A new child care centre has opened in Richmond’s Oval Village neighbourhood, one year later than expected.
The Hummingbird Child Care Centre, at 6899 Pearson Way by River Road, will provide 37 new licensed child-care spaces for infants, toddlers and children up to school age.
The facility was originally expected to be ready by spring 2022, but experienced construction delays as well as supply and trade challenges after the pandemic, explained city spokesperson Clay Adams.
It ended up being transferred to the city last December and will be operated by YMCA.
“Such delays are not particularly unusual given the pandemic impact, although we anticipate these pressures will ease over time,” said Adams.
The facility will serve families with children ranging from newborn to school entry-age, and it will be available to support families with siblings of different ages.
Richmond currently has 620 licensed child-care spaces in city-owned facilities, including the 37 spaces at the new Hummingbird facility. Between 2017 and 2022, 2,535 new child-care spaces were created in Richmond including almost 1,000 for infants and toddlers under three years old.
However, the spaces available only cover 35.6 per cent of the children age birth to twelve years old in Richmond. There are currently 8,337 child-care spaces in Richmond, which is 78 per cent of the city’s target to provide 10,710 licensed child-care spaces by 2031.
The Hummingbird Child Care Centre is part of the River Green development in the Oval Precinct.
