Work progresses on new £1.3 million Kettering veterinary hospital

Improved facilities for treating pets are a step closer for a Kettering veterinary 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 orthopeadic 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 therapy treatment room, general office space, client toilets, night-team accommodation and outside exercise yard.

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.

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.

Practice manager Karl Walker 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 clients and colleagues.

“I’ve been here for five years 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 reality.

"This is a massive springboard for us.”

The Station Road site is leased from a local developer who has sympathetically renovated the exterior of the building, including adding a new two-storey extension.

Further investment has come through VetPartners to fund the hi-tech internal fit-out and ancillary fixtures and fittings.

The Victorian building was a former SureStart nursery which had been empty for about 12 years.

Northlands hope to retain as many of its original features as possible during the transformation.

It is expected the new hospital will be open by the summer with both Northlands Northampton Road site and The Avenue Veterinary Clinic merging and moving their services into Station Road.

Northlands has seven surgeries across Northamptonshire, including under the name of Caring Vets.