11th May 2009 - Nursery development to create 40 new jobs

One of Scotland's leading child care providers is to create 40 jobs in Lanarkshire with the opening of a major new nursery facility on the country's largest office park development.

Monica Langa is to double the size of her Prime Time Nurseries' operation with a significant investment at the £330 million Maxim Office Park at Eurocentral to capitalise on a reported lack of nursery provision in the area and the pending population of a business development which has the capacity to create in excess of 8,000 jobs.

Work on the 7,500 sq.ft. nursery is underway ahead of a scheduled opening in June and Ms Langa is looking to replicate her successful childcare formula in the West of Scotland for the first time after seven years in Edinburgh city centre.

The 120-place nursery will be state of the art and will also feature one of Scotland's largest outdoor play areas.

"Having taken a very deep breath, we are confident our mix of exceptional and exacting standards in terms of Staff-to-Child ratios and stimulating environment will deliver results for everyone involved in this exciting project," said Ms Langa.

"Our research suggests there is a general lack of nursery provision within North Lanarkshire and that has been supported by the number of enquiries we have already received as people begin to learn about our intention to open at Maxim.

The search for the 40 full and part-time staff required for the new development has already started and Ms Langa expects most to be recruited locally.

"We will need a wide range of staff from a Chef to Admin support, a Nursery Manager to team leaders, Nursery Nurses and trainees and again the information we have is that the North Lanarkshire area delivers in terms of the quality of people available. We intend to recruit locally and have already engaged with North Lanarkshire Council to facilitate this process.

"Getting the right people will be critical in delivering the ethos of what Prime Time is all about in terms of the quality of our support in everything from the fresh food served on site to the amount of time our people spend with the children in their care."

Prime Time is looking to run the facility from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and will review the potential to operate on Saturdays as the project develops.

The Maxim development is the UK's largest live office park development and will deliver 10 buildings with some 750,000 sq.ft. of Grade ‘A' office space.

On completion at the beginning of 2010, Maxim will create a vibrant business district which will also feature a range of shops, restaurant facilities, Wi-Fi access across the development and a PGA-accredited putting facility which is supported by leading Scots golfer Alistair Forsyth.