The Big Build

Stay up to date with our Big Build Project!

October 2021

It's been a long road at a very difficult time for everybody, but we're very pleased to say that the big build project has nearly reached its conclusion. The new waiting area and consulting rooms are complete, giving a lot more space and light than before. In order to maintain adequate social distancing, we have yet to fully fit out the waiting area but we can offer separate dog and cat areas.

The dedicated cattery and cat treatment room is fully operational along with a much-expanded kennel provision for dogs of all shapes and sizes.

The prep area, the engine room of the practice, has been extended and the new operating theatres are all up and running.

We have nearly completed the dental suite so are left with the final cosmetic work to make sure the practice looks its best.

Thank you so much to our wonderful clients for your understanding despite the disruption that this work has sometimes caused.

March and April 2021

The build has continued to progress rapidly throughout March and April and we now have our brand-new reception area open for clients to check in and out at.

This has been quite a momentous moment for two reasons. The first being, we have been able to bring our receptionists out of the make shift reception they spent the dark winter months in, and they are now in a large, bright and light reception greeting owners and meeting pets. The second reason this is quite momentous is it marks the start of the end of covid restrictions. With the space we now have, managing our clients back into the building and consultation will be much easier.

We have the start of a covered walk way from the main building through to our CT room. This will improve patient security and help when we have bad weather, transporting patients between buildings. The beautiful archways will be joined with the same wooden cladding and will be quite a feature to the building.

Internally, we have structural changes with three new rooms, these are a new laboratory area, exotics ward and store room. 

The old kennels has had a huge facelift and we now have a beautiful dog ward of 15 walk in kennels, all with glass front doors. The patients seem to love this new style and the large kennels give the dogs plenty of space to move around and relax. It is definitely a calming place to be and seems very relaxed.

Our enclosed exercise area for dogs is also being utilised and we love the security it gives for allowing pets the  chance to walk about and have a sniff and enjoy some fresh air.

We are now seeing the three new theatres starting to take shape. The biggest challenge is still to come, when we have the builders take over to renovate the main hub of the practice, the prep area. This will be another logistical task to oversee, but, with our fab team of builders we are confident all will run smoothly!

   

 

February 2021

We can barely keep up!

We have flooring down in the kennels and cattery, kennel doors (modelled here by Jess), cattery kennels and intensive care beds ready. We have work tops, work stations and carpets in the new offices!!

This month we had to switch to a generator for a day whilst western power sorted our electrical cables. Luckily this all ran smoothly and we had very little disruption to service.

We are now planning moving from our old offices and across into our new offices. Some of the administration teams will be sharing a work space for a while, whilst their offices get a makeover.

The next phase is then moving the clinical teams into the new kennel space whilst the old kennels are refurbished and reconfigured.

Our reception team will hopefully be in their new reception by early spring.

   

January 2021

A new year and a new update. The reception area now has these beautiful long windows, to let in plenty of natural light. This section here is our Feline friendly cat waiting area. This seating area will be for cats to wait, away from bouncy dogs. There will be cat basket stations and blankets that owners can use to help minimise stress for their pet cats during their visit.

Next to this seating area there is a new “cat only consult room” which allows the owner to go directly from the waiting area to their consultation room, without having to pass through other clients with dogs. This then leads straight out to the where the new reception desk will be with a lowered desk for cat baskets to be placed.

To be able to design our waiting room around the client journey is brilliant, and we hope clients and pets are able to visit knowing we have tried to make their visit as stress free as possible.

The kennels have now been installed; we hope to have the doors arriving in the next few weeks.

Wiring is happening all over the building; our poor builders are scrambling about in a tiny attic replacing old wires and adding in more to accommodate the new office space.

 

December 2020

We nearly have a new entrance! We are so excited to see the front of the building start to take shape. Our entrance will be a lot more pet friendly, with electronic double doors. This entrance is also wheelchair accessible, with disabled parking close to the entrance.

We are now starting to think about colour schemes, seating and space.

The posterior of the building is taking shape now and the extension and office space upstairs now look fantastic. It is great to start to be able to visualise the finished product!

 

November 2020

Our build is progressing well through November. We now have the shells of our new kennels. These walk-in kennels will have piped oxygen and clear doors. All kennels are temperature regulated with an air purifying system. This means pets can be kept comfortable and temperatures can easily be adjusted.

These kennels will be for our critical patients who require hospitalisation, and this area provides some extra calm, away from our busier, day patient kennel block.

Our existing kennel block will be having a makeover too, with new kennels and layout. We will have a new food prep area, for the all-important cooked chicken and special diets some of the patients require.

The Big Build Update (17th September 2020)

This month we have porta cabins in place and these will become our temporary consulting rooms. This is a big step in many ways as we have not yet been able to welcome clients back into the consulting rooms due to covid restrictions, so heading towards autumn and winter we will now be using the porta cabins as our first “indoor” consultation rooms. This is to allow our reception area to undergo its transformation.

We will aim to guide you and ensure signage is in place so that you and your vets will be united for your consultation.

We are unsure how smoothly our building plans will run but please be assured that we are certainly working very hard to ensure things run as smoothly as possible.

Big Build Update (10th August 2020)

Our extension of the practice is going up quickly and we are now able to see the new cattery and feline treatment area taking shape. The new stairwell that will lead up to the vets new office area is in and the second floor is starting to take shape.

Spirits are lifting with the build happening and giving our staff a great focus away from the current affairs that are currently changing the way we are all working. The extra space we can see being laid is a huge bonus, and the nurses are excited for when we have a feline only treatment room. Being able to have areas of the hospital species specific is the dream of many veterinary professionals as we understand how different the requirements of patients can be and for our feline friends, a treatment area just off their cattery suite will be hugely beneficial. We currently have to use a separate room which is great for being quiet and secure but it is also used for other treatments, so a dedicated area really is a special thing!

 

Our Big Build has started (2nd July 2020)

We are excited to be able to update our Big Build Blog with news that building work has commenced and we all happy to see bricks and mortar being laid!

This project was always going to be a logistical challenge with parts of our building having to be closed off and different areas of the building being repurposed as temporary facilities whilst internal restructuring takes place. We can now throw social distancing into this conundrum thanks to the dreaded C word.

So what can we be expecting? Quite honestly, the unexpected. The first logistical challenge we face in the next few weeks is relocating our reception area. We have a silver lining in that due to already having to social distance, our fantastic clients are already becoming accustomed to our open air consultations.

Update (3rd April 2020)

It is with heavy hearts that our update is not one of progress. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and to help protect human health we have had to make the difficult decision to put a hold on building work starting. Once this has passed and it is safe for builders and our staff to be on site, the build will begin and we invite you to follow our journey as we build towards a positive and exciting future for Vale Vets and Vale Referrals.

The Start... (18th February 2020)

Vale Vets and Vale Referrals are excited to announce that next week we start expanding the footprint of our facilities. Vale will proudly have additional new theatres, extra consulting rooms and new and improved kennels, cattery and isolation wards. Along with a new medicine suite, dedicated pharmacy and dedicated cat procedure room.

This development of our centre will allow us to offer you and your pet, more readily available access to our services. We will keep you updated with regards to the build via our social media platforms and our projects team will ensure you have minimal disruption during your visit here.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and patience with us as we manage our way through the next year of building.

Join us on our journey!