Treetops opens third centre in Pukekohe
Treetops is a group of three Childcare Centres owned by Maree Gunn and Alison Corstorphine. Both women held management positions at local primary schools for many years before shifting their focus to providing quality early childhood care and education. That was 15 years ago, when they opened their first childcare facility at Botany Town Centre. A second childcare centre at Botany Junction followed three years later. This year, a third Treetops centre opened in Pukekohe. Today, Treetops is very much a family-run operation – several of Maree and Alison’s own adult children work in the management and administration of the Treetops centres.
Treetops contact Childcare Hub
When planning their new Treetops centre in Pukekohe, their bank advisor at ANZ told them about Childcare Hub. “Childcare Hub had good options for us to find many of the resources and products we would need, all in one place,” explains Maree. “We contacted individual companies and received quotes, plans and so on, and went from there with ordering, delivery and set-up.”
Design by Lifestyle Architectural Services
“Lifestyle Architectural Services was engaged at an early stage to complete a feasibility study and determine how many children the site could accommodate,” says Lifestyle Director, Dayle Beuth. “We kept in mind the growing area of Paerata/Pukekohe and the huge amount of homes that were to be built over following five years. It was agreed to design the centre for 100 children, with a Café that would service the community”.
“We worked through an initial design process with Treetops and then developed the design through to resource consent. All aspects of the design were considered, such as the size of play areas, the splits of children’s ages and what facilities each age group would require. These were all designed to meet ministry of education and health department regulations”.
Lifestyle recommended Playscape get involved in the outdoor play areas. They also designed a very generous veranda area for the children during hot summer days, as well as wet windy winters where the drop-down blinds create a nice sheltered area.
“Lifestyle considered the teachers and areas they need such as meeting rooms, non-contact spaces and a dedicated staff room on the second level away from the children,” adds Dayle. “Lifestyle also went through the internal finishes, acoustics, lighting and landscaping so that everything was covered off”.
Which Childcare Hub services did Treetops use?
LSG
“We employed several Childcare Hub services,” says Alison. “We chose LSG for their natural play-based timber furniture that allows us to create flexible learning spaces – we really like the clean Scandinavian-inspired design”.
Every Educaid
“The quality of resources and the team at Every Educaid really stood out,” continues Alison. “We chose Every Educaid for their hands-on educational resources for play-based learning, which includes maths, science and English, as well as Maori and Pasifika”.
Infocare
“We use Infocare childcare management systems for our two current centres, so they were a natural choice for us going into a new set up,” adds Centre Director, Natasha Rawiri. “We find them very helpful to deal with and the system is user-friendly for our administration staff and myself”.
Playscape
“For our outdoor area, we used Playscape,” continues Natasha. “They have been amazing from beginning to end. Matt was able to take our vision and plan it out through the planning process. They were more than happy to accommodate any changes we wanted and worked alongside us. They had fabulous ideas and have pulled together an amazing space for our children. From the day the team was onsite they worked professionally and quickly to ensure everything was completed to time and a high standard. We couldn’t be happier with the end result”.
Tiger Turf
“Artificial turf from Tiger Turf completes the outdoor area,” adds Natasha. “They do a great job, while making sure we meet playground requirements for safer play. We can use Tiger Turf all year round, and it’s virtually maintenance-free”.
What do Treetops say about Childcare Hub?
“The connections and recommendations of Childcare Hub certainly made things easier for us,” says Maree. “Childcare Hub is a great source of information, where you can find everything you need to set up a childcare centre. It’s also a really good resource for existing childcare centre owners.”
Are you setting up, renovating or upgrading your childcare centre? Get the treetops experience… talk to Childcare Hub today!
