Modular child care centres, coming to Kitchener, will create 176 new spaces

The coat rack at a daycare centre, pictured in Langley, B.C., on May 29, 2018. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

Waterloo Region is getting more than 175 new licensed child care spaces.

Those will be split between two modular child care centres located at Kitchener schools.

The difference between a modular child care centre and a standard build is the construction. Most of the parts are built off-site and assembled at the final location, with an emphasis on speed and flexibility.

Modulable, a Quebec-based company, will build both centres in Kitchener.

One will be located at Smithson Public School and operated by RisingOaks Early Learning Ontario, while the other will be set up at Howard Robertson Public School and run by The Healing of the Seven Generations.

The facility at Howard Robertson will also be the region’s second Indigenous-led child care centre.

Renata Richards, the executive director for the Ga’nigǫhi:yo Indigenous Child Care and Family Centre, said the organization was honoured to be chosen.

“With this new location being more accessible, we hope to help even more families that live in the Kitchener area bring the culture back to their children,” she said in a media release.

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• ‘It’s really a systematic failure’: Parents, educators raise concerns over lack of childcare spaces in Stratford, Ont.

The facilities will offer 88 spaces each, funded through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement. Registration will open on OneList later this year, with the centres expected to open their doors in December.

“Families need child care that is affordable, accessible and located where it can make the biggest difference,” Regional Chair Karen Redman said in the release. “By working with [the Waterloo Region District School Board] and not-for-profit partners, we are creating new spaces in priority communities and using an innovative approach to deliver them efficiently. This is a practical investment that will help more families access the care they need, closer to home.”

Regional council approved $4.4 million to purchase the modular centres in 2025.

More to come.