The new building will be constructed on Moran Drive at the northern end of the hospital and about 800 metres from the current Playmates building. It will have 42 childcare places.

Playmates Cottage management committee president Jim Jane said it was a big milestone for the staff and families.

“We’re looking forward to the process of seeing it constructed and moving into it,” Mr Jane said.

“We expect we would be in within seven or eight months into next year. We’ll be well settled in by this time next year.”

Virginia Morley Pauco said the construction would help restore the community’s confidence in the centre.

“We still have a number of people in the community who are still unsure about if we were going to go ahead,” Ms Morley Pauco said.

“We’re hoping that now the tender process is beginning people will have 100 per cent confidence the centre is going to continue. And people who had considered enrolling here but were unsure will now take that step.”

“I think that with everything that’s happened with trying to save playmates we’ve fared pretty well and we’re hoping now there’ll be consumer confidence and we’ll able to continue to serve the community.”

Childcare was now much easier to obtain in Dubbo than it had been in the recent past, Ms Morley Pauco said.

“When we started it was hideous. When we started there were waiting lists in every centre, but since we’ve started this process a number of new centres have opened,” she said.

The new centre would be filled with the children already at Playmates, Mr Jane said.

As a not-for-profit centre, he said Playmates was “at the bottom of the cost levels”.

“We’re not in a position where we have to return profits to an owner of the business. The money that’s available is put back into the centre so that puts us in the position of being able to deliver a great service at a reasonable cost,” the president said.

Council director community services David Dwyer said it was important for parents to be aware that Playmates would continue to operate on the current grounds while the new facility was being built.

“Health Infrastructure is providing construction funding and the building will become a council owned property leased to Playmates,” Mr Dwyer said.

Council will advertise tenders for the construction of the building as of November 24, he said, and closing December 20.