DISCOVER ADVENTURE NEW WORKSHOP
Discover Adventure bespoke workshop: Part-funded by European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development supported by Heart of Wessex
In 2017 Discover Adventure Ltd carried 8,938 people on events ranging from one-day walks or cycles, to multi-day overseas challenges. In order to run our walking and cycling challenges we have a lot of equipment: bikes, spares, tools, signage, tents, cookers, pots & pans, medical supplies, radios, satellite telephones etc. This equipment needs to be managed, stored, maintained and looked after.
We also have 9 vehicles and hire more in during our busy trip periods. In order to operate most effectively as a business, we needed a well-organised workshop where we could store and manage all of our equipment, and where vehicles could be backed into the workshop and loaded and unloaded in a dry well-lit environment. We also needed a small office where the logistics and associated paperwork could be managed.
Discover Adventure recognised the need to improve its facilities in order to maintain its equipment and vehicles in order to support the charity challenges. A brownfield site was purchased which had the shell of a building constructed in 2002 but requiring significant upgrading and improvement in order to make it fit for purpose.
The development of our workshop has created a total of 1.50FTE, allowing further expansion of the business into a slightly different market within the sector we are already in.
In addition, our business is based 8 miles south west of Salisbury in a rural area, where many of our employees live. Clearly based in a rural area, providing employment in the area also supports many other services and businesses based in the area too.
The project meant the development of the old disused garage with the workshop being one of the buildings that in the past has been used for the storage of vehicles and doing mechanical work on them.
The overall improvement has in many ways: enhanced environment, planting of native species of trees, areas laid to grass around the building and on the forecourt of the old garage, concrete floor within the building, additional insulation in the walls and ceiling which will improve energy efficiency, and the exterior is timber-clad which allows the building to fit into the rural landscape more comfortably and enhance the area.
The building will also provide plenty of space for the storage of bikes for those staff wanting to cycle to work, particularly in the summer months.
Working in a rural area allows staff to bring dogs to work and the ability to walk at lunch-times, allowing for their well-being and happiness, and actually improving their efficiency at work.
