This trailblazing family centre was published as an exemplar by Sure Start.  The project extended an existing early years nursery and school to provide family support facilities such as sensory rooms, counselling suites, healthy living kitchen and a swimming and spa pool to build confidence.  The project has gone from strength to strength supporting the local community.

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This inner-city centre for young children, their families and parents provides a holistic mix of social, educational and health services to the neighbourhood. We worked closely with the Local Authority and the staff to develop the philosophy into a design which fully expressed the spirit and the principles of SureStart into a working project.

The building is attractive, welcoming and inclusive and uses light, scale and the texture and colour of materials to provide stimulus to young children through every aspect of the building. The spaces are well organised and visually linked to enhance safety, security and control.

In addition to the café and swimming pool, facilities are provided for training, therapy, children’s play, baby massage, relaxation and water therapy. The exterior play spaces and landscape are an integral part of the design and have been based on the same philosophy and design principles.

HLP has also designed extensions and refurbishments of the adjoining junior school to produce an early excellence centre within a shared campus.