback.
From 3 February	Construction starts	We'll start to build the new playground.
From mid-2025 (subject to weather conditions)	Construction complete, playground reopens	We'll keep our community informed when construction timelines are confirmed.

More information

To receive updates about the works, visit our Kellett Reserve Playground upgrade consultation page and select ‘Follow’ at the top of the page.

For more information about the design, please contact or Landscape & Design team on (03) 9278 4444 or [email protected].