Brent Lodge set to benefit from essential hospital redevelopments

Brent Lodge, which has been treating sick and injured animals for more than 45 years, has seen several essential redevelopments take place over the years.

However, after submitting extension plans to Chichester Council in December, 2018 is set to witness the wildlife hospital undergo its biggest re-build to date.

Asha Park, supporter communications manager at Brent Lodge, said: “We are really pleased to say that we received confirmation that our plans were successful and given permission to go ahead with the site re-build.

“The re-build is required due to the ever-increasing number and variety of patients we are treating each year, recently we had to turn patients away due to lack of space which is not what we like to do. We are just simply running out of room to safely rehabilitate patients and having to ‘house’ birds and mammals in the same area meaning some animals are located too close to their natural predators, which is not ideal. Much of the hospital was built in the 1980s on a shoestring budget, so the buildings are no longer fit for purpose and is not an ideal working environment for staff and volunteers.

“The old hospital building will remain a working hospital ward, but having another new modern hospital will mean we can continue to treat more patients than ever before. This will also provide a safer environment for our patients with increased infection control and quarantine areas, reducing the risk of spreading infection or disease. Staff will benefit from having more space to work in a more efficient environment and allows safe access to more local community volunteers.

“As well as a new hospital we also have plans to build several new outside enclosures, an education room and a reception area. The redevelopment will be staged in five phases, with a target to complete the final build of the hospital within three years. As a relatively small organisation we are limited to generous voluntary funds, so the success of our project is determined by increased funding from the community.”

Find out more about Brent Lodge, including how to support the hospital, at www.brentlodge.org.