New Hope After Fire Devastates Nursery Building

In the 10th anniversary year of Honey Pot Day Nursery in Garston, Liverpool,  a fire that was thought to have been started deliberately, swept through the building devastating the classrooms, fixtures and fittings and all the children’s art and work.

Owner and director, Julie Hurst, was distraught and heart broken by the disaster. However, aware that around 150 local families were relying on her to care for their children, she immediately started the clean-up operation by sourcing a provider of portable accommodation to provide an alternative nursery building.

She found Portable Offices and quickly discovered that they had a wealth of experience, not only in providing nursery accommodation but also in disaster response.

She said: “Thankfully, the church next door to the nursery allowed us to establish the portable buildings on their land. Ian Smith from Portable Offices took over all the communication with the church and with securing planning permission and establishing the ground works.

“I honestly wouldn’t have known where to start. It was a major operation, but thankfully, Portable Offices took all the stress out of it.

“I met Ian on site and he immediately took over all of the planning and started the planning consent procedure. He liaised with the church and when the buildings arrived, the team were highly professional and squeezed the unit into place effortlessly.”

Despite the devastation, Honey Pots was only closed for one day while they found a vacant nursery to work from until the planning process had been agreed.

Two large modular buildings were established on the church land to provide a baby room, office, classroom, toilets and washing facilities and kitchen.

Julie initially met with some resistance from parents who feared that the portable units would be cold, damp portacabins, but they soon realised that their fears were unfounded.

“They are beautiful, bright, light, airy and warm spaces; ideal for the children. Thanks to Portable Offices a great deal of the stress was taken from me during the process and we were able to continue the business with minimal disruption.”

posted by : Portable Offices