One lucky lamb owes it life to a kind-hearted construction professional after becoming trapped in the fencing for a new £30 million pound building.

Chris Corrigan, who is the project manager for Lancaster University’s Health Innovation Campus, noticed the lamb had somehow got itself trapped between the farmer’s fence and the site boundary for the state-of-the-art 4 storey facility.

Chris, who comes from Cumbria, works for BAM Construction. One of Chris’ managers told Chris about the trapped animal and he and his site manager Sarah Allcock sprang into action.

“My immediate reaction was to ring the farmer, but he wasn’t picking up so we went to see if we could help” says Chris. “He’s managed to jump over the farmer’s four foot fence and then was trapped by our much taller Heras fencing. Sarah and I opened up the fencing at opposite ends and crept towards him.

“Although he was in distress he didn’t panic and you can see he looks quite relaxed as I cradled him up.

“I placed him back over the fence and he ran off happily with his mum!”

Luckily for the lamb, Chris was familiar with handling farm animals from his childhood. Chris and his team are constantly vigilant about wildlife because the new campus they are creating is located on a greenfield site.

“There have been nesting birds which had fallen from their nest within the site smoking shelter, we’ve rescued a rabbit from a manhole and families of ducks have invaded the site. Suitably enough, this scheme aims for an “Excellent” BREEAM environmental rating.


The BAM team is not only creating the new building, which is aimed at finding innovative and transformational approaches to healthcare, but also the infrastructure around it such as roads and drainage.

“We’ve been on site since February last year and are currently cladding the building with completion due by the end of this year.”

BAM is also behind UCLAN’s engineering innovation centre in Preston. It delivered its first building in the county back in 1943.