Building Blocks Grants – Planning | schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au

Status:: Ongoing
Who can apply:: Not-for-profit groups, government
Funding:: $0 - $150,000

You can apply now. We accept applications year-round and evaluate them in batched rounds throughout the year.

Planning grants

This stream provides grants for planning and pre-construction work that creates additional kindergarten places for 3 and 4-year-olds across Victoria.

This might include designing, developing the scope or calculating construction costs of the project.

This grant is for applicants who will be applying for a Building Blocks – Capacity Building grant once planning is complete.

Eligible organisations may apply for one grant of up to $150,000.

In 2020, Building Blocks Grants replaced previous grants schemes – the Children's Facilities Capital Program and the Inclusive Kindergartens Facilities Program.

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Guidelines

The Victorian Government is delivering an unprecedented early childhood reform agenda.
In June 2022, the Best Start, Best Life reform was announced.
The Best Start, Best Life reform builds on the Victorian Government’s commitment of $1.68 billion, announced in 2018, to support the delivery of increased hours and the roll-out of infrastructure expansion required for the Three-Year-Old Kindergarten reform.
A key component of this reform has been Three-Year-Old Kindergarten rolling out across the state, expanding universal access to 15 hours of government-funded kinder every week. Three-Year-Old Kindergarten programs are gradually increasing, reaching 15 hours per week across Victoria by 2029. Four-Year-Old Kindergarten will transition to Pre-Prep in stages from 2025. From 2036 all children across Victoria will be eligible for 30 hours of Pre-Prep each week.
To support these major reforms the Victorian Government is expanding kindergarten infrastructure. It has committed to co-invest with the early childhood sector to build and expand kindergartens across the state. The Building Blocks grant program is an integral part of that commitment and is critical to the success of universal access to increased hours of Three and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten across Victoria over the life of the reform
The Building Blocks Grants – Planning Stream helps fund planning and pre-construction work for kindergarten Capacity building projects that will support the roll-out of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep. For the purposes of this grant stream, the ‘planning process’ includes the scope development, design and costing required for a project before it is tendered for construction.
A Planning Grant means you can:
- plan a project, or pipeline of projects, to help provide the kindergarten places needed to meet demand for the roll-out of Three and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten
- better prepare applications for Building Blocks Capacity grants that will help deliver capacity building projects.
Planning Grants are not a pre-requisite to apply for other Building Blocks grants.
Kindergarten Infrastructure and Services Plans
Kindergarten Infrastructure and Services Plans (KISPs) were agreed with all local governments to support the infrastructure expansion required for Three-Year-Old Kindergarten and are now being updated to support Pre-Prep. KISPs set out agreed estimates of kindergarten supply and demand, and unmet demand over the implementation of the reforms. Collectively, they provide a consistent, state-wide planning framework designed to support sector planning and help ensure investment is targeted where it is needed to support the reforms.
While a KISP is not a funding document and does not commit any party to funding specific projects, future investment requests through Building Blocks and decisions about local government or not-for-profit projects must address unmet demand identified in the relevant KISP. We will consider the entire KISP to fully understand the data regarding the demand for kindergarten and the local context of service delivery, demographics and geography. This information is included in the ‘Local Context’ section of the KISP and may be referenced by the applicant when addressing criteria as part of a Building Blocks grant application.
KISPs are being updated to incorporate the additional demand generated by Pre-Prep and other up to date data as required. Whilst this process is underway, your application should demonstrate that the project will address unmet demand in the early years of the rollout of Pre-Prep. Preliminary estimates of unmet demand have been shared with all local governments and may be used as evidence to demonstrate unmet demand. Please contact the local government where your project is located to request these estimates.

For the local government area (LGA) where a project is located, applicants to the Planning stream must provide evidence to demonstrate that the project is in an area with infrastructure need. Preliminary estimates of unmet demand may be used as evidence to demonstrate unmet demand.
Additionally, where enrolments are drawn from outside an applicant’s immediate LGA, applicants must demonstrate where forecast enrolments are drawn from to illustrate alignment to KISP demand.
Project requirements
Planning grants must:
- be completed within 12 months of Victorian Common Funding Agreement (VCFA) execution. This means that successful planning grant applicants have 12 months to complete their infrastructure planning processes, including identifying projects to apply for a Building Blocks Capacity Building grant.
- be used to plan for a Capacity Building stream project located in Victoria that is, or will be, licensed to provide a funded Three and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten program, and must offer, or intend to offer, both programs. This can be sessional or integrated with long day care.
- demonstrate how the proposed project(s) will create additional kindergarten capacity, or maintain service continuity of existing capacity, in line with the demand of Three and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten, at a community and local government level.
- all applications must address unmet demand as identified in the relevant Kindergarten Infrastructure and Services Plan (KISP). KISPs will be updated as part of the Best Start, Best Life program and, while this process is underway, respond to criteria based on the information currently available to you.
Funding available
Eligible organisations can apply for up to $150,000 (GST exclusive).
Co-contributions are not required but are allowed.
Project completion
The planning work funded by a planning grant must be completed and acquitted within 12 months of the VCFA execution date.

