Architects who designed veterinary hospitals for half of America's veterinary colleges now are focused on a Virginia Tech infrastructure challenge: a veterinary teaching hospital where the emergency room operates in a space the size of a conference room and surgeries are often scheduled months out to coordinate use of the hospital’s limited operating rooms and meet rising demand.

Monthly planning sessions for a proposed $43 million expansion and renovation of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine's Small Animal Teaching Hospital revealed its stark reality: Demand has grown sixfold while the building remains essentially unchanged since the 1980s.

"We have four surgery rooms. We need eight," hospital director Tanya LeRoith said during a recent planning session as architects from firms that have designed veterinary facilities for NC State University, Auburn University, the University of Georgia, and Purdue University documented the space crisis. "We have enough personnel to handle multiple emergencies at once, we just don't have anywhere to put them."

A need for modern facilities

The proposed expansion would address a veterinary crisis affecting pet owners from Southwest Virginia to Northern Virginia. With the commonwealth facing a critical shortage of veterinary specialists and emergency care providers, the project could transform how the state trains veterinarians and serves its 2.7 million pet-owning households.

Skip Wyatt, lead veterinary planner with Foil Wyatt Architects, who has designed expansions for 18 veterinary colleges, calls Virginia Tech's situation "ready for transformation."

"The explosion in veterinary specialties — from two to 25 in the past 40 years — requires facilities that can adapt to modern veterinary medicine," Wyatt said. "Virginia Tech's leadership understands this evolution."

The university's strategic plan emphasizes health sciences as a growth area, and the veterinary college represents a unique asset in that portfolio. As the only veterinary college in Virginia and one of only three in the mid-Atlantic region, the facility serves a critical role in the university's research and service missions.

Progress toward solutions

Virginia Tech leadership has recognized the need for veterinary infrastructure investment, approving a $4.3 million planning authorization through the Board of Visitors in fall 2024. This commitment demonstrates the university's understanding that world-class veterinary education requires facilities that match the caliber of its faculty and students.

Working within the university's established planning processes, the college has assembled a design team including Page, which was acquired this year by Stantec, and Roanoke-based Branch and Associates. The team meets monthly with faculty, staff, and students to develop schematic plans that will advance through the university's review process, with construction potentially beginning in winter 2027.
 
The 32,000-square-foot expansion and 25,000-square-foot renovation plans include:

  • Expand surgical capacity from four to eight operating rooms.
  • Create a 4,000-square-foot emergency department. The current emergency department operates in approximately 375 square feet.
  • Transform community practice services, which currently handle 17 percent of the hospital's cases in tight quarters, into a modern primary care teaching facility on the expansion's first floor.
  • Innovate veterinary care with a focused intermediate care unit that addresses a gap between ICU and routine care.
  • Provide dedicated student learning spaces, something that is currently nonexistent.
  • Serve an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 additional emergency cases annually.

"Our current first-year students will be doing their clinical activities in this new and newly renovated Small Animal Teaching Hospital," said Dan Givens, dean of the veterinary college. "This expansion has been a conversation that began back in 2009. It's progressed through multiple deans, and now I'm holding the baton as we're about to cross the threshold into breaking ground."

The project has transformative potential, Givens said. "This facility will have dedicated spaces for student learning rounds, student touchdown areas, improved staff and faculty spaces, and much better flow for emergency and community practice cases. It's going to have a huge impact on the college overall."

The funding equation

With much of the $43 million already committed, the college seeks additional philanthropic support to complete the project at full scope. The funding gap represents the difference between a basic expansion and a transformational facility that could serve Virginia for the next 50 years.

Todd Ray, lead designer with Page, said the project is complex. "We're not just adding space, we're designing for the future of veterinary medicine while maintaining operations in a 40-year-old building where half the budget goes to updating mechanical systems that predate most of our students."

A One Health vision

The expansion supports Virginia Tech's strategic priorities in health sciences and the university's commitment to the One Health initiative that recognizes connections between animal, human, and environmental health. The investment in modern veterinary facilities reflects the university's forward-thinking approach to interdisciplinary health research.

"We're designing systems that support best practices in biosecurity, patient care, operational flow, wellness, and education " said Laura Vargas, project director with Page. "The new facility will allow us to implement protocols that support both animals and the people who care for them — something Virginia Tech has identified as essential for a modern health sciences program."

Remaining competitive

Virginia Tech's commitment to maintaining competitive health sciences programs drives the expansion planning. As other veterinary colleges expand — the University of London grew from 120 to 250 students, Colorado State is building facilities that dwarf current standards — university leadership recognizes that strategic infrastructure investment will protect the commonwealth's only veterinary college.

"Virginia Tech has been incredibly supportive in helping us plan for the future," said Greg Daniel, who has served the college since 2007 and now sits on the expansion steering committee. "We've never gotten this close. The university understands that modern facilities are essential for maintaining our accreditation and competitive edge."

The path forward

The project is expected to be submitted to the Board of Visitors in 2026 for final design approval and construction funding. If approved, construction could begin in early 2027 with completion by 2029.  
 
For Virginia's pet owners, the expansion promises shorter emergency wait times and access to specialized care currently unavailable. For students, it means training in facilities that match the realities of modern veterinary practice. For the commonwealth, it represents an investment in both public health infrastructure and economic development.

"This isn't just about having nice facilities," LeRoith said. "It's about having the space to say 'yes' when someone's pet needs emergency surgery at 2 a.m. or when a student wants to learn the latest surgical technique. Right now, too often, we have to say, 'We don't have room.'"

Givens framed the opportunity for donors: "We need people to understand the opportunity they have right now — to affect the lives of students, veterinarians, and the animals we serve here at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. This is something the college has needed for a long period of time."

The college will host donor briefings about naming opportunities within the proposed facility. Current naming opportunities include surgical suites, the emergency department, and student learning centers.

For more information about supporting the Small Animal Hospital expansion, contact the veterinary college's Office of Advancement at cvmadvancement@vt.edu.

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