Why Blacks Beach childcare centre is delayed
More than eight months after a desperately-needed childcare centre was approved for Mackay’s Northern Beaches, construction is yet to commence. Here’s why.
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More than eight months after a desperately-needed childcare centre was approved for Mackay’s Northern Beaches, construction is yet to commence.
Crossroad Developments had received approval from Mackay Regional Council back in February to build its 99-spot centre next to the Blacks Beach Tavern along Slaters Rd in Blacks Beach.
The six-room centre with a gross floor area of 796sq m is expected to help alleviate a severe shortage of childcare options in Mackay as expectant mothers sign up to waitlists before their babies are delivered.
But documents lodged to the council reveal a delay during the detailed design process because of “significantly higher than expected” construction costs.
Development Directive, on behalf of the applicant, has since lodged new architectural plans detailing a 90cm drop in the overall building height to make the project “feasible”.
Design features including stone cladding along the southern and eastern building facade and rendered wall cladding along the northern building facade were also downgraded to a textured paint finish, and plans to build a new road into a residential subdivision behind the centre were scrapped in favour of a new driveway access.
Documents state the revised plans keep a “high level of architectural design” thanks to articulated facades and a variation of building colours and materials, and will allow construction to begin sooner.
The changes were submitted in July with the council approving them in late October, subject to the developer widening a section of Blacks Beach Rd and building 26 carparking spaces.
The centre’s proposed operating hours are 6.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.
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