School: new nursery center inauguratedUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma

Earthquake-proof and eco-sustainable, it will also be open to families in the area. It becomes the 0-6 educational service in the Capital with the largest number of places overall. Zingaretti: “A beautiful day, when we collaborate, things change for the better”. Lorenzin: “A huge hub, essential for nurses and doctors who work shifts. We need more of them in Rome”. President Barela: “Another piece for aUCBM friend of families, nature and territory"
 
Photos of event and structure available at this link
 
Rome, 28 May 2016 – A new 'Campus Spring' has blossomed in the Roman district of Trigoria: this is, in fact, the name of the Nursery-Children's CenterUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, active from September 1st next in its new headquarters in Via Regdo Scodro. Totally eco friendly and in energy class A4, it will be able to accommodate up to 190 children from 0 to 6 years, becoming overall the largest structure in Rome for the offer of this type of service. For the 115 nursery places will be available, 75 for the nursery school.
 
The Polo was inaugurated today by the President ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Felice Barela, and by the top management of the University. With them, among others: the President of the Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti, the Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin, the President of the Lazio Regional Council, Daniele Leodori, the head of the control room for health in Lazio, Alessio D'Amato and the President of the Municipality IX-EUR, Andrea Santoro. Made to accommodate the children of University employees, it will be also open to families in the city area. The structure is designed for offer a concrete response to the need for work-life balance and to encourage the development of a network of relationships also with children and families residing in the Capital area: for this reason, will be open 12 months a year with flexible hours (from 7.00 to 19.30).
 
"Today is a beautiful day – says the President of the Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti - which demonstrates that when you want you can cooperate. The Bio-Medico Campus has made an investment, the Lazio Region has made contributions from the family package, the Park has collaborated by experimenting with high-quality ecological architecture. This is good news, because when you collaborate, things change for the better and it is important to say this today in Rome. L'UCBM proves to be one of the excellences of Lazio, both for the medical results and for the spirit of relationship with the territory, which makes a leap in quality".
 
"It's a wonderful day for children and childhood – confirms the Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin - because we inaugurate a structure that will play an important role: imagine the nurses, laboratory technicians, doctors who work here and who have problems reconciling family and work, especially in the case of shift work. This Pole opens up to a territory that is the territory of families. Moreover, it is a huge kindergarten, with all the most modern inventions inside and which is inspired by the Montessori method. There should be many in a city that has childhood as one of its priority themes of the agenda".
 
The ribbon cutting took place just over five months after the start of the works, started in November 2015 and finished last April. Equipped with a 35 kWe photovoltaic system and a highly efficient air/water heat pump, the complex has a almost zero energy consumption and complies with the European directive 2010/31 for public buildings, which will be mandatory starting from 2019. Built with a load-bearing structure entirely in wood, it is certified for fire resistance and has anti-seismic characteristics that allow it to withstand shocks with acceleration at the foot equal to 1.48 g (the L'Aquila earthquake recorded tremors with acceleration at the foot of 0.66 g, ed.).
 
Wide total dimensions: the internal area, set up with bio-furnishings and innovative play-educational materials, it is distributed over a single floor of 1.780 m, to allow access to the outdoor garden even for younger children. It will host six environments for the nursery (two each for babies up to 12 months, for medium babies up to 24 months and for adults from 25 to 36 months, each with its own bathroom and rest room) and three classes dedicated to kindergarten children (3-6 years old), who will be bilingual. All spaces are designed to guarantee high levels of comfort and perfect regulation of the internal micro-climate: heating and air conditioning are ensured by a radiant system hidden under the floor. There will be available for children a canteen with express cooking, managed by specialized personnel who will prepare the menus according to the indications of a nutritionist and a pediatrician.
 
The external garden, which extends for about 2.400 square meters, is equipped with an educational vegetable garden and is surrounded by shrub species and by over 200 trees, especially pines and eucalyptus, of the nearby Decima Malafede Natural Park. Another 2.600 m of space is used for vehicle access paths and for the about 50 parking spaces available.
 
"I like to highlight – adds the President UCBM, Felice Barela - how this Polo is another piece that we put in to have aUCBM increasingly family-friendly, nature-friendly and open to the surrounding area, offering a contribution so that the people who work there can work properly without, at the same time, neglecting other dimensions of life, such as the family".
 
Strategic project partners and co-signatories, with theUCBM and 'Eco-sustainability charter for school buildings and childcare services', signed last November, are: Legambiente ONLUS, lignius (Italian national association of prefabricated wooden houses), the IX-EUR Municipality of Rome Capital, the company Wolf House e RomeNature, Regional body for the management of the system of protected natural areas of Rome.

"An extraordinary day for the Campus, for Trigoria and for this Town Hall – underlines the President of the Municipality IX-EUR, Andrea Santoro - because, in 150 days, something unthinkable has materialized: a structure that will house 190 children. For once we have been, in this city, much more than Europeans: we have respected the times by doing things well. And this is a good sign".

From an educational point of view, the new structure will be entrusted to the CEFA Association, as has been the case so far for the company nursery school (established in 2005) and for the educational space (open to children, children of employees UCBM, between the ages of 3 and 6), who have been located since the end of 2007 at the Center for the Health of the Elderly. CEFA, Association of Families for Education and Culture, is a legally recognized regional non-profit organization founded in the 80s by a group of parents. Has like the primary purpose is the promotion of culture and education, placing the family and the child at the center of the project. It is associated with FAES, a non-profit body whose name means 'Family and School', which has developed an educational system based on the educational alliance between family and school and on a personalized education model for each student.
 
Moreover, 'extra' activities could arise in the future around the more strictly educational nucleus. In particular, they are already in the pipeline a food education project and promotion of correct lifestyles in childhood which will be taken care of by prof Laura De Gara, Professor of Plant Physiology at theUCBM, and an educational farm with activities for learning and relationships within the Decima Malafede Nature Reserve, coordinated by CEFA and conducted together with RomeNature e Legambiente.