New 5-star home for four-legged friends

Proving a huge success and doubling the capacity of the previous accommodation, a brand new dog rehoming centre is now providing five star accommodation for up to 50 dogs at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Wambrook near Chard in Somerset.

Both the sanctuary owners and the tail-wagging occupants are delighted with the new accommodation, which is the sanctuary’s biggest project to date and has won a commendation for the performance of the construction team.

The design and build project, which commenced in May 2014 and was completed at the end of November, was carried out by main contractors Acheson Construction, with Faithorn Farrell Timms acting as Employer’s Agents on the scheme.

Terry Harris of Faithorn Farrell Timms commented:

“The contractor’s team was excellent – proactive and helpful throughout and ideal partners to have on board for such an important project. They delivered a great project on time and on budget.

“The old accommodation was a single skin concrete building which had become cold, damp and in poor condition. This was demolished and the new centre was built on the same site.”

The new centre comprises kennels, treatment facilities, rehabilitation, bathing and grooming and isolation treatment areas, together with office and care staff accommodation, plus internal and external concrete exercise yards and grassed paddocks with associated footpaths.

The underfloor heated kennels are arranged along both sides of a central corridor as well as to the rear of the building. The kennels also have remotely controlled guillotine doors which open to allow the dogs into the external exercise area.

The rectangular single storey building is constructed with externally rendered blockwork walls incorporating white uPVC windows and a synthetic slated roof surmounted by a large array of photovoltaic panels. The building also includes a large oak framed feature porch.

“The main benefit is that the sanctuary can now temporarily house twice as many dogs as before – in much more comfortable conditions than previously – which reduces the pressure of them having to re-home dogs as quickly as possible to free up space for new arrivals,” said Terry Harris.

“This project had been planned for a number of years and the sanctuary are very pleased that the centre is finally open to provide this invaluable service to dogs that are in need of essential care,” he added.

Ferne Animal Sanctuary provides a safe and comfortable home for over 300 unwanted and abandoned animals including cats, dogs, cows, pigs, chickens, chinchillas, goats, rabbits, ferrets, tortoises and horses and receives animals and finds homes for them within a 40-mile radius of Chard.