.. Hollybush Integrated Children's Centre ..
.. Located within the grounds of Hollybush Primary School - Cwmbran ..
.. Opened September 2006 by Jane Davidson (Minister for Lifelong Learning Skills) ..
Torfaen County Borough Council were awarded �1.5 million in funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and the New Opportunities Fund to develop an Integrated Children�s Centre. The key elements of the Centre are Early Years Education, Childcare, Training, Open Access Play and services such as Sure Start for families with children aged 0-4 years.
The building was designed in-house within Torfaen County Borough Council together with a Finnish Company, based in the Lapland region of Finland. The timber logs used in the construction were 150 years old and were grown and harvested from a sustainable forest, within the Rovaniemi region of the Artic Circle.
Within the grounds of the `Centre` are areas of both `hard and soft` landscaping, their aim, to encourage users to the importance of utilising their surroundings as a learning resource.
.. The building design utilises the `natural light` available which enhances the timber wall structure ..
The building provides :
Two nursery rooms with integrated kitchen facilities, quiet areas, wet areas and storage areas.
Cr�che facilities with integrated kitchen facilities, quiet areas, wet areas and large amount of storage areas.
A training room for parents and staff.
An office, reception rooms, interview rooms and medical facilities.
"An unusual and `eye pleasing` design feature I noticed, was instead of using plastic down pipes, heavy chains are used, whereby rain water collected in the roof's guttering, runs down the chain links to the drains. "
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