UniSpace Sunderland unveils new Conference Creche facility

UniSpace Sunderland has launched a conference creche facility, providing on-site childcare services for parents and carers that wish to attend events at UniSpace.

The service was originally created by the University of Sunderland to be offered during student graduation ceremonies, but can now be provided as an optional addition to all conferences and events that take place at UniSpace.

The conference creche facility is located within the St Mary’s Childcare Centre on City Campus, one of the five conference venue locations that UniSpace has to offer. Comprised of a nursery and creche, the Ofsted-registered centre it is managed by the University Childcare Service with professionally qualified staff.

Sharon Olver, commercial services manager, UniSpace Sunderland, added: “We feel that this is an important step forward for us at UniSpace and one that we hope will become standard practice throughout the industry as a whole. Parents or carers that would normally have flexible working hours are often either forced to make special childcare arrangements at a considerable cost, or not attend these types of conferences at all. According to the ‘Happy Homes and Productive Workplaces’ report, commissioned by the Working Families charity, almost two thirds of UK employees have access to flexible working hours and we can see no reason why this flexibility shouldn’t be reflected in conferences and events.

“With the new conference creche facility we are making a real attempt to make it as simple as possible for everyone to be at these events. We also see this as a positive step forward for conference organisers, who are constantly under pressure to deliver an enriched and valuable experience for delegates.”