The starting point at RSPCA Brighton was a problem most charity estates teams will recognise. An end-of-life kennel block, a steeply sloping site with tight access, a live rehoming operation that could not stop, and a budget that ruled out starting again from scratch.

Demolishing back to ground level and rebuilding would have consumed a large share of the funds on groundworks alone. Instead, Kennelbuild surveyed what was already there and designed around it. The existing brick substructure was retained and the new building engineered to sit directly on top of it turning the site's biggest constraint into its foundation, and taking weeks of excavation, muck-away and concrete out of the programme.

Above that substructure sits a lightweight steel frame, designed and precision-manufactured at Kennelbuild's facility in Crewe. Because the site offered almost no room for cutting and fitting, every component was engineered to millimetre tolerances before it left the factory and assembled in sequence on arrival. The external envelope, profiled cladding with a standing seam roof, was specified to sit comfortably alongside the retained brickwork and the wooded setting.

Inside, the building is a modern, fully serviced animal care facility rather than a shed with pens in it:

• 18 individual cat pods, each with a separate sleeping compartment, glazed viewing door and outlook to daylight
• MVHR heating and cooling, giving year-round temperature control and a controlled ventilation strategy — critical in a cattery, where airborne cross-infection is the principal welfare risk
• Full stainless steel preparation kitchen for food and laundry handling
• Impervious, seamless finishes throughout for wash-down and biosecurity
• Building Regulations compliant construction

Start to finish, the project was delivered in just over 12 weeks.

Kennelbuild designs, manufactures and builds animal care facilities for charities, local authorities, the MoD and the commercial sector across the UK, Ireland and Europe working from feasibility and RIBA Stage 1 through to handover.

Working on an animal care facility? Kennelbuild are always happy to walk architects and contractors around a completed scheme and talk through what does and doesn't work on constrained sites. Get in touch to arrange a visit.