Port Phillip City Council: Bubup Womindjeka Family & Children’s Centre

Mar 31, 2014 by vic@ipwea.org.au    Comments Off    Posted under: Capital Works > $1M

The Bubup Womindjeka Family & Children’s Centre is an integrated children’s service for the Port Melbourne Community that provides better outcomes for children and families in Port Melbourne through a design that responds to the requirements of the various programs to be accommodated by providing an attractive, family friendly facility. Internal courtyards and a range of passive solar design elements combine with a natural materials pallet and splash of colour to create a harmonious environment for users.
A playful geometry in the building form creates interesting undercover play spaces that integrate with the surrounding attractive naturally landscaped play environment.

Description of project
Project objectives
The design of the of the Bubup Womindjeka Family & Children’s Centre has successfully responded to the project brief and constraints to provide a facility for the Port Melbourne neighbourhood that has created an harmonious built environment with a natural landscaped surround for users. The building provides the infrastructure that will enable the City of Port Phillip to continue to provide quality children’s and family services to the local community into the future.
An integrative service response is a pivotal desired achievement of Council’s Early Years Plan (EYP). An integrated service response strengthens working partnerships and provides more comprehensive, informed and responsive service to families, young people and children. Collaboration with the community (stakeholders ) ensured delivering of Councils goals, including through the design and implementation phase
Project Outcomes
The Bubup Womindjeka Family & Children’s Centre is an integrated children’s service that provides long day care and preschool programs for a total of 135 children and accommodates maternal and child health, playgroup and community services for children and families located in the Port Melbourne area. The centre is owned and operated by the City of Port Phillip.

Innovative features of the project
An innovative sustainable governance structure demonstrated Council’s commitment to community inclusion and control. A single legal entity with a Board of Governance with representation from Early Childhood Services, the community and Council has been involved in the design and build of the facility. Although the building is owned by Council the centre is managed by the Board. This governance structure is considered best practice to achieve the principles around a fully integrated centre. Very few integrated centres across Australia have this governance structure.
The design met individual user groups requirements including:

• secure, restricted access
• open access facility for all visitors and users of the centre.
• All children’s playrooms and play spaces to have north facing access, and equal amounts of play area per child for all licensed services
• a strong focus on the provision of quality naturally landscaped outdoor play spaces for all children
• the re-alignment of existing spaces to negate the need for on site parking for the project.
• a welcoming public entry and generous foyer area with casual seating and a focal reception counter that has a direct relationship to the administration offices for the childcare and preschool services
• a more discrete waiting area is accessed from the main foyer for the maternal and child health services, whilst playgroup and multi-purpose community spaces are directly accessed from the public areas.
• the main foyer area provides restricted access to the licensed long day care service located to the southern side of the building, and the more open access preschool spaces that are located to the north. These spaces are separated by a central building core that accommodates the shared staff facilities for the service including a staff room and staff planning room and associated ancillary spaces
• Internal courtyards provide a focal point to the main foyer area and the central building core enabling users to orient themselves within the building whilst providing a serene landscape outlook from the various circulation and waiting spaces situated throughout.
• playgroup and multi-purpose rooms have been designed as flexible spaces that can be used for community groups, for meetings and other users of the centre.
• Internal materials and finishes have been selected to enhance the creation of a welcoming, child and family friendly environment within the building
• All playrooms including the playgroup and multi-purpose spaces have a direct relationship to outdoor play spaces that are accessed via bifold doors allowing for indoor/outdoor children’s programs to operate for all services.
• The playgrounds use a range of natural materials including compacted toppings, bark mulch and soft fall, rocks, logs and timber decking boards to provide a range of textural elements to the spaces, whilst rubber softfall adds a colourful element to these outdoor areas.

Distinguishing features of the project highlighting best practise principals and technologies
A playful geometry in the building form with a series of low pitched roofs and varied roof forms creates interesting generously proportioned undercover play spaces ensuring outdoor play opportunities can be provided throughout the year in all types of weather. Two raised spines cut through the length of the building, allowing a series of highlight windows to provide natural daylight and ventilation to the interior of the building including the corridor areas and admitting northern sunlight to the playrooms located toward the southern edge of the building in response to the project brief.
A range of passive and active environmentally sustainable design elements have been incorporated into the building to reduce the impact of the new facility on the environment. The aim was to achieve good environmental outcomes through the following initiatives:

