UCLan’s 45,000 sq ft vet school set to progress

Preston City Council is expected to approve the University of Central Lancashire’s plans to build a veterinary teaching facility on Victoria Street at its city centre campus.

The proposed 45,000 sq ft facility would replace an existing UCLan car park and be attached to the adjacent Greenbank building, which houses a series of teaching laboratories and would be internally refurbished as part of the plans.

The proposed four-storey new facility would be used solely for educational purposes and would not include a veterinary surgery for members of the public to visit with their animals, the application states. However, the refurbished Greenbank building would contain consultation rooms, a rehabilitation suite, kennels and additional teaching spaces.

If approved, the new facility would be the eleventh dedicated veterinary school in the UK and the first of its kind in Lancashire, UCLan’s advisor Cushman & Wakefield said.

Designed by Wilson Mason, it would include anatomical skills laboratories and simulated clinical facilities, including a pharmacy, diagnostic suite, operating theatres, teaching rooms and office space.

It would also provide a hub for undergraduate and postgraduate course students and staff in veterinary medicine, bioveterinary science, veterinary clinical practice, veterinary physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and clinical animal behaviour and training.

The development site is on the south side of Victoria Street in Preston. Although the proposed building would be predominantly four storeys tall, this would be its highest point, and it would step down to two storeys at a section fronting Victoria Street. The building would have a flat roof design throughout to provide rooftop external areas.

A glazed, three-storey entrance would be created at the front of the Greenbank building and this would provide access to both the existing and proposed buildings.

“The contemporary design is in keeping with recent projects that have taken place at UCLan, [such as] the Engineering Innovation Centre and Student Centre, which seeks to facilitate the representation of innovation and synergy between education, technology, business, and employment,” the application says.

The council has recommended the scheme for approval, with conditions, at its planning meeting next Thursday.

Preston has also recommended for approval a 195-home development on land south of Bartle Lane, brought forward by Hollins Homes with Sedgwick Associates as the architect.