Leo's History

It all began in 1986 when the founder, the Late Hamilton Hoole decided that he wanted to build his little boy a jungle gym; he hired a welding machine and angle grinder and sourced the steel. He was ready! So for the next three to four weekends he designed and began construction. It was a slow process due to the fact that his son was so eager to see what his daddy was up to, every five minutes the little boy asked his dad “Can I see yet?” Hamilton had to stop his work so that his son would not burn his eyes from the arch of the welding.

After completing the jungle gym Hamilton opened his new endeavor and hired a tiny single garage in Auckland Park, where he operated for about five years. In 1991 the business moved to a bigger factory premises on the same site.  The business stayed at that site up until Hamilton passed away in December of 2004. 

After a slow and uncertain first half of 2005 the new owner of the business, Hamilton’s son took the reins of the business and moved it to a more central and larger premises in KEW, Johannesburg.

The business was now under the ambitious leadership of Bradley Hoole who has opened new product lines and streamlined the production of the jungle gyms to a never before seen efficiency with a turn around time of 48hrs.

Today with new paint technologies and welding techniques, excellent service and unsurpassed quality Leo playground equipment is taking the industry by storm.

Leo Playground Equipment is constantly looking for new ideas and ways of making the playground more appealing and safer for children in South Africa. By spending a large amount of its resources on product development Leo is striving to promote a healthy form of play and to increase social interaction for children.

The future of this dynamic and inventive company is a positive one! Not only are we helping parents and schools fight child obesity but also contribute to a number of charity organizations.