Council’s Co Leaders hail completion of city’s new nursery settings

Aberdeen City Council’s Co Leader’s today hailed continued progress on construction of the 27 upgraded or new buildings, being delivered by Robertson Construction Eastern

​Aberdeen City Council's Co Leader's today (Tuesday 9th March) hailed continued progress on construction of the 27 upgraded or new buildings, being delivered by Robertson Construction Eastern,​ to support additional early learning and childcare (ELC) provision as three more sites are due to be completed soon.

Tilllydrone Nursery is due to be completed early this month, Northfield is due to be completed by the middle of March, joining Kingsford Nursery which completes this week. Following final utliities connections and Care Inspectorate

registrations work will proceed working towards a formal hand over to the Aberdeen City Council.

New facilities at Seaton, Tullos and Quarryhill were also completed the turn of the year.

Despite the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and the interruptions caused by local and national Tier 4 lockdowns, the new builds across the city comprising Aberdeen City Council's £23 million investment project have made good progress.

Council Co Leaders Councillor Jenny Laing and Councillor Douglas Lumsden expressed their delight with the progress being made.

Councillor Laing said: "It's great to see our huge investment in our children's futures reaching fruition with more new nursery sites, each with first class facilities, either being completed or nearing competition. Each of these facilities also support outdoor learning which has always been an important objective of entire building programme.

"It is a testament to the work of our teams and our contractors that work has been able to resume at a good pace despite the challenges of the pandemic and we are delighted that young families and entire communities will be benefitting from the marvellous new facilities in the very near future."

Councillor Lumsden said: "It's great to see more of our refurbished and new nurseries becoming ready for use. Our brand-new modern nurseries demonstrate our commitment to enhanced Early Learning and Childcare hours and families and staff will soon be able to see for themselves the fantastic new facilities we are providing."

Gordon Milne, regional managing director for Robertson Construction Eastern, said: "As the delivery partner of choice for Aberdeen City Council's Early Years programme, we could not be prouder of the first-class facilities the Council is adding to its education portfolio. This project exemplifies collaboration between customer and contractor, and we continue to make excellent progress in the delivery of the remaining facilities which are currently on-site or in the design phase. We look forward to hearing about the pupil's response to the recently completed facilities, and to continuing to play our part in assisting the Council achieve its extended Early Years Learning and Childcare hours."

The City Council's £23 million building programme, which is being delivered through Procurement Hub Major Projects Framework, will see 27 new or upgraded local authority nurseries across the city to cater for the enhanced provision including two new innovative outdoor learning settings at Hazlehead Park and Duthie Park.

Louise Dodds, client relationship manager at Procurement Hub, said: "I am thrilled that Aberdeen City Council have been able to realise the full benefits and flexibility of the Framework by packaging up their nursery requirements into one solution. This brings continuity and cost efficiencies for Aberdeen City Council and has built a strong working relationship with Robertson as their delivery partner.  

"At Procurement Hub we are proud that the Major Projects Framework offers flexibility and provides a platform to utilise a local contractor ensuring Robertson also invest and support the local supply chain in Scotland. As it is a direct call off solution this has meant that Aberdeen City Council and Robertson could start working together as a team from the start without the time constraints of a tender process.

"We look forward to seeing the nurseries fully completed and the children of Aberdeen benefitting from this scheme."

All local authorities were asked to develop an Early Learning and Childcare delivery plan to guide expansion plans supporting the increased in hours to 1140 per child in August 2021 from the current 600 hours. The Aberdeen City Council plan highlights a focus on the provision of outdoor learning to support wellbeing, on accessibility to increase uptake, on delivery of family learning to fully capitalise on the expansion programme, and on the provision of a 'localised offer' to meet the needs of families within each community.