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Thanks for your response re our kennel plans.  Glad to hear you like them and didn't find any major problems.  We feel that the problem of dogs getting excited and noisy because they can see other dogs being exercised is a minor problem compared to the convenience of being able to let them straight out into the exercise areas when we want to clean the runs.  If it causes a problem with the cats or other dogs, then we will probably just use some green mesh netting to screen the runs from the exercise areas.

[ Essential Kennel Design stresses that keeping kennel noise down should be the paramount goal to reduce stress. The design and layout of kennels can always be altered to accommodate most if not all requirements - a U shaped kennel complex although looking nice, will create more noise especially if an exercise area is right in the middle of it!]

You are quite right that there will be no near neighbours (the Planning Dept insisted that we could not be closer than 750 metres to any residential area, and we are actually about 1 kilometer from the nearest village.  Hopefully that means there won't be any objections to the plans from the neighbours, but it's still possible that neighbouring land-owners will object (on the grounds that having dogs nearby will lower the value of their land...).  The Planning Department have not replaced the lady who's on maternity leave, but the supervisor herself is dealing with our case (and is quite sympathetic - she has a dog of her own, and our architect promised her that her dog could stay for free any time, if we got planning permission!!  This is how things are done here, so who am I to argue... when in Rome do as the Cypriots and all that...)  The planning dept has to get opinions from the Water Board, the District Office (equivalent to UK County councils I guess), the Veterinary Service and the Planning Dept Head office in Nicosia.  So far, the water board and veterinary offices have replied positively, and I'm chasing the others for an answer.  The District Office is notoriously slow....

You are also right when you guessed there is nothing similar in our area.  The nearest half-way decent kennels and cattery are 60 k away from Paphos, and personally I would never leave my dogs there anyway (if you ask to look round they will only show you a couple of 'show runs', saying that to take visitors around would disturb the dogs....  I won't leave my animals anywhere without being able to see the conditions they are kept in...)  We are hoping to be the first to open in the Paphos area, but have recently heard of another projected kennels in the area, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

There is mention in your show case of a proposed kennels in Ayia Napa in Cyprus.  Do you have any more information about this, or any contact details?  (Ayia Napa is the other end of the island so is far enough away for us not to be in competition!  I would just like to know how they are getting on with planning permission, if they've got that far)

That's it for now - will let you know when we get anything more concrete from the planning dept

Many thanks for your message and your interest. Yes, I did go to visit Gentian Hill (once I eventually found it...) and was very impressed. Jane was very hospitable and helpful - despite being obviously very busy!

As for our project, well we are still awaiting planning permission, so no, we haven't started building yet.

We were hoping that we would have permission by September 2005 at the latest, but there could be yet another hold-up because the lady dealing with our area in the Planning Office has just gone off on 4 months' maternity leave, and is apparently not being replaced!.

It's Easter here this weekend (Greek Orthodox) so everywhere is closed until Wednesday, but I will go into the Planning Office as soon as it reopens and hopefully be able to persuade someone else to look at our plans (As it's now about 3 years since we first started looking at this project I am on first name terms with most of the Planning Department!)

We are not actually using your plans as such, although we are certainly using a lot of your ideas and suggestions from the Building Specification Manual.

We've actually designed a sort of 'U'-shaped building (except that the 2 sides are a lot shorter than the bottom bit because of the lay-out of the land, but hopefully you see what I mean).

We will have 15 runs (3 blocks of 5) running along the bottom edge of the land, with kitchen and storage area in the middle behind the runs (the other side of the corridor), then 3 runs on each side (21 runs in all including a holding pen), so that all the runs open out into the large exercise area (probably fenced off into 3 separate sections). (each kennel also has its own individual exercise run as well).

The reception/officebuilding will be on one corner of the 'u' shape and accommodation on the other (with isolation units attached to the accommodation). Our land is on 2 levels, so that will be on the lower level, and the cattery and additional accommodation will be on the upper level.

We are in the process now of getting building quotations, with the whole project being way beyond our means, but I'm hoping for

1. a grant from the Govermnent (they give annual grants of 25,000 for women in business, so keeping fingers crossed for that), and

2. bank loan and/or

3. a loan from a friend who has more money than he knows what to do with.... !

As regards building materials, we have a quote which is much cheaper than other methods and also much quicker to build (they say they can put the shell of the buildings up in one week!) using a system called permanent reinforced concrete, which is only just being introduced here in Cyprus, but is apparently used a lot in the UK, Spain and other places. They have a web page 'styrostone.co.uk' - have a look and let me know what you think!

Our aim is to be open in time for the Christmas holiday period, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'd be happy to be in touch with other people, although at this stage they are more likely to be helping me than the other way round!

Ventilation and drainage are things we will be discussing with the builder/architect a bit later on. Web page, brochure and photographs are also rather further down the line...

Anyway, that's my update for now!

Just a couple of quick notes in reply to yours. We do already have the 'Essential Kennel Design' book (actually that reminds me, our architect has it - I need to get it back from her sometime) - we bought that a while back when we first started looking at this project. Also have the FAB manual for ideas on the cattery and we've been talking to Welland Timber, but will probably use local builders in the end.

Dogs won't be able to see comings and goings from the reception area, and I hope the cattery will be well enough insulated from dog noise. Dogs and cats certainly won't be able to see each other. There's a 2m wide corridor/work area in the cattery between them and the dogs, as well as the bank between them.

We will most likely use wooden fencing for the dog exercise areas as well which should help to block the noise. Actually, I'll send you a copy of the plans (I scanned them into the computer), and you can tell me if you see any glaring problems (hopefully not too many!) Will have to send it from another e-mail account as I think they're too big for hotmail.

That's it for now!

Bought Essential Kennel Design & Running your own Boarding Kennels books and Blueprints Planning Permission Set for 10 Kennels + Walkway + Store