Kieran Nee was recently asked to join a panel of TotalEnergies judges to decide the winner of the 2024 Fit for the Future award.
Now in its second year, Fit for the Future celebrates independent workshops who are taking steps to make their businesses, and motoring, more sustainable.
The 2024 panel of judges assessed entrants to the awards against three core criteria:
- Carbon saving (immediate/long term)
- Biodiversity impact (Local or commercial)
- Innovation, ambition, and inspiration
Bury Road Garage, located in Radcliffe, Bury impressed the panel with its investments in a full roof solar panel array which has reduced the business’s reliance on grid power, bringing its monthly electricity bills down to zero over the last year.
At the same time, Bury Road Garage has replaced its fleet of vehicles to meet Euro 6 emissions standards, installed new low energy LED lighting in the workshop, and transitioned away from energy intensive air tools to battery alternatives.
The Fit for the Future prizes have been specifically geared to help workshops address the sustainability challenges that the industry is facing, with Bury Road garage winning a bundle worth £5,000 to help accelerate its journey towards net zero. Bury Road Garage has selected the Fit for the
Future Quartz prize package, which includes:
- £3,000 worth of cutting edge Quartz lubricant delivered in TotalEnergies’ ecoefficient 100 per cent recyclable packaging solution
- One year’s worth of waste oil collection and recycling
- Two Quartz product stands
- Package of eco floor mats and seat covers
David Valentyne, aftermarket sales manager at TotalEnergies Marketing UK, said: “Workshops are often the unsung heroes in the mission to improve motoring sustainability. They’re providing the essential skills required to maintain and keep safe our new and alternative fuelled vehicles, but critically they are also helping to ensure that ICE cars and other vehicles on the roads today are running as cleanly and efficiently as possible. We are hugely grateful to all of the independent garages and workshops who entered or were nominated for the TotalEnergies UK Fit for the Future Award. It was not easy to choose a winner, with all entrants clearly showcasing the benefits of practical sustainability changes.
“The judging panel was inspired to see independent workshops like Bury Road Garage committing to sustainability by investing in clean energy initiatives such as on-site solar power generation. While bold progress must be made to mitigate and manage the environmental impact of motoring, the initiatives from Bury Road Garage show how small steps can Bury Road Garage’s leadership and are proud to present them with the 2024 Fit For The Future Award.”
Mark Hallows, owner of Bury Road Garage said: “As a small business owner I feel that we should do as much as possible to reduce the use of fossil fuel energy which in the long term will save money and make our garage more environmentally friendly. With our solar panel installation, we haven’t had an electric bill over the last 12 months, and we have been able to send power back to the grid. We’re very proud to have won this award, which will help us carry on becoming a greener garage – which is important to us, but which we know also matters to our customers in Radcliffe.”
