The Dockyard, Seal Bay Resort

Preparing for the Voyage

Seal Bay Resort, formerly Bunn Leisure, is a multi-award-winning holiday park on the South Coast; a Cove Communities resort. It is a popular choice for family beach holidays, self-catering breaks and more. The operator wanted to enhance its offering by utilising some existing space for a new adventure attraction and turned to Greenspan Projects to bring their vision to life. Within this transformation, Seal Bay also wanted to revitalise an existing attraction – which also led to the restoration of the popular Bowling Bay – a bowling arcade with a twist!

Introducing The Dockyard

Located past the buzzing arcade in the resort’s main complex, The Dockyard contains a whole host of adventures circling around an epic steel structure – designed and built in keeping with the entire voyage theme. As the design concept took shape, the ideas flowed and it was clear that the Seal Bay team were looking for something completely unique. So, multiple attractions were born with the aim to entice visitors of all ages to come and try, including:

Climbing Walls

Fans of clambering and climbing will be able to enjoy a range of climbing walls, ranging in difficulty and suitable for everyone from novices to expert climbers. Visitors will be able to climb the rigging and make their way to the top. Here, they can then decide whether they are brave enough to take on the challenge of the nets.

Bounce Nets

With three suspended bounce nets to choose from, guests can bounce and jump while enjoying a bird’s eye view of the adventure complex. One of the nets is designated purely for 3-5 year olds, too, so they can enjoy their own space with fun inflatables!

Adventure Play

Exploring wooden structures packed with multiple routes is fun… and piques the curiosity! This indoor adventure play adventure allows those clambering and climbing up to the bounce nets at the top… and even race those taking the stairs in the middle of The Dockyard! It’s perfect for hide and seek where the possibilities of popping up in different areas is extremely likely…

9-Hole Adventure Golf

The indoor adventure golf is family-friendly, inviting guests to hop on board for a voyage complete with dastardly obstacles, including dockyard-themed props, hand painted rockwork and a new challenge at every turn.

The Bowling Bay

The Bowling Bay was in need of a makeover and a little touch of “light”. Our creative design team and project managers relished the idea of completely transforming the space – which has now taken on the dockyard theming with an industrial twist. With hand painted murals and cogs on the walls, to nautical rope furnishings and fixings, visitors can enjoy a completely new vibe… as well as VR darts and American pool.

A strong partnership

Talking about the project so far, Gordon Bush, head of activities and leisure at Cove UK, says:

“Working with Greenspan to convert what was a fairly standard sports hall into a wonderous space filled with adventurous activities has been an adventure in itself. We are really looking forward to opening the doors to team training later in May and then to our guests to enjoy in June. Greenspan have taken a fantastical idea and are turning it into a reality.”

Gordon Walker, Cove UK operations director, adds:

“Our Directors challenged us to find the best in class developers that would support and add value to our business. We spent 18 months trying to find the right supplier for Cove UK who could fulfil our briefs. When we reached out to Greenspan they listened to our brief and came back with a project that literally left us speechless. We knew right then that we wanted to present this to our Directors because it didn’t just fit the brief, it would blow them away.

“Making a business case to spend millions was made easier as the project brief told an imaginative story backed up with jaw-dropping equipment themed all around the Dockyard. Greenspan have been brilliant to partner with and we were so impressed that we added two other projects to our parks in Scotland that have again paid homage to their magnificent locations alongside imaginary play to take the resorts to a whole new level of amazing customer experience.”

High levels of detail & skill

Rod Morton, CEO of Greenspan Projects, says: “This has been incredibly exciting to work on with Cove UK, as part of their new development for Seal Bay Resort. What strikes me most is the sheer level of detail that has gone into the technical design and planning for this project – which has so many levels to it… in more ways than one!

“Our team are highly skilled when it comes to bringing the imagination to life and making sure safety elements are of paramount importance, yet they also work so closely with our clients to ensure they can bring dreams to reality… and that’s what it’s all about. On behalf of the whole Greenspan team, it has been a great experience and we can’t wait to see the finalised attraction in full swing.”

Looking to the future…

We are continuing to work with Cove Communities on a variety of other projects – so watch this space for further details coming soon.

Want to find out more about how Greenspan Projects can enhance your venue? Contact us on: sales@greenspanltd.com