Prairie Mountain Health plans daycare centre in east end

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This article was published 17/09/2024 (564 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prairie Mountain Health owns more than half a dozen residential properties in Brandon’s east end that it plans to use to build a new daycare centre that could accommodate 125 to 150 child-care spaces.

The new centre, to be called Brandon Day Care, is intended to provide daycare to PMH employees and the general public.

The health region has launched two requests for proposals.

The first RFP, released last week, is seeking a demolition contractor for the project.

The second RFP, which went public Monday, is accepting bids from a building consultant with expertise in architecture and mechanical and electrical design to develop the daycare centre.

Both documents were obtained by the Sun and have been confirmed by a PMH spokesperson.

The proposed daycare would be built on Park Street between McTavish and Victoria avenues, where PMH currently owns three houses and one vacant lot.

Directly behind the daycare would be the facility’s parking lot on Frederick Street, where PMH currently owns two houses and one vacant lot.

The two addresses slated for demolition in the RFP document are 548 Park St. and 332 Victoria Ave.

Included in the RFP that is seeking a building consultant for the daycare centre is a section called “Context for the Project.”

It states that BRHC does not have a child-care facility.

“There is a high demand for (a) childcare facility in close proximity to BRHC and within the city of Brandon for PMH employees and the general public,” the document says.

“PMH will own the land and building and is seeing a qualified and competent childcare provider to lease and operate the day care.”

The size of the proposed Brandon Day Care will be approximately 11,000 to 13,200 square feet, with an outdoor play area of 4,688 to 5,625 square feet.

According to Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care guidelines, the design must include emergency systems, washroom facilities and access to natural light, the RFP document says. And the layout must include washrooms and diapering, entry, access and security.

Since the lots are in a residential neighbhourhood, PMH will also require professional services to assist with rezoning the properties to accommodate the new development.

Brian Will, director of capital, infrastructure and support services for PMH, said the health region saw the need to “plan for the future.”

“Over the last 20 years, PMH has purchased all but one of the residential lots in the neighbourhood bounded by Victoria Avenue East, Park Street, McTavish Avenue East and Frederick Street,” Will said in an email to the Sun on Monday.

The scope of the demolition work includes removing and disposing of all building structure, as well as “complete removal of the foundations three metres below grade, concrete sidewalks and pads, fencing and clothesline poles,” the document says, adding: “Properties are to be left level with topsoil and grass seed. Mature trees to remain.”

Dan McGregor, the health region’s chief financial officer, said the lots will be returned to their original state of grass after demolitions are complete, “based on the residences’ state and for community safety.”

“These are aging residential properties that were purchased near Brandon Regional Health Centre for long-term planning to have space available in the event any potential hospital expansion is needed in the future,” McGregor wrote in an email to the Sun on Friday.

The deadline for submissions from demolition contractors is Oct. 3, while the deadline for consultants to submit their design for Brandon Day Care is Oct. 17.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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