Little Locals Early Learning Centre, Auchenflower

Inertia provided the civil and structural engineering to turn an old heritage-listed church into the state-of-the-art childcare centre that it is today. At Inertia, we love an opportunity to sympathetically rejuvenate old historic structures to give them a new lease on life, and we are thrilled to see how this project so beautifully melds the old with the new.

The church’s original character and charm are retained through the beautiful stained-glass windows, exposed rafters, and exposed brick on display throughout. In order to achieve the centre’s play-based learning philosophy, the new components include a 15m indoor slide, a waterpark, in-ground trampoline and a bike track.

On top of this, they have proven their commitment to sustainability by becoming the first early learning centre in Brisbane to adopt carbon neutrality. This requires an annual NoCO2 audit from CRI, and a commitment to offsetting their unavoidable emissions by purchasing units from the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Project.

It was a pleasure collaborating with Elia Architects, The Landscape Group and Hutchinson Builders to pull these unique structural elements together into one cohesive space.