Bradshaw’s Goupil G4 combined pick-up and pressure washer, and its T800 four-wheel tow tractor has brought unprecedented benefits to the team at Hale Village
Welcoming its first residents in 2016, the privately-owned Hale Village was developed on a brownfield site. It is the result of one man’s vision to create a vibrant, desirable community where residents feel safe and work together as one to keep their neighbourhood presentable and respectable.
Hale Village comprises a mixed community, with many of its residents coming through the social housing system and previously living in properties with no access to gardens or green spaces. Others live in part-owned properties, privately owned residences or student accommodation.
Jeremy Hickman is Head of Facilities and Property Management at Hale Village.
He said: “Our site is about five acres in size, although in one respect it’s actually double that as there is a basement that runs under the whole site.
“The basement is an operation in itself as that is where we manage all the waste – not just from the households but commercial waste from our on-site Tesco, our dry cleaners and other commercial units. We even have a dialysis unit which is part of the Royal Free Hospital but believed to be the only dialysis unit in Europe which is built outside of a hospital. This produces clinical waste.
“So every day the village produces a lot of waste.”
Hale Village operates with a strict policy of keeping clean, tidy and well-maintained. So when Jeremy shopped around for utility vehicles to help his team in their work he contacted Bradshaw.
“I’d previously worked with a local authority so I was aware of Bradshaw. Last year I called them on site to demonstrate their vehicles as I wasn’t exactly sure what I needed.
“We had some older vehicles here from another supplier but they were big, clunky, smoky diesel vehicles. It wasn’t in keeping with what our village was about so I told Bradshaw our needs and left it to them to advise me.”
Bradshaw, whose vehicles are 100 per cent electric, recommended the T800 – an eight tonne tow tractor designed to provide comfort and easy handling for operators.
Within a year Jeremy was back at Bradshaw, this time investing in a second vehicle a Goupil G4 – an electric road vehicle with speeds of up to 31 mph and a range of 68mph, available as a pick-up, van or waste collector, designed to transport people and equipment.
Jeremy said: “The two vehicles together have been very transformative in more ways than we could imagine. Firstly, the T800 is an excellent piece of kit in helping us to manage the waste. We don’t have bins all over the place and we pride ourselves in our village being spotless. We have regular collections on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s a slick operation and the T800 is at the very heart of it, taking all our bins out on a long train, 10 at a time, led by the T800.
“The G4 is very much our utility vehicle and is in use all the time around the site as the team deals with various tasks.”
Jeremy said one of the biggest and most important benefits to the Hale Village maintenance team was the ease and convenience to an ageing workforce.
He said: “They were getting in and out of a diesel vehicle all day every day and it takes its toll on you.
“One recently had to take eight weeks off for recuperation from a knee operation from his previous employment in which he worked as a window cleaner. He’d effectively worn his knee out. Before we acquired the T800 he was really struggling with the old vehicle, but this one, which does the same job, is low to the ground and saves him having to bend his knees to get in and out.”
Another major plus point for Jeremy was the fuel savings.
“In London almost every petrol station has been demolished and the site redeveloped for flats. So we were battling across London for a 1½ mile journey which could easily take 90 minutes or so.
“Now we don’t have to think about that. We charge our vehicles at the weekend and with about eight to 10 miles a day they virtually last the whole week.
“The G4 too is ideal. A lot of our work is in pedestrianised areas so a quiet, compact electric vehicle is much more in keeping with the village than the diesel engines we used to drive.
“The benefits have been immense and the Bradshaw vehicles have literally paid for themselves, not least because we are all funded through the service charge regime, and people who are paying the service charge usually want to know you are serious about your green credentials. These two vehicles are absolutely the right way to go. The staff love them and they have made everyone’s lives much easier.
“I couldn’t recommend them highly enough!”