You've seen the pics, this renovation is no small feat. We're doing less of a spruce up and more of a radical transformation.

Why we're doing it

A few clients have asked why we're bothering. They've suggested that as long as we're good at our jobs, the space we're working in doesn't really matter. I can see the logic here, but I'm going to disagree.

The place needs bringing up to date in both function and feel. 

When the practice was established in the 1980s, veterinary medicine was a very different beast than it is today. Ultrasounds were only just starting to appear in universities, lab machines lived in big buildings far away and patient care followed rules like 'don't give pain relief – pain will stop them moving around too much'. Yep, shudder.

As new bits of equipment were added over the years, the building became fuller and fuller, and harder and harder to work in. We're now designing the structure around its function – everything has a place, and that place is beautiful.

What we're doing

We're doing the reno in two parts. First, the back is being taken from a big open shed (where the cattery was) to a multifunction space incorporating:

  • a lab area
  • a pharmacy
  • two treatment areas
  • a separate theatre (the surgery pod)
  • a diagnostics area (for X-ray and ultrasound)
  • a dog ward
  • a cat ward
  • a laundry

This is expected to be finished by the end of August. Once it's done, we'll work out of the back section while we close down the front half and renovate it.

The front will have:

  • a clean, uncluttered reception area/waiting room
  • two consultation rooms
  • a small area for food storage (food won't be on display)

When will it be finished?

The front renovation doesn't require quite the same amount of work as the back. We hope it will be done by late September or early October.

We will still be open when the front half is closed for renovations! We'll just ask you to come in through the back entrance (via Docker Street).