Creating It

The Meridian Project will be the first multi-franchise motor trade business park developed by a single company in this area.

The project has involved a great number of people from many areas of expertise – from the original purchase of the site through to the eventual launch.

Directors and senior managers from the Renrod Group have been working with principal partners such as BBA Architects, King Sturge, and the dealer development teams from Renault, Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall in order to conceive and shape the concept.

Over the course of nearly three years, a plan was developed that incorporated all of the anticipated needs of the businesses including the latest in corporate standards and branding requirements from the four franchise partners. Professional advisors from BBA and King Sturge worked tirelessly with the Renrod Group to ensure that planning consent was granted by the local planning authority.

Also considered during this phase, and integrated into the design concept of the entire development was the incorporation of environmental and green features, the aim being a highly energy efficient and environmentally friendly series of buildings.

The task for the BBA Architects team was accommodate all of the various requirements for the facility and from that, to create the template for this exciting and challenging project. In the minds eye of the design team, the site would be a shop window for the entrance to the White Horse Business Park and a gateway to Trowbridge.

In accordance with the local planning requirements, the buildings on the site should be aesthetically pleasing with a low profile image. This was achieved by curving the roof design and restraining all the buildings to comply with just a two-floor concept with the ground floor accommodating the sales and aftersales functions. The first floor would house the administration and training needs of the businesses.

The design also had to accept the extensive retail standards of the four manufacturers, so that during the design stage, their input was vital to accommodate the selling experience of their respective branding concepts.

With planning consent granted and approval from the various involved parties now in place, the next phase was to circulate the plans to selected specialist construction companies who were invited to tender for the contract. The tenders were then short-listed and each individual proposal then was studied in great detail. After several visits to new motor trade facilities built elsewhere in the country, it was decided to award the contract to Adonis Construction.

With all other aspects of the Meridian Project now underway, ongoing work was and is still in progress, with regard to the exact requirements of both the exterior and interior, for each dealership – in terms of lighting, furniture, materials, workshop and aftersales equipment, storage racking, floor tiling, computers, phone connections, computer cabling, heating systems and much, much more.

This phase is undertaken by meetings with dealer development teams from Renault, Toyota, Nissan and Renault, who are able to suggest preferred suppliers of the standards-related material. Also, meetings are regularly convened with representatives from other prospective suppliers.

So far, we have only detailed phase one of this development, which consists of the site infrastructure, plus the four retail car showrooms and aftersales facilities.

Phase two will consist of a PDI/preparation centre/valet facility, with office accommodation above. A “phase three” is also possible which may see the construction of state-of-the-art head office facilities for the Renrod Group.