Early in the morning on Thursday 8 September, just prior to the annual Writtle College Graduation ceremonies, Alan Titchmarsh officially opened the Titchmarsh Centre for Animal Care.
Upon opening the new centre Alan said: “I don’t think that there is any other building in Britain that has my name on it, and I find this namesake astonishingly flattering.”
He went on to say: “Writtle College is such a forward thinking College and I am proud to be associated with it. The new Centre for Animal Studies will provide skills that are vitally important – this new centre is all about the skills and empathy of living things.”
Principal of the College, Professor Dave Butcher gave formal address during the opening saying: “As a higher and further education institution, competing in a very challenging funding climate, Writtle College has to balance the demands of budget constraints with meeting the expectations of our students who expect the very best facilities that we can provide for them. We have to find innovative ways of achieving this and the Titchmarsh Centre is an example of how we have responded to the challenges. It is, in essence, a classic example of recycling on a grand scale. By renovating an existing but out-dated building, we have created a new space which is ideal for our animals, our students and our staff and which underlines the emphasis that the College continues to place on this most popular aspect of our portfolio.
The refurbishment of the Titchmarsh Centre, costing £1 million, took less than a year to complete and the finished building will now provide around 150-200 students per week three times more space to work in. The types of animals housed in the Centre include Shetland ponies, goats, birds, reptiles and rabbits.
Alan Titchmarsh MBE, has been the College Patron for ten years and is incredibly passionate about the future of the College and its students. Following the opening of the new Centre, Alan attended and presented at two Writtle College Graduation ceremonies at Chelmsford Cathedral.
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The Titchmarsh Centre for Animal Studies
Animal Studies and Veterinary Nursing courses at Writtle College have become one of our most popular choices for our students. Over the years students have gone on to rich and rewarding careers in animal related industries. Early in 2010 the College embarked on a major capital development project to provide a fantastic new facility to house Writtle’s zoo and companion animals and to provide new teaching facilities.