Hong Kong skateboarders will be able to show off their skills at a new skatepark in Fanling on Saturday, with part of the site becoming the first of its kind in the city to receive a competition class certification from an international governing body. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said on Thursday that the skate bowl at On Lok Mun Street Playground had been certified as “Competition Class 1 star” for holding events, while its street course had attained “Recreational Class 3 stars”. The spokesman said the certifications were awarded by World Skate, the governing body officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee for skateboarding and roller sports. The Civil Engineering and Development Department’s Tom Leung Wai-lok, a senior engineer involved in the park’s construction, said authorities had collaborated with US company California Skateparks, which had built the skateboarding venue for the Paris Olympics. “Experts from Japan, Mexico and the United States had just finished the skatepark for the Paris Olympics, and then came to Hong Kong to build this skatepark for us,” he said. “They are also skateboarding enthusiasts. With their craft and their attention to detail, they have meticulously built the skatepark to ensure a smooth skating experience.” The 3,800 square metre (40,900 sq ft) facility, which took two years to build, will open to the public from 4pm on Saturday. The venue boasts a skate bowl and street course, which includes ramps, railings and staircases. On top of being suitable for skateboarding, it can be used for in-line skating, scootering and bicycle motocross by enthusiasts of different levels of ability. It also has toilets and changing rooms. The skate bowl has two sets of curved surfaces, with one 2.6 metres (8.53 feet) high and the other 1.6 metres tall. Leung said that building the skatepark had cost about HK$60 million (US$7.7 million), which was similar to the price tag for other regional open-space projects. The park also aligned with the government’s plan to promote urban sports, which was mentioned in the policy address in 2022, he said. “This is why we were eager to discuss with the skateboarding community, sports association and [the Leisure and Cultural Services Department] before its construction on how we should position the skatepark so that it will be suitable for nurturing the next generation of skateboarding lovers,” he said. “Those who wish to train themselves up, they can improve their skills through this facility, and they can represent Hong Kong in international competitions.” Stone Chung Wai-ming, resident architect for contractor Aecom, said smoothness, curvature and sufficient lighting were the three most crucial components for ensuring a park met World Skate’s requirements. He said the most challenging part of the construction process was producing the coloured concrete to be paved on the park’s surface. “Once the concrete dries, there is no turning back. Thus, we have to adjust to the right curvature and slope to the appropriate angles, and add the pigment powder before it is dried,” Chung said. He said that concrete with brown pigment was the most effective colour for reducing a skatepark’s surface temperature. The pigment powder could increase the density of the materials, which would make it less susceptible to weathering, he explained. The colour schemes of the surfaces were divided into three categories based on whether the latter element was horizontal, sloped or vertical, with such detail potentially helping athletes to understand the terrain. But Chung said the quality and consistency of the park’s concrete would need to be monitored closely, a task that was more challenging than for other projects. He said experts from California Skateparks had to trowel the concrete by hand and achieve the accurate curvature with a wooden tool. Skateboard coach Ting Lui and aggressive in-line skating coach Edo Ho were two of the athletes invited to try out the new facility on Thursday. They said the biggest difference between the Fanling skatepark and other facilities in Hong Kong was that it featured both a skate bowl and a street course, which made it suitable for users of all levels. The surface was “a lot smoother” than other skateparks in Hong Kong, which could reduce the chance of injuries, they added.