Pennard Vets to build new £3.5m practice in Sevenoaks
In addition, there will be ‘first-class’ team breakout areas and four meeting rooms with AV facilities, as well as an energy efficient heating, cooling and ventilation system
Kent-based veterinary group Pennard Vets has started work creating a new state of the art practice in Sevenoaks, which will be one of the largest and most advanced in the South East, as part of a £3.5m investment programme that will also create new jobs in the town.
The employee-owned veterinary group, which has eight Kent practices, signed a lease on the 11,500 sq ft, three storey former office building this summer and work is now underway on its transformation into a new veterinary practice.
The practice will offer separate dog, cat and exotic wards, a CT scanner, dental suite and a privately accessed bereavement room, as well as housing the group’s 24-hour emergency hospital.
In addition, there will be “first-class” team breakout areas and four meeting rooms with AV facilities, as well as an energy efficient heating, cooling and ventilation system.
Work is due to complete next spring when the group will relocate from its current Sevenoaks practice, located approximately 100 metres away on Eardley Road, which is where Pennard Vets moved to in 1895, from its original home just around the corner, where the business was founded in 1890.
The new practice will also feature a wide range of green technology and recycling initiatives, which are a key reason why Pennard Vets was the first veterinary practice in Europe to become B-Corp certified in 2022.
Matthew Flann, a director from Pennard Vets, said: “This expansion follows years of planning and searching for the right premises, but when this building became available, we immediately knew it was right for us. It’s very modern with plenty of parking and is highly accessible, as well as being very close to our current practice.
“Crucially it gives us an ideal layout, as well as being more than twice as big as our existing site. This means all our canine clinical work will be on one level, with two specialist dog operating theatres, a dedicated exotics ward, which is a big growth area for us, as well as a separate cat theatre and ward, which will be situated on its own in a quiet part of the building on the floor above.”
He added: “…Our expansion has accelerated significantly in the past two years since we transferred into employee ownership and became an employee ownership trust (EOT), meaning all employees are now stakeholders in the business, which also gave many of our colleagues the opportunity to help shape our new facility.”
