Our property portfolio

While our showrooms and forecourts remained closed to the public for several periods throughout 2020, behind the scenes our Property and Maintenance team were working hard to ensure numerous projects were completed on time. Our priority in March was, sadly, preparing all of our locations to shut down, securing them and shutting off the water. When reopening in May, the team spent a fortnight installing one-way systems, barriers and screens, as well as developing our health and safety protocols for all colleagues to feel safe when they returned. The biggest project over the last 12 months was the installation of electric vehicle charging points at the majority of our locations. We have been able to install the same equipment across the board where brands allowed, keeping the system consistent and as easy to use as possible. Most locations now have multiple 22kW AC chargers available, with some working in Dynamic Load Balance mode where power is restricted to avoid overloading the dealership.

Property projects completed across our regions in the last 12 months include:

Surrey:

In July we relinquished Ford Transit sales operations in Horsham and Redhill, consolidating them at Crawley at what has become one designated Gatwick Transit Centre on Manor Royal. We ceased Mazda and Suzuki operations in Crawley also, installing the increasingly popular MG brand into what was the Mazda showroom alongside Ford cars in September 2020.

Sussex:

The introduction of CUPRA to our Brighton showroom saw the team erect CUPRA-branded display area into the existing SEAT showroom space as well as new CUPRA signage to create a stylish and eye-catching area dedicated to the performance arm of the Spanish manufacturer.

Kent:

The work to replace the former Hendy Ford showroom on Avebury Avenue, Tonbridge, with a new Honda location began in December 2020 and was competed in February this year. This was a lengthy job and involved the full refurbishment of the showroom, new signage and upgraded facilities to accommodate any disabled customers.

Hampshire:

Though already a service and used car centre, our Leigh Road, Eastleigh, location formally became a Renault and Dacia sales dealership in December 2020, bringing new and used sales under one roof. Signage was completed in March 2021, ready in time for the reopening of showrooms on 12th April. We also added Lotus sales to our Performance division, operating out of a special facility at Leigh Road.

Dorset:

Hendy Toyota Christchurch was another example of a full showroom refurbishment, inside and out. The internal work was finished in February 2020, but the first lockdown forced the external rebranding to be paused. This was ultimately completed in June 2021.

Extensive refurbishment also took place at what is now Hendy Renault and Dacia Poole.

This began with the relocation of Hendy Hyundai Poole from this location into a former Peugeot showroom on the same site in January 2021, and involved a full showroom redesign, external painting and new signage. The second stage was the refurbishment of the previous Hyundai showroom to remove the internal walls and create a new Renault and Dacia showroom space, which also includes commercial sales. This work was completed with the final furniture installations in February 2021. Additional projects in Dorset included the introduction of Hendy MG Poole to Leyland Road in December 2020, and branding and signage at MOKE Hendy Poole.