For those that don’t know I run a nursery in London and I am the creator of the course ‘open your nursery in just 6 months without a massive budget’, which continues to help prospective nursery owners like yourself achieve their dream of owning their own nursery.

If you’re new here make sure you click that subscribe button and remember all the links mentioned in the video can be found in the description box down below.

Finding your nursery building is one of the first steps you need to do in order to open your own nursery.  This is because you can’t register with Ofsted until you have one.

It is also one of the most important parts to get right.  As if you do find a building that you later don’t like it is more difficult to change than something like you’re branding or staffing.

So, how do you find the right building?

We will go through that in this video.  We will go through the legal requirements then what Ofsted requires of you and then where to find your building.

Stick around to the end of the video to find out how you can get access to a ‘find your building’ checklist, which you can use to make sure that your building is the right building for you.

Content

Legal

We will start with the legal requirements first.

The main thing you need to consider is the use class of your building.

Only certain buildings can be used for a nursery.

These are buildings in class E, previously D1.

These include the following buildings:

1. retail
2. financial and professional services
3. restaurants/cafes
4. offices
5. health/medical uses
6. creches
7. nurseries
8. indoor sports/recreation

All these buildings can be used for a nursery without applying to the council for planning permission or prior approval.

Though, you may want to let the council know you will be using it for a nursery as it may make you eligible for certain benefits like business rate relief.

Quickly on the topic of business rates, a business rate is like a council tax and is charged based on the size and use of your building.  The amount can be significant so it is important to find out how much you will have to pay and add this to your budget.

Other buildings may also be used for a nursery but it is more complicated to do so, as you would need planning permission, which my get rejected.  I would only recommend choosing a different type of class if you have experience in this area.

You also need to make sure your building has insurance.  If you’re renting you may not need the same level of cover as if you were buying.  So, this one thing you need to consider when deciding whether to rent or to buy.

I will go over the benefits and negatives of buying or renting your nursery building in a future video so make sure you subscribe to find out when the video comes out.

Ofsted

It may take some time to find affordable and suitable premises in the location you have identified.

Ideally, you will want to find a premise that has a suitable outdoor play area. The EYFS Statutory Framework states that ‘Providers must provide access to an outdoor play area or, if that is not possible, ensure that outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis’

Put On SLIDE 3.59. Providers must provide access to an outdoor play area or, if that is not possible, ensure that outdoor activities are planned and taken on a daily basis (unless circumstances make this inappropriate, for example, unsafe weather conditions). Providers must follow their legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 (for example, the provisions on reasonable adjustments).

Even with the perfect building, the best staff, and the best organisation, no childcare setting will succeed if there are no parents needing childcare nearby. Your first step should always be finding an area where there is demand for childcare.

This is the first step that you will take on the full course ‘Open a nursery in just 6 months without a massive budget’, so when you are ready to open up your own nursery, make sure you enrol on this course to ensure your nurseries success.

When deciding the number and ages of children you wish to be registered for, The EYFS Statutory framework for the early year’s foundation stage provides details regarding space allowances and premises.

The EYFS states the required individual space required per child is:

1. Under 2 Years require 3.5 m2 per child
2. 2-Year-olds require 2.5 m2 per child
3. 3-5-Year-olds require 2.3 m2 per child

These calculations should be based on the useable areas of the rooms used by the children, not including storage areas, dedicated staff areas, cloakrooms, utility rooms, kitchens and toilets.

When choosing your building you should consider:

1. available access for those with physical disabilities
2. storage space for your equipment
3. enough toilets & washbasins
4. and as I already mentioned access to daily outdoor play

If you’ve found any of the information useful so far, I would like to ask you to take a moment to quickly hit that like button, it really helps support that channel, and get the video to the people that could really find it useful and if you want to see more videos like this make sure to hit the subscribe button too.

Other things to consider when choosing your building are:

1. optimum group sizes, taking into account the required adult/child ratios for the different age groups and EYFS Welfare requirements for the maximum numbers of children in a group.
2. The facilities you will require for your chosen age group – e.g. a milk kitchen and a sleeping area for children under 2s.
3. Proximity to other useful facilities like libraries or parks
4. The location of your premises with reference to the availability of car parking and public transport links.
5. The closeness and proximity of residential properties with parents who are potential customers.
6. The closeness and proximity of any major companies that may have employees who are potential customers.
7. Does your proposed premises have a strong marketing feature: e.g. well-designed outdoor play area?
8. Is it near to local schools or other community buildings?
9. Who will your service be aimed at and will it be accessible for the children and families who will be using it? For example, will your setting be based in a town centre, close to a residential area, a commercial or industrial site or will it be a workplace setting?

Don’t worry about remembering all of this though, as we have a free checklist which I’ll let you know how to access it at the end of the video.

Use this for when you start looking for your building.

I will next go onto some sites you can use to find your building.

Checking these sites regularly and setting up notifications for them will help you find your building quicker.

It is good to decide whether you will be renting or buying before looking though it is not essential.  If you are in a position to do either then it could make it more likely you will find your ideal building.

If you plan to rent:

1. Make sure you negotiate a long lease, as having to move after just 2 years is not only stressful it will be very expensive.
2. Consider break clauses, which enable you to leave before the lease ends
3. Look into your notice periods
4. Find out what alterations you can make to the building
5. Consider contacting schools, or other workplaces that may benefit from a childcare premises in the building.  This gives you customers from their employees and is usually a benefit to the business.  Which can enable you to negotiate cheaper rent.
6. Churches and community halls have always been useful for nurseries to rent out as they are usually vacant during the week, but it is unsure whether the changes in the use class will stop this. Contact your local estate agent to find out.

If you plan to buy, make sure you consider any additional costs like insurance, mortgage payments. And find out whether you will have the freehold or leasehold.

You can also look into modular nurseries, as they can be cheaper and quicker to open up.  If this is something you would like more information on do let me know in the comments.

Outro

Now – Before I go onto some places you can find your building I wanted to remind you that you can continue your learning after the video by enrolling on the course ‘How to open a nursery – the starter guide’ for just £4.49 using discount code youtube2.  Where you can:

1. Learn how to save over 70% opening a nursery
2. Create a survival budget
3. Work out how much it will cost to set-up
4. Create your business plan
5. Learn more about the seven steps to open

Now some website you can find your building on are:

1. Rightmove: search for your area filtering initially by property type using ‘childcare facility’, ‘healthcare facility’, ‘place of worship’, ‘hospitality’, ‘leisure facility’, ‘guest house’ and ‘pub’.
2. Property Link: filter by ‘other – healthcare’ then by ‘Licensed & Leisure’
3. Zoopla: filter initially by property type ‘leisure/ hospitality’.
4. Realla: filter initially by use class E
5. Gumtree: filter initially by ‘leisure & hospitality’

I will let you know my five favourite websites and how you can use them to help you find your building quicker in an upcoming video so make sure you subscribe and hit that notification bell.

Now, to the checklist that I promised.  You can download this checklist in the description box below.  Just use numbers 111 to access the file.

Before you go, check out my other videos to learn more about opening a nursery.  Thanks for watching and good luck on your journey and dream of opening your nursery. God bless