Council Co Leaders hail new £23 million nursery build programme for Early Years Learning and Childcare expansion

Co leaders Jenny Laing and Douglas Lumsden today (Wednesday 19 February) hailed the £23 million development work being undertaken across Aberdeen as the city's new nurseries start to take shape in preparation for the rollout of extended Early Years Learning and Childcare hours later this year.

Work is taking place this year on 27 sites in the city, including completely new nurseries. The Co Leaders today visited the one at Seaton where the construction of a new nursery building by Robertson is underway.

Councillor Laing said: "We are committed to providing the very best starts in life for our children and young people and that is why we are making a huge investment in new and upgraded nurseries across the city.

"We are not only delivering on our duty to provide expanded Early Years Learning and Childcare hours but we are ensuring that children receive this enhanced offering in the best facilities and settings possible."

Councillor Lumsden said: "Our ambition, right from the outset, has been to support children's educational development, close the poverty-related attainment gap, and to support families in a local setting.

"With first class facilities, including innovative learning settings such as the forthcoming outdoor facility at Duthie Park, we are well on the way to achieving this. In addition to our £23 million investment in the new building works we are also making £1 million in grants available to partner providers to create additional capacity."

Robertson is building the city's new nurseries and John McHardy, business development director for Robertson Eastern, added: "These new early years learning facilities will play a crucial role in giving children the best possible start in education and we're pleased, once again, to be working in partnership with the council.

"Robertson has an extensive history of delivering high-quality schools and nurseries and we are currently helping expand early learning facilities for local authorities across Scotland as well as here in the North-east."

Aberdeen City Council is committed to expanding the provision of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 hours to 1,140 hours by August 2020.

The nursery projects are being delivered in three phases, via Procurement Hub Major Projects, as follows:

• Phases 1 and 2 will deliver re-modelling or extensions to schools and nurseries at Broomhill, Charleston, Culter and Cults, Loirston, Kingswells, Kingsford, Quarryhill, Tullos, Westpark, and Woodside, and new builds at Gilcomstoun, Kirkhill, Northfield/Cummings Park, Seaton and Tillydrone.
• Phase 3 projects include a new build nursery for Danestone School and minor configurations at Dyce, Glashieburn, Greenbrae, Kittybrewster, Forehill, Fernielea, Scotstown and Walker Road

Sophie Quenby, Operations Manager, Procurement Hub, said: "At Procurement Hub we are delighted that Aberdeen City Council have been able to use the Major Projects Framework to its full potential. It was designed to speed up the access to trusted suppliers with the maximum amount of flexibility. We understand that clients need to be able to get projects off the ground quickly when there are urgent timescales, and this framework fits these requirements perfectly. The open book policy we have incorporated into the framework means that our members know they are working with a trusted supplier."

Photograph shows (left to right): John McHardy, Business Development Director for Robertson Eastern and Aberdeen City Council Co Leaders Douglas Lumsden and Jenny Laing.