New Tredegar Integrated Children’s Centre

At the New Tredegar Integrated Children’s Centre, a new build project in the top end of the Rhymney Valley, we were looking for top quality durable furniture. Community Playthings was recommended. I contacted the company who asked us to explain not only what furniture we required, but also the ethos of our provision. We had two rooms to equip, one a nursery classroom, the other a childcare provision which by its very nature needed to be more homely while at the same time having an active feel.

The impetus behind an Integrated Centre is that it caters for a variety of services, so we needed flexible furniture to allow us to adapt the surroundings for different groups – parent and toddler, playgroup, after school clubs, as well as training sessions. Movable and adjustable furniture was a must. Read what a teacher in the centre says about it.

Our contact at Community Playthings was very helpful. Although we never had a face to face visit I felt the service we received met our needs well. We e-mailed room plans with full dimensions and a design came back with a full list and cost attached. A few alterations were made and a final design and cost agreed on.

We were a little nervous about the final design because it was difficult to visualise the rooms, but we trusted that we had been given the best advice. The day before the furniture arrived we painstakingly marked out the rooms with tape on the floor so we could see where it all had to go. We all watched the video and felt confident we could construct the design…..

We enlisted the help of about 10 colleagues to help unpack the 263 boxes that eventually arrived, across the builders yard on one of the hottest days of the summer. That was hard work.

Over a couple of days, slowly but surely the rooms began to take shape – the modular system was easy once we got the hang of it.

The design came together very well and fit the space perfectly. We were a very proud team! We only had one piece of equipment too many which we exchanged easily. There was only one hiccup. When Care Standards Inspectorate came to register the space we had to rearrange the furniture in the childcare room to create a larger area for the children to use. The modularity of the furniture made it easy to adjust and redesign.

The childcare staff and nursery teachers have been very impressed with the furniture and are very pleased with its robustness and flexibility.