16 Oct 2020
“Given the uncertainty in the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CVS Group has made key operational and financial decisions to minimise the financial impact, and to ensure the medium and long‑term job security of our colleagues" – CVS statement.
James Westgate
Job Title
Pictured (from left) project manager from Seddon Construction, Jon Hulley; Jonathan Wastling, pro vice-chancellor at Keele University; Sir Keith Pearson, chairman of Noviniti; and Matt Jones, head of the Harper Keele Veterinary School.
The CVS group has confirmed it has pulled out of a planned £5 million partnership with the UK’s newest vet school.
Harper and Keele Veterinary School is a joint venture between Keele University and Harper Adams University, and welcomed its first cohort of students in September.
Shortly after plans emerged for the new school in 2018 it was announced that CVS would be investing about £5 million to build a veterinary hospital, clinical skills centre and veterinary school hub at the Keele campus in Staffordshire. However, due to the financial impact of COVID-19, CVS has confirmed it has pulled out of the deal to protect jobs.
A statement said: “Given the uncertainty in the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CVS Group has made key operational and financial decisions to minimise the financial impact, and to ensure the medium and long‑term job security of our colleagues.
“CVS made the difficult and timely decision that we were unable to continue to commit to the significant financial investment required in the Keele University project and shared this decision with the stakeholders involved in March 2020. This decision was not taken lightly. CVS has remained in dialogue with Keele University, and hopes to continue to collaborate and support the development of their veterinary school.”
The two universities behind the Harper and Keele Veterinary School confirmed in April that the building of a teaching centre – incorporating teaching facilities, clinical skills laboratories and an operational veterinary practice – would go ahead on schedule, despite CVS withdrawing from the project earlier in the year.
The centre – which is under construction on the Keele University campus close to Newcastle‑under‑Lyme in Staffordshire – will now be completed independently. Seddon has been appointed as main contractor by its development partner Noviniti and they will be taking the development forward together.
Management of the school will now pursue alternative routes to create a working vet practice on the Keele campus, which will be used in clinical teaching from 2022, when the first cohort of vet students reaches its third year of training.
Matt Jones, head of Harper and Keele Veterinary School, said: “CVS was going to provide just one of many veterinary practices supporting the training of our students.
“Our multi-partner model of delivery has always been through a range of practices under different ownerships, which affords students the opportunity to experience different business models.”
Jonathan Wastling, pro vice-chancellor and executive dean of natural sciences at Keele, added: “Keele University is wholly committed to taking the veterinary building forward independently, and providing an excellent educational and training environment for our veterinary students – the first cohort of whom we welcomed this year.”
