Purpose-built early learning centre nominated for award

A PURPOSE-BUILT early learning centre in Drogheda, Co Louth, has been nominated for an international design award. The winner will be announced in Scotland today.

The Grove Early Years Education Centre in Ballsgrove was designed by Collins Maher Martin Architects with an unusual team of consultants – the children who use the facility.

Children up to 12 years of age were asked what they wanted to see in the building which was developed on the site of old, almost derelict stables belonging to Drogheda Borough Council.

The children came up with practical suggestions such as outside taps and plain walls which could be decorated with their own drawings and paintings.

Project architect Erik Maher and colleagues Hanna Malik-Trocha and Elizabeth Sibley designed a modern glazed link between the old, 18th century stables – a protected structure – and an existing childcare building which was built in the 1980s.

The children in the existing facility were consulted on what should be the features of the new development.

The architects said one of the key concepts to emerge from the process was to make the new building a backdrop for the children’s own creativity.

Childcare manager Geri Bush said the centre also incorporates interlinked rooms with child-level windows. She said the sleeping area was not shut away in a darkened room, it allowed children to wake up after a nap and see friends and playthings and not have to wait until somebody came to find them.

The building also combines conservation and sustainability, with modern insulation standards and a woodchip powered heating system.

Environmentally friendly materials such as non-chemically treated wood chippings were used in the playground as well as “organic varnish” to make it as safe an environment for children as possible.

Ms Bush said the intention was not to mothball the children but to make it possible for them to “play, dig and plant things” in safety.

It is the first childcare centre in Drogheda to receive accreditation for full compliance with the 2006 Childcare Regulations.

The centre was commissioned and run by the community based Lifestyle Development Group and offers full-time and part-time places for 84 children from birth to 12 years of age.