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Children's Centre provides green education beyond recycling

A new Children's Centre in Marrickville is providing its young charges with a unique environmental education.

The rebuild was prompted by the impossibility of effectively sound insulating the existing building when Sydney's third runway began operating.

With environmental awareness heightened by the impact of the runway, not only did Council build to insulate against noise, the Centre was designed as a fully operational model of sustainable energy efficient development.

Energy efficient design principles include collection and reuse of stormwater for toilets and gardens, solar electricity, reuse of materials in building and landscaping and use of glass bricks for their combination of light and insulation properties.

Acting Children's Services Manager Amanda Coulston said the new Centre provides an ideal opportunity for children to learn about the environment.

"Council's goal in our early childhood education program is to create awareness and understanding in children that results in positive environmental action," she said.

"Within the environmental education program at Tillman Park, we are exploring issues and concepts with the children that go way beyond paper and bottle recycling and composting.

"We are showing the children examples of energy conservation and on site water reuse.

"They can see and understand things like the solar panels on the roof and the tanks that collect the water we use."

Mayor Barry Cotter said the project was a great opportunity to promote the benefits of sustainable development in Council's own facilities and in the wider community.

"This project demonstrates that we are taking the environment seriously," he said.

"As well as a top class child care facility, we have created an energy efficient building that will function as a demonstration model for Centre users, private developers and the wider community.

"We are glad to be reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and we are looking forward to paying lower energy and water bills."

For further information contact Amanda Coulston, telephone (02) 9335 2222.

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