10 September 2010
Capita Symonds’ Countryside Management team has been appointed to
design and build two new mountain bike trails in
Devon.
Working in partnership with world renowned mountain bike trail
designer Phil Saxena of Architrail, and specialist bike trail
builder Dinsdale Moorland Services, a team from the Carlisle office
will be developing the projects which are being delivered as part
of the 1SW off-road cycling project which aims to develop a branded
regional mountain biking destination in the South West for a wide
range of mountain bike users.
The first project will see the partnership plan, design and
build of a ‘skills park’ and a ‘pump trail’ at the Forestry
Commission’s Haldon Forest Park Visitor Centre near Exeter. The new
skills park will provide a teaching and learning facility for all
abilities of users and will encompass a variety of graded trail
features including drop offs, berms, germs, northshore, skinnies
and an innovative balance zone. The pump trail will include a
series of rollers, tabletops, big berms and double jumps which will
teach rider speed control or simply allow a fun experience at the
beginning or end of a ride.
The second new project will deliver an off-road cycling
site and trail assessment for the National Trust’s Plymbridge
Valley site on the outskirts of Plymouth. The project will involve
the design of approximately 16km of new red and blue trail in the
sensitive landscape as well as a further skills park, pump track
and specialist skill zones along the trail.
Capita Symonds is also working with Architrail and Dinsdale on a
project in North Somerset - an off-road cycling development plan
for Bristol City Council’s historic Ashton Court Estate and the
Forestry Commission’s Leigh Woods.
The team is overcoming some major ecological and landscape
barriers on the site including SSSI, Special Area of Conservation
(SAC) and Graded Landscape designations to plan, design and
re-design over 12km of red and blue graded trails and a skills
park. The new facilities, which have just been granted planning
permission, are expected to host over 80,000 visitors in the first
year alone and should open in Autumn 2011.