Kool Beanz opens Harrup Park, reveals Bridge Rd, Glenella childcare centre build dates

Wooden forts, STEM rooms, and footy themed, Kool Beanz is building two more Mackay childcare centres. Take a tour of its newly-opened Harrup Park centre, and see when the rest are expected.

Onyx, 4, enjoying the dedicated STEM room at Kool Beanz SUNS Harrup Park childcare centre in Mackay. Pictures: Heidi Petith, Contributed

A wooden fort built around established trees, a hand-operated water pump play station, and rooms dedicated to STEM and Lego are just some of the features at Mackay’s newest childcare.

Bruce Coulson officially opened the Kool Beanz SUNS Harrup Park childcare centre on Tuesday, as he revealed they would begin building their second Mackay centre in March.

The Kool Beanz SUNS owner said their vision was to divert from the “cookie cutter” childcare centre model of “four walls and a roof” to reach “another level”, partly inspired by his own journey as a father of three and seeing the colour and creativity in primary schools.

The Harrup Park centre along Juliet St is Kool Beanz Academy’s first childcare in North Queensland with a giant football at the entrance paying homage to the association with Gold Coast Suns AFL.

Mr Coulson explained the partnership arose when he saw an opportunity to develop a childcare centre on spare land surrounding the Suns’ club.

He said the Mackay region was itself becoming an AFL “heartland” with the team at Mackay Regional Council instrumental to bringing Kool Beanz north.

“I think there was 26 (childcare) centres (in Mackay) when we started,” Mr Coulson said.

“There’s probably 29 now but it’s still way under catered for … so we’ve got plans for another three (centres) to go after this.”

Mr Coulson said work on their Bridge Rd centre would kick off in March with an expected September opening date, with construction on their 132-place along Hill End Rd in Glenella to start in July with an estimated March 2024 turnaround.

He added they were also contemplating building a fourth centre at the rear of their Glenella block, and were potentially looking at the Whitsundays for further centres.

Kool Beanz SUNS founder Bruce Coulson, Mackay Regional Council Planning, Growth and Sustainability director Aletta Nugent, and GC Suns chief executive Mark Evans at the official opening of the Kool Beanz SUNS Harrup Park childcare centre on Tuesday, February 6, 2024. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr Coulson said the Harrup Park centre had maxed out enrolments with at least 50 families on the waitlist and the Bridge Rd centre anticipated to open with numbers “90 per cent full”.

“We do things that other (childcare providers) don’t do,” Mr Coulson said, adding Harrup Park had qualified art and Japanese teachers, a library, and a kitchen where kids cook with the chef.

He said they had likely overinvested by more than $600,000 but their mission was to better prepare children for school, adding it would be wonderful to see a Kool Beanz graduate one day playing for Suns.

MRC Planning, Growth and Sustainability director Aletta Nugent said the ongoing sponsorship of the Suns embodied the council’s “strong support” of women’s sports and presented Mackay children with a real pathway to elite sport.

She added the council’s Facilitating Development policy incentivised the building of new childcare centres to address the ongoing shortage.

As of late last year, there were more than a dozen proposals to build new centres across the region, which if opened, would create more than 1300 new childcare spots.