UAE / Mixed-use developments
Childcare is the amenity young families actually buy: building it into mixed-use
For a young working family, a nursery downstairs is worth more than another pool. Few developments plan for it from day one.
Written for Residence developers and master developers
The owner challenge
What is getting in the way
Young professionals become young parents, and the commute to childcare is often what pushes them out of a community they otherwise love. Retrofitting a nursery after handover is difficult: the space, access, outdoor area and licensing requirements need planning at design stage, and the operator needs to be secured before sales promise it.
The working agenda
Four moves to make the strategy operational
- Reserve and design childcare space during masterplanning, with safe drop-off, outdoor play and separation from hotel and commercial traffic.
- Secure a licensed childcare operator early, and agree the commercial terms before the amenity appears in sales material.
- Connect childcare to the work club so parents can drop off, work on site and collect — the combination is the real proposition.
- Govern the amenity transparently in the service-charge and owners' association model so residents understand what they fund.
How Tara helps
Tara helps developers plan the family offer, select and contract operators, and run the community to hospitality standard as white-label operator or through VASSA Residences.