After years of delays and changes to plans, Dauphin has finally started construction of a new childcare facility.
Martijn Van Luijn, Dauphin's Economic Development Manager, said it'll take a while to fully build the daycare, but progress will be seen very soon.
"The major construction of the building is going to roughly take a year. After that, we will use the summer of 2027 to do finishing ground work and exterior work, our deadline is September 2027...it's not a prefab construction, but a partial panel construction. You'll see the building go up pretty quickly, then it's going to take a longer time to do all the finishing work and the interior work," said van Luijn.
This facility has been in the works for a very long time. First announced 4 years ago, there have been several delays with different parts of the project.
"Four years ago we got the news that we were awarded this facility, and it's taken us this long to get the project online, there's two reasons for that," said van Luijn.
He said the City of Dauphin had to reach out to the Provincial Government a few times for more funding, and there was lots of conversation and collaboration with the daycare's future operator.
After a detailed selection process, the City of Dauphin chose Parkland Campus Kids, operating out of Assiniboine College's Parkland Campus, to run the new daycare once it's completed. van Luijn said he's had a lot of great conversations with Janie Inkster, the daycare's manager.
"She's very knowledgeable, and she got to have a lot of input on the location and the functionality and the interior of the building, which is great, that's why we're so happy that we included her right from the get-go, because it had to be a functional building," said van Luijn.
The new childcare facility will be near Credit Union Place, by the old Brewers ball diamond.
