County Antrim based BLK BOX completes new gym installation at Castle Tower School

Castle Tower School, Ballymena, has recently took installation of a brand new bespoke designed gym rig with the help of County Antrim based BLK BOX.

Castle Tower caters for children with special needs all the way from the age of 3 up to 19.

In recent times the school moved into a brand new building combining three separate schools in one with a total of 360 pupils. It has been widely praised as one of the most inspiring and exciting school buildings in Northern Ireland.

BLK BOX had the privilege of working with Castle Tower School to develop and create a unique and interactive area for their students.

Previously the space was packed with furniture offering more learning facilities in between classes, however the teaching staff at Castle Tower School felt that what the kids really needed was a safe space that facilitated a ‘movement break’.

A spokesperson for BLK BOX commented:

“We are extremely proud to have been part of the development at Castle Tower School.

“Working with Castle Tower we were able to design and create a bespoke rig that was able to cater for children of all sizes and ages. Reluctant to invest in a free standing piece of equipment, the school wanted a custom built solution so it was crucial that we were flexible in terms of design.

“The brief was to design a rig that sensory swings could be attached to which can help to calm the children. The smooth back-and-forth motion is soothing and helps to minimize disruption.

“The rig was designed with a number of attachment points so more than one swing can be used at once, particularly useful for break and lunch times.”

The BLK BOX team had to overcome challenges when designing the space, working around the under floor heating and considering how to fit a rig into the space without affecting its functionality.

Principal of Castle Tower School, Alick Ford, praised the BLK BOX team for their help in developing the new area for the children:

“The fact that BLK BOX can do everything really helps, rather than us trying to source lots of different things from different places,” said Alick.

“I’d highly recommend BLK BOX to other schools or learning centres for children that need this type of space. It’s working really well and there is scope for the rig to be enhanced or built upon in the future”.