Specialist vet surgery to be built in Longbridge

A ‘highly specialised’ veterinary surgery is set to be built in Longbridge after being given the go-ahead by Birmingham City Council.

Spanning up to 3,500 square metres, the proposed building will be located on Bristol Road South, at the site which was formerly part of the wider MG Rover car plant that closed in 2005.

The surgery, which will be located close to the new Longbridge town centre, will be a highly specialised diagnostic, treatment and research centre.

Operating on a referral basis, it would cater for some of the most high-tech and leading diagnostic and treatments within the veterinary sector.

It will have a range of facilities which are expected to include CT, MRI, XRay, endoscopy, ultrasonography assessments, general surgical, orthopaedic and rheumatology interventions, as well as physiotherapy, radiography, oncology and chemotherapy treatments, and facilities for research and specialist assessments into specialist treatments.

What will the building contain?

The building will be a two-storey construction, with the ground floor comprised of the main entrance, waiting area, consultation rooms, research functions, ICU ward, theatres and service areas while the first floor would comprise of offices, lecture rooms, staff rooms, staff welfare areas and access to plant on first floor.

The facility will operate twenty-four hours a day though, with the exception of emergency admissions, public access will be limited from early morning to mid evening, with the majority of animal owners accompanying their pets to consultation and post-operation reviews or staying with them for shorter, nonanaesthetised/waking procedures.

A total of 150 full-time staff are expected to be based at the facility.

The proposals were passed by a unanimous vote at the city council planning committee meeting on November 25, with work on the plans set to get underway some time in the new year.

The Longbridge regeneration project

The announcement follows the news that thousands of new jobs and hundreds of homes are set to be created as part of the latest phase of the regeneration project in Longbridge.

Developers St Modwen have revealed that 7,500 jobs will be created alongside 1,300 new homes through the next step of the project at the former car factory.

The next stage of the plans will see the old MG Rover factory floor site transformed to feature a mix of new homes, 10 acres of green space, with heritage buildings preserved - including the International HQ, Roundhouse, and Car Assembly Building.

In addition to this, the West Works site at the car plant will be developed to produce 900,000 sq. ft of commercial space, as well as a 350-home neighbourhood.

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