A nursery within walking distance of home is every parents' dream. No fighting through traffic, no car-parking hassle and the children are close at hand and in familiar surroundings.
This is now a dream property developers are happy to fulfil. Nurseries on new housing developments are considered an essential ingredient. In the last year alone major projects have been announced at Bridgend in Wales, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Nursery chains are eager to link with the developments. In August Just Learning signed up to open a 1m 112-place nursery in Bridgend where there are more than 2,000 homes. Kidsunlimited (part of the newly-formed Nursery Years Group) has entered a joint venture with Taylor Woodrow at its Macintosh Village development, outside Manchester. The chain has also signed with two other developers for unnamed projects. And Leapfrog Day Nurseries, acquired by Nord Anglia, has a nursery in a new development in Chelmsford, Essex.
The trend is welcomed by National Day Nurseries Association's (NDNA) chief executive Rosemary Murphy, 'Children benefit from having childcare in their own community, close to their home, attending with the children they will go on to school with and avoiding a long commute to and from nursery.'
Viable option
But, what is driving developers to continue the trend? Is it more than just a generous community-led gesture? And how do chains get involved?
John Oldham, chief town planner with Countryside Properties, which has worked with Leapfrog in putting a nursery into New Writtle Street, Chelmsford, and Just Learning at Great Notley Garden Village, Braintree in Essex, says it is about context.
'The potential for a new day nursery is really down to the market and whether there are already other day nurseries in the catchment area. To be viable, new nurseries need to tap into the existing community and not just the new one,' he says. He believes that 1,000 new homes can make nurseries viable as part of a range of facilities in a neighbourhood centre.
Some believe the number of residential units can be much lower. Steven Briegel, co-owner of surveying firm Allen Briegel, says, 'If nurseries are to be built, they will only be on very large urban regeneration projects where there are many uses and the only way to do it is if there are 300-plus units.'
Added extra
A 100m development in Fountainbridge, on a former brewery site on the outskirts of Edinburgh, is a prime example of the types of new sites being offered to nurseries. The eight-acre site will have offices, 400 homes, doctor's surgery and nursery.
David Sivewright, projects director for the site's developer, Grosvenor Estates, says a nursery has been included to increase the attractiveness of the site. 'It's another amenity,' he says. This is where the bridge between community gesture and business is crossed.
Developers say they are keen to build nurseries because they add to the sense of community. But nurseries also help increase the value of properties.
'Nurseries are part of a range of community facilities sited in a neighbourhood centre that are important in creating sustainable communities,' says Mr Oldham.
They also help developers with planning applications because including community-based buildings is usually a requirement from planning authorities.
It is also good business for nursery chains. As Mr Oldham says the chains are eager to take the space because they want 'to increase their market share and create new business in new premises that they can help design.'
Ralph Minott, property and development director at Leapfrog, says, 'The question we ask when presented with a large mixed development project is, "Is the nursery opportunity there to appease planners with a softer community use, to balance wholly commercial entities, or is there a genuine childcare need that has been identified?"'
He adds, 'An uncluttered catchment of at least 100,000 households within a 15-minute drive time radius with good visibility and access would be a must.'
Linking up
Forming a partnership between the nursery chain and developers at the early stages of a project is important. Tender is often offered at planning stage, but it is not always the developer who does the tendering.
Countryside Properties says it is a two-way street - the company approaches operators and operators approach them. Bellway Homes has some innovative nursery owners who check what is going for planning permission and then make an approach.
It is mainly nursery chains that take space on these developments but developers say they will take any suitable company. 'We are open minded,'
says Mr Oldham. 'We deal with six operators and it's a commercial decision in a competitive market.'
Bellway Homes' Julian Kenyon says, 'We look at each nursery and judge it on its merits. We would possibly favour a local approach because people in the area would be aware of the nursery company and that's a comfort factor.'
There is also the question of covenant. Andrew Surgenor at FPD Savills Health Care puts the average start-up cost for a nursery at 700,000.
Companies with the stronger covenant stand a better chance, and this normally pushes out the standalone nurseries.
'Developers do prefer companies that can show established operations and strong covenants, with a track record of operating a high quality of childcare,' says a Kidsunlimited spokesman.
Leases vary between freehold and leasehold, depending on the developer.
Kidsunlimited operates on a mixture of workplace contracts, with no property involvement, and standalone units that are predominately leased.
'The lease arrangement requires less capital investment, while the developer takes advantage of a strong leasehold covenant,' says the spokesman.
By design
Developers consult the nursery providers on how they want the building. 'We take the nursery company's advice on what their specifics are,' says Mr Kenyon.
Countryside Properties lets the nursery work with its own design and build contractor to provide the building the way they want internally. But externally they approve the design to make sure it works with the other neighbourhood centre buildings and the community's ethos.
Developers are still reluctant to build speculatively. 'We wouldn't look to build on spec because of the risk involved and the possibility of having a finished building that didn't meet with the end user's requirements,' says Mr Oldham.
Christie & Co's Mr Martin says, 'Debate is still raging about what is the optimum size. There is no consensus about any of that to allow developers to consider speculative development.'
Developers look set to continue forming partnerships with nursery chains, but NDNA's Ms Murphy has a word of warning. She says, 'With the drive for children's centres in every community by the end of the decade, developers and providers looking at getting involved will have to consider how the nursery will fit into children's centre plans for their area and make working in partnership with health and other agencies a priority.'
