YMCA and The Sunshine Coast University Hospital have joined forces to provide a state of the art childcare and education facility for hospital employees and local Sunshine Coast families.

The building has been designed to allow toddlers and children up to the age of five to move freely between indoor and outdoor spaces. Parents are welcome to drop in any time to see their children, and many breastfeeding mothers take advantage of the hospital's paid breastfeeding breaks to stop in for feeds.

A huge outdoor space equal in size to the indoor classrooms and baby nurseries includes a community garden, a rock-climbing wall, swings, sandpits and a mud pit.

YMCA Centre Director Anita Corney said the mud pit is a unique and very popular part of the centre’s outdoor play space.

“Regardless of age, race and religion, covered in mud, we are all the same,” she said.

The building was among the winners at the Australian Institute of Architects' 2017 Queensland State Architecture Awards and is an entrant in the Landscape QLD award (due to be decided in November).

YMCA SCUH childcare holds a philosophy to support the SCUH community-based upon mindfulness and positivity, supporting children’s emotional growth through promoting a secure environment and building a hands-on connection with nature.