Modular Nurseries & Early Years Buildings

They are permanent buildings. Our nurseries are timber-frame structures designed in accordance with Eurocode 0 to last well beyond 50 years with minimal upkeep, not hire-and-return cabins or temporary units. We build them to the same standards as traditional construction, with a 10-year structural warranty, a 25-year roof warranty and a 1-year warranty on fixtures and fittings, and they become a long-term asset on your balance sheet. If what you actually need is short-term space, modular permanent construction is not the right route, and we will tell you so at the feasibility stage.

In most cases, yes. A permanent nursery building generally needs planning permission, and early years settings also have to satisfy Ofsted registration and EYFS requirements. We handle the planning application for you, acting as both principal designer and principal contractor, and we prepare the drawings and documentation your local authority needs. We also manage building regulations sign-off, so you have one team accountable for compliance from the first sketch through to the final handover.

We design around the practical realities of the Early Years Foundation Stage rather than treating it as a checklist. That means clear supervision sightlines with no awkward blind corners, secure and controlled entry and exit, appropriate hygiene and nappy-changing facilities, and direct, safe access to outdoor space. We consider quiet areas, accessible toilets and sensible circulation from the first design conversation. Because every building is bespoke, we shape the layout around your age ranges, your daily routines and your registration requirements.

Outdoor learning is central to good early years practice, and young children benefit from moving freely between inside and out. We design covered decks, wide doorways and secure boundaries so children can access outdoor areas in all weathers while staff keep full supervision. Our biophilic approach also brings daylight, fresh air and views of greenery indoors. One of our customers at Bickley Park School told us free-flow access to a covered deck meant outdoor learning could take place whatever the weather.

Cost depends mainly on floor area, then on the age groups and number of places you plan for, the specification and your site. As a guide, we recommend around 3.5 m² per child for nursery rooms, plus space for toilets, nappy-changing, storage and a staff office. Our ranges and prices page gives a current guide rate for early years buildings of £3,200 to £4,000 per m² for the building itself, excluding foundations and groundworks, external works, professional fees and VAT. After a free site visit and design, you receive a fixed price covering planning to handover, with anything that depends on your site set out clearly.

It depends on who you are. School nursery wings run by academies, voluntary-aided schools or sixth-form colleges may bid through the Condition Improvement Fund, while larger trusts use School Condition Allocations and capital reserves. Private and independent settings often draw on reserves, parental contributions or finance. Nurseries built as part of new housing can be funded through Section 106 developer contributions. We also offer a lease-funded route over a 10-year term with no upfront capital, under the IFRS 16 Maintained Schools Secretary of State Finance Lease Class Consent 2024.

Often, yes, but it depends on the size of the building and your planning timeline, so the earlier you start the better. Because much of the build happens offsite in our workshop while groundworks progress on site in parallel, modular is significantly faster than traditional construction and spends far less time on your grounds. We will give you an honest view of what is achievable at the feasibility stage, rather than promising a date we cannot stand behind.

Yes. Our installation teams routinely work on live nursery and school sites, with secure site separation and deliveries managed around your daily routine. Because we manufacture the panels offsite, we keep the noisy, disruptive groundworks and assembly phases as short as possible. We plan the programme with your safeguarding lead so children stay safe and settled throughout, and we can sequence work to avoid your busiest times of day.

Yes. Because our nurseries are bespoke and built from the same panelised timber system as our modular classrooms, we design with future capacity in mind where you expect demand to grow. That might mean planning for an additional room now, or specifying the site so a later phase can be added with minimal disruption. With the funded childcare expansion increasing demand across the sector, many settings ask us to plan for growth from the outset, and we are happy to map out a phased approach.