• The harvesting of rain water from the roof to six rain water storage tanks. Rain water is used to flush toilets and for garden irrigation.
• Solar hot water boosted by a gas instantaneous unit. Hot water is circulated around the building by a ring main that ensures hot water is available to all areas without the need to run off a lot of cold water first.
• Split system air conditioning provides heating and cooling to internal spaces. This type of air conditioning has been assessed as the most efficient method for these type of facilities.
• Ceiling sweep fans assist with air circulation in the larger spaces.
• Highlight and openable windows provide good natural cross ventilation throughout the building.
• Deep verandahs create useable outdoor areas for inclement or hot weather.
• Clear polycarbonate roof sheeting to verandahs, highlight windows and internal courtyards admit natural light to the interior of the building.
• Double glazing to all windows.
• Energy efficient appliances and equipment have been incorporated.
• Materials throughout the building have been selected for their durability and environmental credentials.

Benefit to the Community
Most of the children who will attend the centre live in the local area and come from homes with small back yards or apartments with little or no outdoor area. With this in mind, the attractive playground landscaping has been designed by Botanical Traditions in response to the project brief. The spaces have been designed according to the capabilities of the various children’s age groups in the series of play spaces that wrap around the perimeter of the building to provide a natural and challenging play environment for children.
Positive impact on local community being served:
1. A number of design challenges were encountered in the early stages of the project relating to the integration of a range of different independent user groups from various existing services in the local community, some of whom did not want to engage in the project at all. Well managed and functioning integrated centre with a common philosophy amongst service providers

2.Integrated family and children’s centres bring together accessible and affordable care, education and health services for families with children aged 0-8 years.
3. Services are coordinated, flexible and work in a creative way that benefits children and families, particularly those experiencing difficulties.
4. This new integrated Family and Children’s Centre provides a range of ECEC services such as long day care and sessional kindergarten, Maternal and Child Health Service (MCH) services, consulting space for allied health professionals and space for new parent groups, playgroups and other community groups’ use.
5. The appointment of an Executive Officer and leadership group will drive this collaborative model and ensure a consistent level of service to families using the various service types. Service delivery that is coordinated, flexible and creative has particular benefit for children and families those experiencing difficulties.

Program and project management
The design of the centre by Perkins Architects commenced in late 2008, with an extensive community consultation process. The facility is located on the site of a disused maternal and child health centre and the former Lady Forster Kindergarten, a building that required extensive restoration works but was well liked by the local community. Review of the existing structures determined that the buildings were beyond their useful life and it was determined to construct the new facility on the site.
The project was further challenged by an extensive area of contaminated soil on the site due to the industrial history of the Port Melbourne area that required remediation and a range of design solutions to be explored so that the site would be suitable for use as a children’s service.
The requirements for car parking associated with the intensified use of the site and the desire to retain as many existing mature trees as possible were additional constraints to the project.
A range of design options were explored and tested, before the final solution was derived.

Costs / Benefits
The City of Port Phillip (CoPP) has a substantial asset in the building at 85 Liardet Street, Port Melbourne that has provided an extra 98 Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) places. This project was completed for $6.69m. The project, from demolition of the existing structure and decontamination of the site to opening of the new facility was completed in 18 months (May 2012 to November 2013). The environmentally friendly and energy efficient design balanced with the innovative use of internal and external spaces mean that Council can offer increased services to a growing young family demographic on an existing site. The recurrent running costs have been reduced and the early years curriculum enhanced with outcomes related to sustainable ways of living including a kitchen garden for children disadvantaged by inner city lifestyles.

Specific contribution by the team
The team were particularly agile in meeting the needs of key stakeholders in a complex governance model. The team was from the Community Development and Amenity and Infrastructure Divisions of Council and consulted with the various external stakeholders including State Government agencies, existing service providers and local community members. The local Indigenous community was included in the naming of the Centre.
The complex relationship engagement could have resulted in time delays and excessive costs related to time and additional requests. All the team demonstrated political acuity and outcomes focus to keep complex issues on track.
The team worked hard together to agree to and deliver a common goal – the successful delivery of an outstanding community facility.

Project Team Members
Darren Martin – Manager Maintenance & Renewal & Acting Manager Asset Planning (Member of IPWEA)
Julie Murphy – Family Youth & Children Projects Coordinator
Marisa Uwarow – Coordinator Youth Services
Andrea Tonkin – Project Manager
Katherine Belcher – Project Manager, Capital Works