Improved facilities for treating poorly pets are a step closer for a Kettering vet practice thanks to progress on a £1.3 million new hospital project.
External works on the new home for Northlands Veterinary Hospital in Station Road are now complete and the internal fit-out is due to begin.
Once finished the three storey centre will offer four theatres – two general, one orthopaedic and one dental – three separate wards for cats, dogs and exotics, a diagnostic lab, a large waiting room with dedicated areas for cats and dogs, four consulting rooms (one just for cats), a bereavement room, dispensary, laser treatment room, general office space, client toilets, night-team accommodation and outside exercise yard.
There will be independent rooms for the practice’s ultrasound machine, digital x-ray and £150,000 CT scanner. Ten on-site car parking spaces will make for hassle-free customer access.
It will be a major upgrade for Northlands, and its local sister practice, The Avenue Veterinary Clinic, part of the VetPartners veterinary group, providing expansive and modern care space for clients and state-of-the-art working environment for colleagues.
The project, which has a budget of around £1.3 million, is part of a £20 million investment in new practice sites by VetPartners in 2020.
Karl Walker, practice manager said: “This is a very exciting venture for Northlands to be moving into a much bigger building which will provide enhanced facilities to give better care to pets and provide an improved environment for climate and colleagues.
“I’ve been here for five year and ever since I arrived, I have wanted to move premises simply because we have been in our current building on Northampton Road since the 1960s and have explored all our options to refurb and expand.
“Northlands joined VetPartners in 2017 and being part of the VetPartners group has made the dream of this new hospital a realty. This is a massive springboard for us.”
The Station Road site is leased from a local developer who sympathetically renovated the exterior of the building, including adding a new two storey extension.
Further investment has come through VetPratners to fund the hi-tech internal fit-out and ancillary fixtures and fittings. The Victorian building was a former SureStart nursey which had lain empty for around 12 years.
Netherlands hope to retain as many of its original feature as possible during the transformation. It is expected that the new hospital will be open by summer with both Northlands and Northampton Rad site and The Avenue Veterinary Clinic merging and moving their services into Station Road.
