Kids in Bloom
Requirement
Kids in Bloom began as a family run childcare business in 2002, when Lee and Carrie Johnson were unable to find suitable childcare for their young daughter. Their first day-nursery opened its doors in 2003, and was followed by their first after school club opening in 2004. Within 12 years, Kids in Bloom have expanded to open 7 childcare facilities.
To trial their services, Malvern School in Liverpool offered Kids in Bloom some classroom space on a temporary basis, and the result was a huge success. “When a school can provide services like the ones we provide at Malvern, it does make them a more attractive prospect to parents,” explained Mark Johnson, Director at Kids in Bloom. Needing to reclaim their classrooms, the school offered Kids in Bloom a plot of land on which they could place more permanent accommodation. To provide this accommodation, Kids in Bloom approached Wernick Refurbished Buildings.
“We explored a number of ways of procuring our building, including self-build and modular,” commented Mark. After speaking with several providers only Wernick Refurbished Buildings were able to meet the tight budget of the project.
“Kids in Bloom knew exactly what they wanted, which in this instance was a fairly basic building,” commented Alan Barnes, Wernick Refurbished Buildings’ General Manager. “But for a small business, even this can be quite expensive with an entirely new building. With a refurbished building you can retain the design flexibility and comparable quality of new build at a fraction of the cost.”
The final design was a four bay modular building featuring a baby room, toddler and pre-school room, toilet, and office and kitchen areas. Low level windows were also used to provide more natural light to the rooms. Installed and fitted out in just five days, the nursery can accommodate 35 children from the ages of 0-4 years. To further reduce costs, Kids in Bloom elected to take care of groundworks, landscaping and furnishings themselves, and have since added wood cladding to the exterior of the building.
Reaction to the new nursery has been very positive. Staff are happy to have a new “amazing space” to work in, and parents have been heard to remark how surprisingly spacious and light the rooms are. Mark, who also works in the building, assures us that “I would definitely use Wernick again.”
When a school can provide services like the ones we provide at Malvern, it does make them a more attractive prospect to parents.