Britain's biggest developer of new-build retirement homes has
launched a dedicated removals service with a fleet of
state-of-the-art Luton vans.
The initiative is relieving customers of McCarthy & Stone of
much of the stress and aggravation that moving to a new home can
entail, particularly for those who may have been settled in their
previous property for 30 or 40 years.
The service is being co-ordinated and delivered by removals
specialist House to Home UK, which commissioned the vehicles. The
10 fuel-efficient 3.5-tonne Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 313CDIs are
fitted with streamlined ICON bodies that offer market-leading
payloads of more than 1,200kg.
The chassis were supplied by Birmingham dealer Midlands Truck
& Van while the bodies were fitted by leading manufacturer
Bevan Group, of Halesowen, West Midlands. Wearing eye-catching
McCarthy & Stone liveries, and manned by uniformed staff, the
vehicles are among the most distinctive on Britain's roads.
Bournemouth-based McCarthy & Stone will sell over 1,300
homes this year and expects to provide a removals service for
around 80 per cent of these. Its National Sales Director Lorena
Brown says: "We spoke to a lot of potential customers and were
shocked to discover how many of them found the prospect of moving
out of the family home just too daunting. So we set out to help
them through the process and the House to Home service is an
important part of that. It's a great benefit for the customer and a
great benefit for us. Our branding looks great and we'll be adding
to the fleet as demand increases."
House to Home UK is part of the Vogue Group of companies and
operates from headquarters in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.
Managing Director James Sandbrook explains: "The ICON-bodied
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter combines high levels of productivity,
user-friendly-practicality and safety, with excellent environmental
credentials."
The Euro 5 Sprinter 313CDI is 15 per cent more efficient than
its Euro 4 equivalent, this improvement equating to an extra 4.5
miles per gallon, while CO2 emissions are down by 13 per cent. Like
all Mercedes-Benz vans, it also offers a driving experience more
akin to a luxury car than a van, and is equipped with a
comprehensive armoury of active and passive safety features,
including the Adaptive ESP® anti-skid program; this monitors a
vehicle's changing load status and is thus able to intervene with
even greater sensitivity and precision in critical situations.
The ICON body was developed by Bevan Group in partnership with
independent aerodynamics experts from Cranfield University and
Hatcher Components, and launched at the 2011 Commercial Vehicle
Show.
Its innovative, modular panels - moulded cab deflector and
collar, side walls and roof - were created using three-dimensional
CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) technology then honed in a wind
tunnel, and are manufactured in a lightweight and recyclable
composite GRP material.
Adds Mr Sandbrook: "To contain costs we're naturally keen to
make maximum use of the available loadspace. The ICON offers
impressive volume and payload capacities, while its aerodynamic
design contributes to improved fuel economy. It also has a
fantastic on-road presence allowing our vans to double as highly
visible mobile advertising spaces, reinforcing consumer awareness
of the McCarthy & Stone brand."