County Durham business motors on by cutting costs and going green

A fast-growing Darlington-based business, which operates all over the UK, has invested thousands of pounds in its fleet of vehicles to help it become more environmentally-friendly and fuel efficient.

Stone Technical Services, a UK leader in high level and general maintenance and historic restoration and renovation, has renewed its fleet of vehicles to help the business be more eco-friendly and reduce fuel consumption as it clocks an increasing number of miles around the country.

Bosses at Stone worked with fleet experts at Pulman Volkswagen in Durham to decide on the most appropriate vehicles to suit their company’s requirements.

Stone has replaced its fleet of vans and cars with a range of eco-friendly BlueMotion Passat cars which benefit from a range of environmental credentials including a stop/start function which saves fuel when the vehicle is stationary and a battery regeneration system, meaning that energy is recovered from the braking process and used to charge the battery rather than fuel being used for this process.

Managers at Stone Technical Services chose the vehicles because of their low running and maintenance costs as well as the reduction in fuel and emissions thanks to the use of start-stop technology which means that, when stationery, the vehicle automatically switches off its engine, saving on fuel by up to 15%.

Grahame Stone, who runs Stone Technical Services with his brother, Dave, said: “We now have offices all over the UK and are working on so many different projects that we are clocking up a lot of miles. We decided it was now necessary to streamline our fleet and embrace new environmental technologies to not only help reduce costs, but also reduce our emissions to help us be a more eco-friendly business.

“Thanks to our growth in 2012 we have been able to invest in a state-of-the-art fleet which, in the long run, will help us become more cost-effective”

Last year, Stone Technical Services experienced rapid growth, opening an Edinburgh office to add to its sites in central London, Middlesex and Cheshire and its HQ on Kellaw Road in Darlington.

Experts at the company work all over the UK with high profile organisations such as INEOS Plant Utilities at Seal Sands, Teesside Power Station, English Heritage, the National Trust, the NHS, British Waterways and Network Rail to carry out a range of maintenance, safety and conservation projects.

In addition, Stone is the approved contractor managing lightning protection on St Paul’s Cathedral and works with housing associations, historic structures, churches, war memorials, schools, offices, car parks and councils.

• For more information on Stone Technical Services please visit http://www.stoneservicesuk.com/.