Under one roof: Jefferson County breaks ground on new animal care and control facility

Jefferson County and Greater Birmingham Society Animal Care and Control groundbreaking. (Nathan Watson / Bham Now)

The Jefferson County Commission, Greater Birmingham Humane Society and several partners broke ground this week on the new, much-anticipated animal care and control facility for the county.

Located at 1052 Sydney Drive in Oxmoor Corporate Park, the complex sits on 6.5 acres. The facility will cost nearly $26 million and is slated to be completed by November 2025. 

A transformative campus for animal care

(Nathan Watson / Bham Now)

“This project has been in the works for a few years, and we are excited to see the foundation being laid for what we believe will be a transformative campus for animal care in Jefferson County.

The Greater Birmingham Humane Society has one of the toughest jobs in providing animal control services and we hope this facility provides a better foundation for them to do that work.” 

Once completed, the facility will be a giant step forward in providing compassionate care for domesticated animals in the community.

Greater Birmingham Humane Society. (Jacob Blankenship / Bham Now)

The new, 36,174-square-foot facility will include:

• A calm and welcoming environment to invite the community in for adoption, volunteering and pet education
• Dedicated kitten and puppy areas
• Kennels for up to 448 dogs and over 100 cats
• 6-dedicated play yards 
• Quarantine area for disease control
• Procedure rooms
• Treatment rooms
• Grooming area
• Warehouse
• Offices for staff and vets

“This will be a Taj Mahal for our animals.

I’m very excited that our animals will have one facility to visit.

Now, we will have everything under one roof, including a learning facility.”

Construction begins

(Nathan Watson / Bham Now)

Stone Building Company was awarded the construction project with BL Harbert International as construction manager. Birchfield Penuel Architects designed the facility. 

The Greater Birmingham Humane Society, which manages animal control services for the County, is continuing to raise funds to complete construction of the campus.

Excited to see Jefferson County stepping up to take care of our cats and dogs in need? Learn more about the project by contacting the Greater Birmingham Humane Society.

Pat Byington

Longtime conservationist. Former Executive Director at the Alabama Environmental Council and Wild South. Publisher of the Bama Environmental News for more than 18 years. Career highlights include playing an active role in the creation of Alabama's Forever Wild program, Little River Canyon National Preserve, Dugger Mountain Wilderness, preservation of special places throughout the East through the Wilderness Society and the strengthening (making more stringent) the state of Alabama's cancer risk and mercury standards.