What can and cannot be funded?

The Building Blocks Planning Grant program will not fund planning for projects that:
- do not address unmet demand as identified in the relevant KISP
- do not intend to create additional capacity or maintain existing kindergarten capacity required for the roll-out of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten and/or Pre-Prep through a subsequent Building Blocks Capacity Building application
- are not for facilities that offer, or intend to offer, both Three and Four-Year-Old funded Kindergarten programs
- are intended to be located outside Victoria
- do not align with the program objectives
- do not meet the requirements outlined in these guidelines
- do not meet the assessment criteria
- have already started or been completed (i.e. retrospective funding).
Your organisation can apply if it is:
- a Victorian local government (council)
- a not-for-profit community organisation that is a legal entity (for example an incorporated association, incorporated cooperative or Indigenous corporation)
- a Victorian non-government school registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority or Catholic Education Commission of Victoria.
For-profit organisations cannot apply for any grant streams within Building Blocks. For further information regarding grant eligibility, please refer to the Building Blocks Planning Assessment Factsheet.
Kindergartens on Victorian Government schools are being assessed by the VSBA for suitability for a kindergarten aligned to demand data estimates. Schools are being prioritised based on agreed demand in the relevant Kindergarten Infrastructure Services Plan (KISP). Should a kindergarten be required in your area, the Kindergarten on School Sites (KOSS) team will lead this engagement with schools and other stakeholders.
Therefore, applications for new or expanded early childhood infrastructure on department owned land, including schools, are no longer accepted via grant applications. Should you wish to discuss a potential new kinder on a school site, or an expansion of an existing kinder on a school site, contact the KOSS team at KOSS@education.vic.gov.au.
A Building Blocks Planning Assessment Factsheet is available on this webpage to help you understand the planning assessment process.
This factsheet explains the type of information you need to include in your application.
Please make sure that you refer to this factsheet when preparing your application.
Following the assessment process, the Department will provide its recommendation to the Minister for Children for final approval.
The Minister reserves the right to provide strategic investment to projects. The Minister may also, on advice from the Department, provide funding to partners, in exceptional circumstances to support the provision of funded Three- and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten services across the state.
Organisations that receive a grant must:
- agree to the requirements outlined in these guidelines (failure to do so may result in funding being withheld)
- enter into a formal Victorian Common Funding Agreement with the Department
- where applicable, follow the Building Blocks Acknowledgement and Publicity Guidelines
- submit an acquittal form and the required supporting evidence for approval by the Department upon completion of the project
- agree that no additional Department funding will be allocated to the proposed project and if additional costs arise, they must be met by the applicant.
To remain eligible for funding, you must not enter into a contract or commence any works proposed in your application before we inform you of the application outcome.
Before submitting your application, we encourage you to review the following documents which further clarify your obligations for receiving Building Blocks funding.
- Acknowledgement and Publicity Guidelines
- Victorian Common Funding Agreement
The Betrayal of Trust Report found that survivors of institutional child abuse were sometimes unable to identify an appropriate legal entity to sue.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse also recommended that governments consider requiring organisations they fund to be insured against child abuse.
From 1 July 2019, non-government organisations funded by the Victorian Government to deliver services to children will be required, as a condition of funding to be:
- incorporated separate legal entities that can be sued in their own right in child abuse proceedings
- appropriately insured against child abuse.
The new requirements will improve the ability of child abuse survivors to bring a legal claim for compensation and ensure that successful claims can be paid.
There are other grant programs that provide funding for the development of early childhood facilities and services. The Department must be advised of other funding applications for your project. We reserve the right to consider grant applications made for other programs, offered by the Department or other government departments and to submit Planning grant applications to other department agency led grant programs for consideration for funding under those programs where appropriate
As a condition of funding for Planning grants, successful applicants must comply with project monitoring and reporting requirements, including:
- quarterly status reports through an online reporting system to provide an update on progress, updating proposed, forecast, and actual dates for project milestones, flagging risks and issues, and providing the required evidence when payment milestones have been met
- requesting approval from the Department for scope changes (relating to time, cost, and project scope) by completing and submitting a Request for Variation (RFV) form via the online reporting system
- meetings and teleconferences with Department staff or representatives if required, this may include more frequent updates as your project nears completion;
- supplying contracts, reports, receipts and/or invoices when requested; and
- acquittal through an online reporting system
Information about project extensions can be found in the frequently asked questions.
All successful applicants are required to upload information into the Department’s reporting system to complete their acquittal.
Recipient organisations must contact the Department immediately if they:
- require a project extension
- propose a change in project scope
- propose a change in project costs which results in either an overspend or underspend.
Applicants will be required to complete a Request for Variation form (submitted through the online reporting system) for approval, together with detailed evidence that explains the reason for the variation. The applicant will be asked to allocate any underspend towards additional eligible items in line with the guidelines before an acquittal is accepted. Overspends remain the responsibility of the organisation.
Further information on acquittal requirements and variation requests can be found in the frequently asked questions.
Applications for Building Blocks Planning Grants are open all year round, and an outcome is anticipated approximately three months from submission.
Application forms can be accessed online through SmartyGrants. Applicants must complete a free registration to use the Smarty Grants application system.
For assistance with the online application system, please email the Smarty Grants Support Desk or call 03 9320 6888 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. You can also consult the help guide.
Review of application outcome
If you are unsuccessful in obtaining funding for a Building Blocks Planning grant you may:
- contact the Early Childhood grants team for feedback on your application and outcome or;
- seek a review into the assessment of your application.
The VSBA Early Childhood Grants team can be contacted by emailing building.blocks@education.vic.gov.au.
If you are unsuccessful in obtaining funding for a Building Blocks Planning grant you may:
- contact the Early Childhood grants team for feedback on your application and outcome
- seek a review into the assessment of your application.
The VSBA Early Childhood Grants team can be contacted at: building.blocks@education.vic.gov.au.
The following links are provided as a starting point for considering best practice approaches to early childhood education and care, accessibility and design. Applicants are encouraged to undertake their own research to identify solutions that will meet their needs.
Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority
- National Quality Framework
Department of Education
- Disability Standards for Education
- Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework
Other resources
- Centre for Universal Design Australia
- The 7 Principles of Universal Design

