A purpose-built pre-school childcare facility under construction in a new suburban development to accommodate more than 2500 residents has been placed on the market.
The state-of-the-art amenity is being built in a burgeoning residential enclave called Lockerbie Estate on the current urban boundary of the Waikato town of Morrinsville.
The emerging suburb is one of the largest urban developments increasing both housing and social infrastructure in the Waikato.
The new master-planned Lockerbie Estate community – including the daycare facility – will see the creation of 800 new residential dwellings on 79ha of what was once farmland.
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Located 29km east of Hamilton on SH26, Morrinsville has a population of approximately 7000.
The greater Lockerbie Estate development will also include a retirement village, café, and neighbourhood retail hub.
Lockerbie’s residential development has been planned for gradual evolution over eight stages – the first of which commenced last year, with the final phase scheduled for completion by 2030.
The freehold land and daycare premises which will accommodate the Morrinsville Early Learning Village being built on the corner of Lockerbie St and Fairway Drive are being marketed for sale at auction on October 28 through Bayleys Hamilton.
The 504sq m building is specifically designed to radiate from the centre outwards, with the infants’ area safely encircled by the ‘big kid’s zone’ and access to shade-covered outdoor play areas.
The single-storey interior will also feature administrative office space, a kitchen, laundry, and separate staff and patron bathroom amenities.
Situated on some 2492sq m of freehold land, the Morrinsville Early Learning Village daycare centre will be licensed to accommodate up to 85 children with carparking for staff and clients and a substantial on-site pick-up and drop-off zone.
The impressive new facility is due to open in September next year, and will be operated by Waikato-based childcare services provider Grow ECE Ltd which already runs several other such locations in the region.
Grow ECE’s approach to running daycare amenities is through creating a ‘village’ atmosphere where caring, growing and celebrating the extraordinary is an everyday experience.
Bayleys Hamilton salesperson Josh Smith said the growing demand for early childhood education and care in New Zealand – known as ECE - was being driven through changes in demographics, population, and changes in the way families lived and worked.
“For families with two working parents, along with many solo parent households, outsourced childcare is an integral and now widely accepted part of modern family life,” Smith said.
“Public funding for the sector is reliable and secure. The 2020 Government budget for example committed an additional $278 million over the ensuing four years to fund ECE services employing fully-qualified staff.”
The proportion of New Zealand children enrolled at education and care service amenities increased from 63 per cent in the 2015 Early Childcare Education (ECE) census, to 69 per cent in the 2020 ECE figures – with the number of weekly ECE attendance hours also growing over the same period from 22 to 23.3 hours.
“Proximity to higher socio-economic suburbs where residents generally have more income to spend on ECE services was an important consideration in the decision to build this new early childhood centre, along with proximity to locations where there is a high level of employment, as parents like to work close to their child’s daycare centre,” said Smith.
“Morrinsville is increasingly being seen as a home-buying destination by families priced out of the Hamilton residential property market but still wanting to stay in the province, as a more cost-effective provincial location in which to live.
“This long-term pipeline of population growth relocating into Lockerbie Estate as stages open up will underpin the customer base for the early childhood centre being offered for sale.”
Smith said the Morrinsville Early Learning Village being daycare centre was being sold with a ‘sunset clause’ in place to offer guaranteed security of construction by the agreed date to allow the centre to open ready for immediate occupation by Grow ECE.
- Article supplied by Bayleys
