Upgraded fleet for Scion Estate's prestigious contracts

Upgraded fleet for Scion Estate's prestigious contracts

By Peter Driver

Scion Estates, the specialist grounds maintenance contractor renowned for their delivery of performance-based landscape management contracts, has upgraded their fleet with a range of new equipment from Ransomes Jacobsen Ltd.

Supplied through local dealer, TH White Ltd of Reading, the machines will be used on a variety of MOD and Local Authority contracts as well as the prestigious, high profile contracts at Kenwood House and Marble Hill Park in London for English Heritage.

Jerry Lipscombe, Managing Director of Scion Estates commented,
"We had demonstrations from several of the major manufacturers at our various sites around the country. Our operations staff were tasked with identifying the best machines and this was followed by a round table discussion with our Contracts Managers. There was a definite preference for the Ransomes Jacobsen machines and with negotiations from both parties we arrived at a very workable agreement."

The equipment for this initial purchase includes eight Parkway 4-wheel drive triple mowers, two five-cylinder Commander ride-on's, and six Frontline 728's out front rotary mowers. Also included is an Iseki SF out front rotary with high dump grass collector for use on prestigious office contracts and a Ryan GA-30 ride on aerator, specifically for use at Kenwood House.

Brendon Beavan, Scion's Plant Manager added,
"The team at TH White have been very professional throughout the entire negotiation process, from initial contact to the delivery of the equipment. Their proposal was the certainly the best that suited our needs and we are looking forward to working with them."

Scion Estates is part of The Mears Group, one of the leaders in social housing. Mears employs over 2000 personnel across the UK and carries out over 3,000 repairs everyday to over 400,000 properties in 50 Local Authorities areas in the country. The company has provided a full response repairs service to social housing providers for over fifteen years.

Mears installs and maintains facilities for thousands of public and commercial buildings each year as well as collecting and delivering over 170,000 cars per year. It was named AIM Company of the Year for 2003 in recognition of its sustained growth and excellent financial management.

Scion Estates is based at Harwell Business Centre in Oxfordshire and has over 100 employees. The company has achieved the quality standard ISO 9001:2000 and also accreditation to ISO14001, the international standard for environmental management..

At Kenwood House, English Heritage's Grade II listed house with its park and garden registered as a place of specific historic interest, Scion work in partnership with English Heritage to maintain the grounds throughout the year.