Bridge Road Children's and Community Centre aims to create a welcoming, natural environment for the provision of childcare, maternal health, and community services.

The centre aims to contribute to the wellbeing of the local Melton South Community, and designing with sustainable principles assists in reaching this goal.

 Internally, the functions of the centre are entwined around a rammed earth spine wall which runs the full length of the building. Indoor-outdoor play and colonisation of the exterior space is facilitated via direct large sliding door connection between each childcare room and the outdoor play areas.

The Landscape Design by Ochre Landscape aims to provide creative and sustainable external spaces combining the principles of both natural and structured play. A large portion of the time spent at kinder is outdoor play and therefore the long term success of the centre equally lies with the success of the building and the landscape.

KEY INITIATIVES

  • All water use for toilets is via two 20,000 litre tanks at the south side of the building
  • Tank water is connected to the irrigation system, and should the tanks run dry it is backed up with recycled water supplied in 'purple pipes' from the street.
  • Mature trees installed to ensure a landscape design that requires less maintenance as time goes on, providing shade and greenery to the children’s play areas
  • Shade provided by intensive mature tree planting instead of shade sails that are often difficult to maintain
  • Site revitalization - the subject site was a dry pasture site that had previously been used for cattle grazing, however its close proximity to the Toolern Creek makes it an excellent opportunity to revegetate and reintroduce native plant species to the area.
  • Education through natural play & exploration - the landscaping is designed to provide many different types of sensory stimulation to children, for example, plants with varying foliage texture and colour, interesting seed pods and different surface treatments. Colorbond planters are provided that can be used by the children to learn about growing vegetables or crops.
  • Low maintenance - surfaces are designed to be low maintenance and to prevent cross contamination of materials such as soft-fall, garden bed and sand. Sweeping easily keeps loose surfaces separate