An on-site nursery for employees of a Government-run health security agency has announced that it will be closing in the summer due to the ‘significant investment’ needed to refurbish the building.
Hickory House nursery, run by Bright Horizons, provides childcare and education to employees of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), which are both based on the on the Porton Down site in Salisbury.
The closure of the site is expected to impact around 60 families using the setting and whose children were due to start there shortly.
Professor Isabel Oliver, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said that they have taken the ‘difficult decision’ to close Hickory House, citing ‘significant investment’ required to refurbish the building and the need to ‘prioritise essential health security services’.
