Development application lodged for 90 place child care centre in Deakin

An office building in Deakin, a metropolitan suburb on the outskirts of Canberra, will be transformed into a 90 place “long stay” child care centre, should a $1.4 million development proposal from Bowral based developer John Uliana be successful, The RiotACT has reported.

The development application proposes to turn a two story office building, located at 24 Thesiger Court, into a child care centre which “would be ideally located to support employees of surrounding offices.”

Provision is made in the application for a refurbishment which would locate babies and toddlers on the ground floor, and preschoolers on the first floor, with two decks added to the building to create outdoor play areas.  

At ground floor level, new timber fencing will border play spaces which will feature sensory spaces, sand pits, outdoor furniture and grass areas. 

Deakin’s population at last measure has a median age of 45, with the area having a large portion of married couples, over 50 per cent of families in the suburb having children, and over 80 per cent of the working aged population in full or part time employment, making child care a priority development in the area. 

Two other centres, Deakin Early Education Centre with 82 places, and Deakin School for Early Leaning, with 90 places, service the suburb at present. 

Whilst no parking is allocated to the building in its current state, the development application notes 26 parking spaces will be provided, with employees to use a public car park located nearby. In addition, surrounding parking spaces adjacent to the site could be used for pick ups and drop offs. 

For more information about the development application, see here, with the original coverage as produced by The RiotACT available here.