When Western Securities Ltd. of Calgary broke ground last September on the first phase of its projected one-million-square-foot Uxborough mixed-use development, dedicating nearly the entire ground floor of the first office tower to a daycare centre was not an incidental amenity.
Nor was it for a new six-storey office tower at 3353 Cambie St. in Vancouver, where Radiant City Architecture Ltd. has included a private childcare facility with 24 spaces. The complex, at the centre of the Cambie Village shopping district, starts construction this year.
The addition of dedicated daycare space in new office towers is seen as important as employers attempt to retain and entice workers back to the office after they have been working remotely for two years during the pandemic.
There is also a financial aspect.
Based on Alberta daycare space requirements averaging 35 square feet per child and an average of $1,150 per month in daycare fees in Calgary, the Uxborough’s 10,000-square-foot daycare could generate more than $300,000 per month at full capacity.
In Vancouver, a minimum of 40 square feet for child is required for a daycare, while the median cost for childcare is $1,400 per month – second highest in Canada.
Building owners can either lease out the space to a daycare operator, as is the case at Uxborough in Calgary, or operate the space themselves, as with the Cambie Village tower, where the for-profit daycare would be available to workers in the building and those in the surrounding community.
“Daycare space is needed,” said Ron Bijok, principal of Radiant City Architecture, “but it is also onerous and complicated” to design into a project.
This is because of the regulations surrounding safety, access, the requirement for outdoor space, abundant natural light and other specifics.
Many Vancouver office developers and owners have looked at adding daycare space, but it can be expensive to work into a new project or retrofit into an existing space, noted office leasing and sales specialist Robin Buntain of Avison Young (Canada) Inc.’s Vancouver office.
There are major benefits to including daycare in workspaces, according to a U.S. study from commercial real estate agency Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), including the retention and recruitment of office workers.
