Acorn Veterinary Centre in Acacia Grove, West Kirby, is run by the independently-owned Willows Veterinary Group and will employ 19 people when work is complete later this year.

Work has started on the rebuilding of a Wirral veterinary surgery in a project that will see the creation of new jobs.

Acorn Veterinary Centre in Acacia Grove, West Kirby, is run by the independently-owned Willows Veterinary Group.

When completed later in the summer the rebuilt facility will employ 19 people – including an extra two jobs.

The former buildings attached to the end-of-terrace three-storey Victorian town house, which once housed a family printing firm and forms part of the surgery, have been demolished to make way for a modern, glass-fronted 3,000 sq ft single storey building.

For the time-being, the surgery has a temporary home at Hillcroft Farm in Frankby Road, Frankby.

The whole team is looking forward to welcoming four-legged clients and their owners to the new purpose-built practice which is being built by local firm, Bebington-based JFW Construction.

The new practice will house three consultation rooms, a double theatre, an imagery suite which will house X-ray, ultrasound, endoscopy and ECG equipment.

There will also be a designated feline and canine dental theatre which will also have its own digital X-ray system.

The number of parking spaces will double from three to six.

Head vet Tom McGowan, a father-of-two who lives in Heswall and is originally from Arkansas in the US, said: “The new practice is going to be open-plan and airy with lots of light and high ceilings but it will have a familiar feel with the same team working hard to look after our clients which I think will be really reassuring to them.

“We are all extremely excited that work is under way. The surgery has been in the local community for 30 years and it is great to be overseeing a project to revitalise it for many more years to come.

“As a part of Willows Veterinary Group, we are always looking at ways to reinvest and improve facilities for our clients and their much-loved pets.”