Battersea Dogs and Cats Home

Construction firm John Sisk & Sons has been awarded a contract to build a new cattery for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in London worth £3.9m (€4.5m).

The project, which should be ready to open by July next year, will involve the construction of a new four-storey building with reception and waiting areas, meeting rooms and 83 pens, as well as staff rooms. Sisk will also build an extension to the clinic. The building has been specifically designed for cats and will be curtain-walled with windows sized and placed for its feline inhabitants. The company said its ability to integrate green technologies in a time- and cost-efficient manner had played a key role in winning the contract.

The Battersea project is the latest of the English contracts awarded to Sisk in recent months. Sisk management at Sisk recently admitted the company was turning its attention to the UK in the absence of any signs of recovery in Ireland. Sisk's Nigel Warnes, said the company was holding its own in Ireland but any future growth would come from Britain.