Brewers Park playground, Burnaby: a colourful StreetBond court surface

Brewers Park in Burnaby was due for a playground surface renewal. The existing asphalt was functional but grey, a missed opportunity to make the space more engaging for the families who use it daily.

We installed StreetBond® coatings across the playground's asphalt surface, using a colourful multi-zone design that turns the functional surface into an active part of the playground experience.

Playground surfaces and StreetBond

Playground asphalt surfaces have to perform across a wide range of demands. Children are not gentle with surfaces: running, jumping, bike-riding and scooter use are all in scope. The surface needs to be safe (consistent traction, no sharp edges or lifted material), bright (colour that stays strong rather than chalking and fading), and durable enough to function for years without recoating.

StreetBond delivers on all three counts. The aggregate embed provides consistent slip resistance. The colour formulation is UV-stable, designed for outdoor Canadian applications where months of high summer UV alternate with wet winters. And the bond to the asphalt substrate means the coating doesn't lift at edges or peel under vehicle or foot traffic.

The Brewers Park installation uses multiple StreetBond colours in a zoned layout: creating distinct play areas that read as designed spaces rather than utilitarian infrastructure.

The park context

Brewers Park was undergoing broader improvements at the time of our installation, with increased community use expected as the surrounding area developed. A playground with a well-designed surface signals that the park operator has invested in the space, and that signal matters for community perception and use patterns.

The system

Square One installs StreetBond under our decorative coatings service. The manufacturer's published facts: a water-based acrylic pavement coating that works on asphalt and concrete, with an anti-skid aggregate for wet surfaces, more than 50 standard colours plus custom mixing, and a UV-stable finish. The manufacturer rates it at an 8+ year life cycle and describes the end of that cycle as a refresh rather than a replacement: the colour is recoated over the existing surface, and the asphalt underneath stays put. The StreetBond product page has the specification.

The same coating, three ways, in the same region

A zoned playground is one of three jobs StreetBond does for parks departments in our record. At Brookmere Park in Coquitlam it is a basketball court, with orange basketballs on the asphalt and a blue key. At Keswick, Wesburn and Confederation parks, all in Burnaby, it is the spray pad surface. The schools and sports courts gallery and the parks and paths gallery carry the photographs; the material and the crew are the same.

For a parks and recreation department

• Zone with a purpose. Colour fields that mark a running loop, a games area and a quiet zone do more work than a single wash of colour across the whole surface.
• Sound asphalt first. StreetBond bonds to asphalt and to concrete with the appropriate primer for each, but it cannot fix a failed base. A site visit tells you whether the existing surface is a candidate or needs paving first.
• Plan a recoat, not a rebuild. Colour fades before the coating fails. Budget for a refresh of the colour fields when they dull rather than for a new surface.

For parks and recreation departments in Burnaby and across Metro Vancouver planning playground surface improvements, send a photo of the surface and a postal code to office@squareonepaving.com, call 604-612-6209, or use the contact form. We come out, look, and put a written quote together.