What can be funded?	What cannot be funded?
project management costs planning and design costs, such as: quantity surveyor fees and reports architect and design geo technical services feasibility studies town planning consultants planning permits soil contamination reports asbestos reports environmental sustainability assessments for energy and/or water efficiency, e.g. NABERS and NatHERS planning and design project costs relating to capacity building projects, or projects required to maintain existing capacity planning for multi-staged projects staff salaries and training for staff involved in working on the proposed kindergarten infrastructure planning project (note: funding is one-off and does not cover on-going appointment) local design feasibility study (assessing multiple sites to determine opportunities and cost to meeting unmet demand)	costs already incurred site preparation, including clearing or demolition (these may be funded by a subsequent Building Block Grant) construction and commissioning (these may be funded by a subsequent Building Blocks Grant) landscaping and car parking (these may be funded by a subsequent Building Blocks Grant) site acquisition and lease costs ongoing administration or operational costs planning for projects on a Victorian Government school site

Building Blocks Planning Assessment Factsheet

Building Blocks is critical to support the Victorian Government’s $14 billion Best Start, Best Life reforms including free kinder for all 3- and 4-year-old children.

Planning Stream

The Building Blocks Planning stream offers eligible organisations grants to complete pre-construction planning for Capacity Building Stream infrastructure projects that support the roll-out of Three-Year-Old Kindergarten and Pre-Prep. This includes resources and upfront costs incurred as part of this work.

All applications must address unmet demand as identified in the relevant Kindergarten Infrastructure and Services Plan (KISP).

Your project must be for a facility located in Victoria that is, or will be, licensed to deliver free kinder for a Three and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten program. It must offer, or intend to offer, both programs. This can be sessional or integrated with long day care. For further funding conditions please refer to Planning Guidelines.

Document purpose

We have designed this document to help you complete your Building Blocks Planning grant application.

After reading this assessment factsheet you should have a clear understanding of what information you need to include in your application.

You should also understand how your application will be assessed after it has been submitted.

Table 1: Overview of Planning Stream Grants
Grant type	Maximum value of grant	Minimum requirements
Planning	$150,000 (ex GST)	Be completed within 12 months of Victorian Common Funding Agreement (VCFA) execution and result in an application to the Building Blocks Grants Capacity program to deliver an identified project.

Examples of items that can and cannot be funded

For a list of items that can and cannot be funded under the Building Blocks Planning grant stream, please refer to the Planning Guidelines.

Eligibility assessment

Grants offered under the planning stream are highly competitive and organisations need to ensure their applications include clear and convincing supporting documentation to increase the chances of being successful.

