Nursery Building - Guide to Planning a New Nursery

So you have made the decision and are planning on purchasing a new nursery building. Whether this is your route into business, or a development of an existing business, there are a lot of things to think about. Here is a quick guide to some of the points you need to consider.

Size of building

Each additional square meter will have a cost implication; so it is essential that you get the layout of your new nursery building just right. You need to consider not only the numbers of children, staff, and rooms necessary, but also plan them so that there is minimal wasted space. If you choose a building which is individually designed, and unique to your business, then you have an ideal opportunity to do this.

Indoor Play for Nursery Buildings

Perhaps the most obvious, but the first thing to consider is the space allocation you will need. National standards exist for the allocated play areas for nursery age groups.

Space standards represent minimum space per child for the whole provision;

England and Wales;

Age Group under 2 years - 3.5 sqmAge Group 2 years - 2.5 sqmAge Group 3 - 7 years - 2.3 sqm

Scotland;

Age Group under 2 years - 3.7 sqmAge Group 2 years - 2.8 sqmAge Group 3 - 7 years - 2.3 sqm

This area can include space for quiet play or relaxation. It can easily be planned to provide areas dedicated to messy or wet play within the rooms. Provision of water fountains is also popular. Where preferred, layouts can be planned to give access to the w.c direct from the main play rooms to minimise interference with staffing levels.

Adequate Storage

As some areas may have more than one function, many nurseries benefit from walk-in storage areas, where play items can be stored between sessions. Planned storage can be particularly important to nurseries who share the main facilities with other community groups. This can be built into the floor plan of a new building and give you neat, organised, storage which will help extend the life of the toys and equipment you provide.

Toilet Facilities

1 w.c and hand basin to every 10 children over 2 years. Part M applies, so disability access requires an additional w.c. Many nurseries are able to use this as their staff facility as well which helps maximise use of space within the new building.

Outdoor Play

Safe outdoor play areas can be secured as part of the new project through considering L or T shaped nursery buildings. Here a partially enclosed area is created by the building shape giving ideal opportunity for covered verandas which offer all weather play. Remember to include outdoor taps for the children's gardening activities

Staffing Ratios

1 member of staff for every 3 children under 2 years of age1 member of staff for every 4 children aged 2 years1 member of staff for every 8 children aged 3 to 8 years of age

Office Facilities

A small office will give you the opportunity to have the necessary space and quiet to conduct any meetings (staff/parents/suppliers) and, if positioned next to the main access door, can ensure that you as owner/manager see every person who comes into your premises.

Kitchen

Depending on the type of care you are offering, you will either require a basic food prep area, where you can prepare mid-session snacks and drinks, or a full kitchen, where day care children have their healthy meals prepared. Planning the position of this can help you save space.

Decoration

A warm, inviting, and safe environment will work for children and parents alike. Choose something that will set your business apart from the norm: like this lovely log building, filled with primary colours to stimulate young minds set against the warmth of the log wall.

Speed of Construction

Especially important if you are replacing an existing childcare building and do not want any interruption to your business. Certain build options, such as off-site manufacture, ensure that a large amount of the construction preparation is carried out prior to arriving on site. This can mean that a complete new nursery building is created in as little as 4 weeks

Disruption during the Build

When you are building your new premises, and hoping to create a positive impression on the community, you want a construction solution that will create interest and enthusiasm. Look out for the Considerate Constructors Scheme: participating companies have a focus on ensuring that they are good neighbours during the build process, which will stand you in good stead with the community when you open for business.

Sustainability

When you have planned out your new building you can start to look at the sustainable options as well. Make sure that your new building demonstrates your commitment to the environment by choosing a building that is constructed from sustainable materials, is energy efficient, and low maintenance during use, and will not be a detriment to the planet when It reaches the end of it its life.

Your new nursery building will not only be your place of work, but the face of your business: you want it to reflect your company's ethos. For more information on pre-school, school and sustainable buildings visit our website.

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Is Your Property Green?

Everyone is talking about "green", and you are probably inspired to "green" your property to follow the latest trend in the market. Making your property "green" is good for the value of your property due to the increasing drive towards this direction, and even if it is not for value adding, making your property "green" is also a good investment for your own health and well-being.

So, how do you "green" your home? Your home may already be 20 years old, and you are not going to restructure the whole house, more so if your house is actually an apartment. You cannot simply tear down the walls or anything, as it will affect the whole block of apartment. What can you do?

Landscaping

We are not just talking about having a beautiful garden or putting a lot of potted plants around your balcony. We are talking about the sprinkler systems. You may wish to turn them on if the sprinklers are in your garden, so that you may check for any over sprays. Apartments have no problem about this because you are probably watering your plants manually. However, for sprinklers, you should replace the older technology sprinkler heads with water conserving sprinkler heads. If you can, get one with a timer and a weather sensor. That way, your sprinkler will not need to activate itself when it is raining.

