If you drive down Hunter St in Tatura, your eyes will be greeted by a rainbow of colour.
An array of blue, green, yellow, pink and purple pastels adorns the front of the new Little Kindy building, which is slated to open in 2025.
The new site doesn’t just bring colour to the neighbourhood, it will also bring a vital service: childcare.
“Right across Greater Shepparton there’s a need,” City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali said on a recent visit to the Tatura lot that will soon be home to the latest Little Kindy childcare centre.
“Families are always developing, there’s more kids that want to enter into childcare,” he said.
Only one long day care facility is currently registered in Tatura with the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority.
Little Kindy owner and company director Arzal Arzal said there was a need for more childcare in the community.
“We love to focus our service in regional areas, and especially areas where we believe the community really needs our service,” Mr Arzal said.
“We know that the community really needs this service.”
Little Kindy has multiple centres in states across Australia.
Often, in regional areas, Mr Arzal said parents wanted to be at work, but they struggled to find care.
“They’re quite desperate to find childcare services,” he said.
A recent study showed that roughly a quarter of regions in Australia were classified as childcare deserts, where there were more than three children for every childcare spot available.
However, despite the desire and need within many communities, including the areas around Greater Shepparton, there are hurdles to opening a new facility.
Mr Arzal said staffing could be a challenge, as was expressed by operators across the industry.
He hoped to encourage local people to apply for open positions when recruitment for the Tatura site started early next year.
On the development side, Mario and Pellegrino Mercuri, of Mercuri Constructions, said finding somewhere for the childcare centre to go was their biggest stumbling block.
The father-son team are heading both development and construction of the project.
They began looking for a site for the centre nearly four years ago.
“There are definitely hurdles,” Pellegrino said.
One of the biggest was finding a location that was large enough, and in a suitable position, for a daycare.
“Because you have to come up with a number of car spaces as well as open play space for the children,” he said.
“You need a decent parcel of land, hence the half-acre block to suit 90 children.”
It took roughly a year and a half for the Mercuris to find the right plot of land.
The next hurdle they faced was the cost.
“The cost to actually build this is quite incredible,” Mario said.
He said costs had risen in recent years and caused the company to change its design from a double-storey building to a single storey.
Still, the two were adamant that there could be no shortcuts in their construction.
“I think the most important thing, really, is anyone who is developing a childcare centre, whether you’re an owner, builder, developer or investor, you want to make sure that your building is safe for kids,” Mario said.
The family are focused on making the new childcare facility both safe and attractive.
They want children to want to go to childcare.
They also have deep roots in the local community.
“Tatura means a lot to us,” Pellegrino said.
“We’ve got a lot of family here in town, and friends.
“We’re really proud to bring this type of facility.”
Rod Schubert is the councillor for Midland Ward, which includes Tatura.
He said it was exciting to see such a facility coming to town.
“I think it’s fantastic to see a building like this and the facility it’s going to provide for the kids of Tatura,” Cr Schubert said.
The new daycare will accommodate about 90 children from age zero to five.
Construction and landscaping, including office space, multiple classrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen and two play areas, is expected to be completed at the end of January.
Mr Arzal said he had already received interest from families and hoped to open the centre in April or May next year.
Families who want to find out more can visit the Little Kindy website: littlekindy.com.au
Mr Arzal said he hoped to update the website early in the new year to include information on how to enrol children or joint the waitlist in Tatura.