Willmott Dixon’s team in the north of Birmingham have ‘plugged’ into a greener commitment as it trials an electric van as part of its continued sustainability plans across the business.

The two-month trial by Willmott Dixon is one of the ways the company is looking to continue strengthen its status as the industry’s only carbon neutral company.

It is utilising the Nissan e-NV200 on its repairs and maintenance contract with Birmingham City Council. The van has a range when fully charged of approximately 85miles, making it the perfect vehicle to use when travelling across the north of the city. Charging points for the vehicle are located at a Nissan dealership located two miles from the Willmott Dixon’s College Road depot.

During the course of the two months, data will be logged and mileage and battery usage will be recorded in comparison to equivalent fuel usage under the same environmental test and weight conditions against our current diesel vehicles. It will then be decided if electric vehicles will be rolled out across Willmott Dixon’s contracts nationally.

The Nissan electric vehicles can be driven for nearly 85 miles between charges, which means they could be useful on contracts with a compact geographical spread. We’re optimistic the vehicle will offer significant environmental and cost benefits to aid our operations and look forward to reviewing the trial results.

Willmott Dixon production manager Alan Considine

Willmott Dixon Partnerships is currently working with Birmingham City Council to repair and maintain 60,000 properties in the city. It’s two contracts for the north and south of the city includes the areas of Edgbaston, Hall Green, Northfield, Selly Oak, Ladywood, Erdington, Perry Bar and Sutton Coldfield.

This trial comes after the community actions of Willmott Dixon staff received a Royal seal of approval, with the company achieving a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development. One of the areas highlighted by judges in making the award was the £1 million worth of community investment made by the company and staff each year to local good causes. The company has also received recognition after scooping gold in the ‘Excellence in Social Responsibility’ category of the prestigious Investors in People awards, whilst also recently receiving Business in the Community’s CommunityMark with commendation for its societal benefit programme.