First phase of our site development project set to begin

The first phase of the development project for our Banbury site, the Frances Hay Centre, will begin on 3 August 2026.

This phase will see the bungalow at the back of the site demolished and replaced with a new development centre for both puppies and people. The centre will provide a dedicated space for puppies – particularly very young puppies – to spend time separately from adult dogs when they come to our site for assessments or to meet their socialisers and other volunteers.

The centre will also enable us to carry out our puppy assessments (GD BART assessments) on site. These assessments, which take place at various stages of a puppy's development, help us to better understand – and, we hope, more accurately predict – our dogs' temperament and the roles they are best suited to in the future. At the moment, we have to hire external venues to carry out these assessments, making the process both expensive and logistically complex.

The development centre will create a dedicated space for delivering animal assisted services on site. For the first time, this will allow us to welcome the people we support in the local community to Dogs for Good and, over time, expand our community work in the Banbury area.

Alongside these practical benefits, the project will transform an area of our site that is currently underused and unattractive. It will also include electric vehicle charging points, supporting our plans to introduce electric vehicles into our fleet in the future.

Ed Bracher, Dogs for Good's Chief Executive, says: "It is incredibly exciting to have reached this stage. We hope the building will be completed by the end of the year and ready to welcome its first puppies, people and activities in January."

We'll keep you updated as the project progresses.