Planning grant application checklist

Evidence	Description
Considered responses to the assessment criteria	Responses must demonstrate how the project will meet each merit assessment criteria.
Address unmet demand as identified in the relevant KISP	All applications must address unmet demand as identified in the relevant Kindergarten Infrastructure and Services Plan (KISP).
Project plan	A project plan to support the dates nominated in the application
Affected services	If your project will directly affect service providers currently operating at the facility evidence that you have consulted with these providers such as letters of support or documented outcomes of consultation and engagement.
Not-for-Profit Status for not-for-profit or non-government schools only	Evidence of not-for-profit status (such as a copy of your Australian Business Number, registration as a not-for-profit, certificate of registration as charity, or a certificate of registration as an incorporated association)
Signed financial Statements for not-for-profit or non-government schools only	Not-for-profit organisations and non-government schools must provide evidence of financial solvency such as signed copies of audited financial statements for the previous two financial years. Applications for projects on DE do not need to provide this report as DE will procure this report following the application process. See application requirements for Projects on DE land below.
Auspice Arrangement	If an auspice arrangement is proposed, signed, written confirmation from both parties is required
Written confirmation of any co-contribution	Authorised written confirmation of the co-contribution amount from the applicant and all other funding organisations including contributions from the Federal Government, Victorian Government, local government, or other sources.
Evidence of Land ownership	The type of evidence required depends on who owns the land. If a local council or state/federal government agency own the land, or if you are leasing the building or the landowner is not the building owner, you must provide: certificate of land title with owner’s name and service address current lease with an end date at least ten years after completing the project signed and dated by both parties; or if the current lease will end earlier than ten years, the applicant must provide a signed letter from the landowner (on letterhead) referring to the specific property and project, stating they intend to allow the facility to operate as a kindergarten for at least ten years after completing the project. It should not be dated more than three months prior to submission. signed, written consent to undertake the site investigations from the landowner (on letterhead) referring to the specific property and project, including who will deliver the project (i.e. applicant, landowner or the building owner) and any known risks or issues for the project site. It should not be dated more than three months prior to submission. If you (the applicant) own the land for the nominated project site, you must provide certificate of land title, LANDATA documents or council rates notice with owner’s name and service address.
Staff salaries	If seeking funding for staff salaries and training, a position description for funding of new or existing staff members and a cost estimate (e.g. how many hours on planning works, ancillary costs)
Expenditure	Provide an itemised table including total projected expenditure, as aligned with the quote/s provided to support your grant application

For further information on eligibility requirements, refer to the Building Blocks Frequently Asked Questions.

Merit assessment criteria

Funding recommendations will be based on the extent you can demonstrate that your planning process will address the following assessment criteria. These are weighted according to the specified percentages. The weightings align with Building Blocks Planning stream objectives:

The application provides clarity of high-level intended project scope and confidence that the planning process will support a Capacity Building project commencing (70%).
The proposed project supports the integrated delivery of early childhood services and partnerships (15%).
The proposed planning process promotes environmental sustainability and includes environmentally sustainable features, for example in design or construction (15%).

After submission of applications

After applications are submitted, the Department will check to confirm that applications meet the eligibility requirements:

ensure that all the required documentation has been provided.
assessing all eligible applications against the assessment criteria; and
convening an assessment panel to oversee recommendations and manage any conflicts of interest.

We may also undertake further project cost assessment in instances where project costs are particularly complex, or clarification is required.

Following this process, the Department will provide its recommendation to the Minister for Children for final approval. The Minister reserves the right to provide strategic investment to projects. The Minister may also, on advice from the Department, provide funding to partners, in exceptional circumstances to support the provision of funded Three- and Four-Year-Old Kindergarten services across the state.

Past performance

We will review your past performance and assess whether it is likely to have an impact on successful delivery of your project. This will include considering whether you have:

taken appropriate steps to deliver previous projects funded through the Building Blocks program (or previous Children’s Facilities Capital and Inclusive Kindergartens Facilities program) within appropriate timeframes
overdue projects funded by the Department and whether extensions have been requested and approved
completed projects funded by the Department and whether you have submitted all documentation required to acquit the grant funding, including regular quarterly reporting and acquittal within the contracted time frame; and/or
proposed an operator of the service with a record of delivering a quality kindergarten program, particularly in the same community or area as the project.

Poor performance against these factors may result in projects not being recommended for funding or funding withdrawal.

Review of application outcome

If you are unsuccessful in obtaining funding for a Building Blocks Planning grant you may:

contact the Early Childhood grants team for feedback on your application and outcome
seek a review into the assessment of your application.

The VSBA Early Childhood Grants team can be contacted at building.blocks@education.vic.gov.au.

Resources

The following links are provided as a starting point for considering best practice approaches to early childhood education and care, accessibility and design. Applicants are encouraged to undertake their own research to identify solutions that will meet their needs.

Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority:
- National Quality Framework
Department of Education:
- Disability Standards for Education
- Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework

International resources

Centre for Excellence in Universal Design: The 7 Principles of Universal Design

Updated 9 July 2025