Sandpiper Playground Waterfront Restoration

The restoration of Sandpiper Playground added a new world-class greenspace to Rockaway Beach. Left severely damaged from Hurricane Sandy, the NYC Parks project aimed to make the shorefront playground more resilient to coastal flooding and include recreational amenities for the local community.

The $6.9 million renovation revitalized Sandpiper Playground. It now features ADA accessible play equipment, a restored wave shelter, immersive spray showers / water play equipment, new plantings, fencing, and pedestrian paths that access the boardwalk.

Playground Restoration Services

McLaren Engineering Group worked to engineer the reimagined playground with landscape architects Quennell Rothschild and Partners who designed the park taking inspiration from the area’s ecosystem (blue whale sculptures and all!). Our civil and geotechnical teams performed site investigation, reviewing the existing conditions of the drainage and grading sytems, and gathering information on utilities and local roadways and sidewalks with the help of our in-house surveyors.

Waterfront Resiliency

To help with NYC’s green infrastructure initiative we provided subsurface drainage layouts of the underground park infrastructure and directed stormwater flow to drywells. Additionally, we provided environmental and tidal wetland permitting and approval support. On the structural front, McLaren provided support of wave, shade, and bus shelters including design of spread footing foundations. Sandpiper Park is now better prepared for fun and environmental impacts of future storms.