Kennel design ?

Hi, I have just found this great site and I don't know if this is where I should be posting this thread or not, if not then please forgive me.
I want to build 20 boarding kennels next to my home (out in the country) and need advice on who best to design it. Do I go for a local architect or a national authority on the matter. I know of a company called Kennel Design but wondered if there are any more out there.

I don't personally know anything about kennel design ~ but I would like to suggest that you ensure that any design is driven primarily by what is best for the dogs you'll be boarding. This may mean that the most aesthetically pleasing designs won't work, & it may mean that the design is not necessarily the most ergonomic or efficient as far as humans go! But at least you have a better chance of happy dogs

The reason I say this is because a certain well known dog rescue organisation has spent £000s if not £ms on new kennels, beautifully designed aesthetically, easy for the public to view the dogs in nice clean kennels, with under floor heating, glass fronts & all colour co-ordinated. Unfortunately the design doesn't work for the dogs & has been the cause of a lot of behavioural problems developing. Then the under floor heating developed faults resulting in "cooked" dogs & very expensive fixes.

I assume that if you are planning to run boarding kennels that you want the best for the dogs in your care ~ so my best tip would be to get the architect/builder/designer to consult with a canine behaviourist before deciding on the final design!

Good luck with the new kennels though

Before you start getting the designers in, do you need/have planning permission to build kennels? It would be such a shame if you went ahead with all this only to have the council turn up on your doorstep and order you to tear them down a month later. I only ask because as a home boarder I had to enquire with the council as to whether I needed planning permission myself!

If you are able I would try and get local businesses involved because if new businesses want to get things that will look good in their portfolios for future customers then you might get a good deal out of it. Especially if you let them put signage on it.

Firstly let me say that the dog's well being is first and uppermost in my mind hence the reason I mentioned Kennel Design who seem to have a good reputation and are recommended by many of their clients. Trying to find an architect locally with knowledge of boarding kennel design is proving difficult and I don't want just a "building", I want it to be well thought out and have provision for every eventuality.
Secondly, yes I will need planning permission and I have had a meeting with them already but they need plans to be submitted along with the planning application which is the whole reason I asked the question I did.

Could you approach a stable-design company as well maybe? Sometimes they've also done dog/animal related stuff as well

Ahh I'm not familiar with planning regulations since I didn't need any of that in the end. I guess not many companies specialise in kennels, do the company you've mentioned do any free sort of modelling service so you can see exactly what you'd be getting before you agree to go into a contract with them? Sort of like what kitchen designers do?

http://www.uniquekennels.co.uk/index.php?page=kennels

There's this company, although to be honest, the kennels aren't as big as I would like them to be and certainly aren't as big as the kennels where I used to work. I'm sure they do different sizes though.

http://www.reeveskennels.co.uk/index.php

This company's kennels look fantastic quality, they do small blocks as well as larger blocks and the sizes are much more what I would class as adequate for a normal sized dog. I personally prefer the Windsor to the Balmoral range, but that's just personal opinion and in no way professionally based.

Good post.

Excellent - well said. I'd have brought up the issues of PP if it hadn't been mentioned.

Even with PP a requirement, you can still make them the best possible for the dogs. If it's out in the Country and you have no neighbours, it doens't really matter what it looks like, although the Local Authority will try to push you to make it fit in with the local environment - a little difficult if it's in the middle of nowhere.

If you have dogs yourself or have had in the past, try to think of what you would want for them if they were to use your kennels. That will give you a good grounding to begin your design. A list of requiremewnts to be incorporated usually starts off far longer than it needs to be and you should be able to go through things with your designer/architect.

Also, depending on the size of the building(s), you may need building regs approval also. I used to work for B'ham Planning Dept but this was completely separate to Building Consultancy. Most Authorities have only one department, which includes both planning and building regs. If nobody has mentioned this to you it may be worth checking. usually the two go hand in hand but not always.

Good luck with your venture. I hope it all works out for you.

Laura xx

Boarding Kennels have to comply to specific regulations, ask your local licencing authority for a copy of the relevant regulations so you don't make any expensive mistakes and pay for architects that come up with the wrong plans that don't conform. I believe that these days they can no longer be made of wood so do your research first!!
Becky

It'll be something like this
Becky

Wow, thank you so much for all your help, you have no idea how valuable this is to me.
Thank you.