Paints

You will want to ensure that the paint you use has low chemical emissions, especially for VOCs and formaldehyde. Long term exposure to VOCs and formaldehyde potentially cause cancer and leukemia. Most paint manufacturers now may have manufactured paints without VOCs now, but you cannot be too sure about paints in your older home. Also, if you are considering repainting, get a paint which includes anti-bacterial and anti-fungi properties. These are more for your health consideration, because anti-bacterial and anti-fungi will help to avoid unnecessary health problems for your household.

Flooring

There are several considerations when it comes to the floors. If you have marble floors or whatever hard flooring, there is lesser problems for you. However, if your flooring is carpeted, most of the time you might need to replace your carpet with an eco-friendly alternative. In the market, there are carpets made from recycled plastic bottles, with lesser gas emissions and cost about the same as your typical carpet. You may also replace your typical carpet pad with a hypoallergenic soy carpet pad for that extra "green" to your flooring.

Electrical Appliances

A lot has been said about the new regulations for electrical appliances, and manufacturers are working hard to obtain the Energy Star labels for their products. Aside from the label, do also check the age and who the manufacturer is, especially for your refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher and dryer. Chances are, these electrical appliances are eating up your electricity and footing you an expensive bill due to their age. If you can only afford to change a few of the appliances at home, save enough to start with these few basic ones, starting from your refrigerator, washing machine and dishwasher. Once you start with these three, your electricity bill would have become so much lesser and you will be able to save your cash for the others. Do remember that any appliance which requires heat such as iron and your water heater are the appliance which will swallow a lot of electricity. Any older appliance will also be more dangerous for the fire safety of your home. Just take the chance to replace the older appliances to minimize the possibility of fire hazard.

Lighting

Have you replaced your light bulbs with eco-friendly ones? There are a lot of new light bulbs now which consumes less electricity. It may also be the use of lovely LED lights which can be rather decorative and inexpensive, to replace those heavy-duty outdoor lighting that you had used in the past. For fluorescent tubes, look at the T level on the tube. If the tube T level says T10 or T12, take the initiative to change these to T5 to T8 instead. You will get the same light output, with 70% savings on your electricity bills.

Water

Finally, check the plumbing of your house. Check your water faucets, sinks and shower heads for aerators. You will also need to check the water heater for exposed pipes. Another thing that you need to check is your flush system.

Chances are, older flush systems are using a lot of water and using a single flush system. New flush systems have two systems, one which releases only half of the whole bucket of water when you flush, and another for a full flush. You will save a lot of water for a small investment.

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Tips for buying a green home

Buying a green home is not as difficult that you might think and long term it can save you lot of money, as well as having an impact on the environment. A Green House is one that is energy efficiency and allows you to save money, but it could also mean it is a home made from recycled materials and making much better use of space. When you buy a green house you must always take into consideration the same things you do when you buy a normal House, as going through the right channels to borrow money and to pay additional costs such as fees to and transfer of stamp.

Construction methods

You can start even before Green thinking to begin to build the House. Choose an architect who is familiar with the ecological houses and ask them to design a House that suits your block. Think of the creation of a House that occupies less space on Earth, leaving as much room for trees and plants as possible. Leave the room around the House for water tanks and a vegetable garden. Think of where on your block build you the House too. Make sure that it is in a position so that you can make use of natural light and it is facing a direction so you get the heat of the Sun for energy efficiency.

Construction materials

You can even be respectful of the environment with your choice of building materials. All the wood in your home should be recycled from other sources. You will find that you can purchase bricks of homes are being razed to the ground. You may also choose to build with environmentally friendly materials such as mud or stone, or even building a straw House haystack.

Energy efficiency

One of the main objectives of your House is that it is energy efficiency. Make sure that it is insulated so that it remains hot in winter and cooler in summer. You can also double glazed and have solar panels installed to rely you on the Sun to power your home. Solar energy can also heat your water so you can save on gas and electricity. Solar panels are not as expensive as they once and many new homes are not respectful of the environment are constructed with solar panels to heat their water.

Devices

In your House, you can be more respectful of the environment by choosing appliances to the right. When you purchase a dishwasher, washing machine, fridge or even a dryer you will see that the energy rating on the element via a classification system. The stars an element has the energy efficiency is. You can also buy dishwashers and washing machines use less water. You can also be more energy efficient when lighting your home by choosing to use the power light bulbs. Another way to be friendly to the environment is to look at your energy consumption, therefore turn off lights in rooms that are not in use, turn off appliances at the wall and not heat or cool the rooms that you do not use. With blinds or curtains on your Windows will help keep your House warm in winter and to block the heat in summer.

By the way, do you learn more about real estate? If so, I suggest that you check the cost assignment and assignment.

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