Following £20m investment in infrastructure at the West Longbridge earlier this year, the first commercial development is now being brought forward by developer St Modwen.

The veterinary hospital will be built on a brownfield site at the southern gateway to West Longbridge Business Park.

The hospital will feature research, treatment, diagnostic, laboratory and administrative space and will have the latest medical equipment including CT and MRI scanners.

Planning permission for the building is being sought by St Modwen on behalf of IVC Evidensia, Europe’s leading veterinary care provider.

Subject to planning approval, construction will start on the building next year with the first animals treated at the facility in 2023.

The proposal will also see regeneration of a 3-acre site that acts as a gateway for the wider West Longbridge Business Park.

West Longbridge Business Park is part of a wider regeneration of the former MG Rover West Works following a £6 million investment by the WMCA to unlock the land for development.

In addition to the business park, the investment will see a new residential neighbourhood of 350 homes also built.

Elliot Sellars, development director for Strategic Land & Regeneration at St Modwen, said: “This is a key first element of West Longbridge and will become a real centrepiece for that part of the town.

“It also has the potential to be a real beacon of veterinary excellence in medicine and treatment.”