Portsmouth: Childcare facilities grow at Lakeside North Harbour

Lakeside North Harbour has welcomed the completion of a major expansion to Tops Day Nursery Lakeside, its onsite daycare provision. Following the design and construction of a purpose-built wooden cabin, the nursery, which first opened on the business campus in 2012, has increased the number of childcare places it offers by 32 to a total of 93.

The expansion of the nursery was enabled through a grant aimed to create more spaces for funded pre-school children. The grant allowed Tops to commission TG Escapes to create a bespoke, contemporary and eco-friendly building to act as an extension of its existing facility. Built from sustainable wood and fitted with eco-friendly features, the new cabin aims to inspire the children to look after the environment as well as offer them a comfortable, modern space to play and learn.

Karen Tyrrell, client & communications manager at Lakeside North Harbour, commented: "When we developed the masterplan for Lakeside North Harbour we knew from the start that we needed to offer solid childcare provision. The availability of childcare on the campus certainly helps our occupiers attract and retain staff and provides a more flexible working day for return to work parents. Being able to roll the morning childcare drop and arrival at work into one seamless event hopefully creates a more harmonious start to the working day, and it's also great to see parents being able to enjoy the added benefit of being able to pop and see their little people at lunch and on breaks."

Diane Wycherley, senior area manager for Tops Day Nurseries, added: "As the demand for good childcare continues to grow we were keen to expand our facilities at Lakeside to help accommodate the increasing number of children wanting to attend the nursery. It has been an exciting - and extremely smooth process - to work with the onsite facilities and management team at Lakeside North Harbour and TG Escapes to create such an inspirational building for the children at Tops Day Nursery Lakeside. We know the staff and children alike are looking forward to spending time in their new log cabin."

The new building incorporates a timber frame which has the lowest carbon footprint of any commercially available structural building and exceeds the thermal efficiency standards new houses must achieve. It has red cedar timber cladding (FSC and PEFC certified sustainable) which will fade naturally and without chemicals to match the existing building. The cabin has also been constructed with 80% recycled insulation and is double glazed, with low emissivity glass, pre-insulated flooring with 80% recycled mineral wool, an air source heat pump and LED lighting. TG Escapes also offsets its activities and CO2 emissions with 'ClimateCare'.