6 Points of Sustainability

Fews are committed to environmental sustainability and it forms part of our long-term planning. We divide our approach into six key areas and ensure that each aspect is maintained and reviewed.

• Biomass Heat Generation

• Solar Powered Energy Generation

• Energy Efficient Structures

• Sustainable Processes

• Vehicle Fleet

• Recycling

A continued investment in biomass

Fews invested in emerging biomass technology in 2005 which proved to be a great success. In the last 11 years we have invested over £1 million in an efficient, comprehensive biomass system to fuel our warehouse and offices, including the supply of heating and hot water. Burning biomass is as near to carbon-neutral as any energy source, with flammable plant matter being burned to release energy in the form of heat and power.

Why Biomass

Biomass is an especially attractive fuel source because huge amounts of it are generated inadvertently through industrial and agricultural production. Harnessing this waste material and extracting more energy from it improves all-around efficiency and reduces the ecological impact mankind has on the environment.

Owning our own woodchipping company means we can control all elements of this sustainable process

Fews only use wood that cannot be used for other purposes like clippings, prunings, and other arboricultural arisings. Our in-house collection team are the “wombles” of the industry – making sure we use and recycle wood that would otherwise be discarded.

What This Means

Utilising this renewable fuel source means we avoid using 2,500 litres of diesel fuel per week.

CO² avoided = 327,600 kgs p/a*

Woodchip from sustainable sources

Fews utilises its own wood-chipping service to produces biomass woodchip from sustainable sources through brash removal and site clearance. We are the “wombles” of the industry and only collect within a six mile radius of our head office. Once prepared on our drying floor it is used as fuel for the biomass boilers. This helps to make our operation as sustainable and efficient as possible.

Our in-house team sources wood that cannot be used for other purposes:

Industrial sites

Clearing woodland designated for building projects where the wood would normally be mulched

Forest clearance

Looking for small wood trapped on the ground that has no commercial use

Tree surgeons

Dangerous trees which are usually logged and dumped.

Farm waste

This consists of low hanging branches at the edge of fields which are trimmed off and typically burnt as brash. This trimming is done to allow access for large machinery.

Arboricultural waste

Material that cannot be used for any other purpose

Our wood-chipping business is called Chessgrove Woodchip – there’s more information here:

Biomass fuelled heating, state-of-the-art cleaning and storage

Our business is driven by biomass. The heating of our offices and warehouses, our woodchip drying floor, and hot water throughout the year to clean vehicles, PVC and marquee linings, biomass provides the energy for it all.

Cleaning & Drying

To wash and dry our marquee linings we use washing machines and  tumble dryers that Fews have specially adapted to run on biomass. Each item is washed before and after use to avoid deterioration due to mould.

For PVC we use our state-of-the-art sustainable cleaning machine, matched with locally sourced eco-friendly cleaning products and water heated by our biomass boilers. While cleaning efficiently and at high-speed, this machine also dries the PVC ready for storage.

In cases where we clean PVC in other ways we dry in our our biomass heated oven which ensures our everything is cleaned, dried and stored in the most energy efficient way possible.

Storage

All of our PVC roofs and walls, and internal linings are stored using a box system in a temperature-controlled biomass fuelled environment. This eliminates mould and maintains condition, extending the usable life of our stock.

Sustainable Cleaning

In order to make our PVC cleaning more efficient and sustainable,  we used our expertise and experience  to develop a high-speed, sustainable PVC cleaning machine.

Unique in the industry and built in conjunction with Straight Eight Engineering, this is the only continual washing and drying machine currently available.

Utilising Biomass

Biomass provides hot water for the pre-wash which removes oil and grease from the PVC.  It also provides hot air to perfectly dry the PVC after washing, meaning we can store the PVC without risk of mould developing ensuring a greatly extended life span.

Reduced Energy Consumption & Use of Materials

We clean a huge amount of PVC throughout the year and this innovation helps us to significantly reduce energy consumption, volume of cleaning materials, and turnover of water.

With cleaning speeds of 4-6 metres per minute, this machine is capable of cleaning more PVC in a day than anything else on the market.

Our heat is already sustainably produced through Biomass boilers, but “The Sustainable Green Cleaning Machine” is another significant step towards our goal of Net Zero.

A commitment to solar power

In 2015 we further extended our commitment to the environment by introducing solar power with an investment of over £300k. Panels were fitted to the roof of the office and warehouse buildings to generate on average 2400kw/hr per week proving all the businesses electricity and returning surplus to the grid.

Solar Storage Technology

The next step here will be to install batteries on site and be “off-grid” when we feel that the technology is robust enough.

Further investment

In 2023 we invested another £155k in new panels to increase our capacity.

What does this mean in reality?

Through the use of an App, we can monitor exactly how much electricity we are generating, and can see what we are delivering back to the grid during summer months.

Using solar power helps us to avoid this level of CO²

Power generated = 355 kW/h

CO² avoided = 71,000 kgs p/a

100% Renewable Energy

While we generate most of our own power through our solar panels, especially in the brighter summer months, during other periods we get 100% of our electricity from renewable sources from our supplier EDF.

“All source certification meets GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance Quality Criteria.”

Energy efficient structures

In 2012, the company invested in our Premium range of German-manufactured clear-span aluminium structures.

These systems provide the latest in temporary structure design which allows us to provide a degree of innovation where the control of heat loss is enhanced, construction and dismantling is made simpler and new components are far more highly engineered.

Thermal capacity was vastly improved by a complete seal between walls and roof and the consequent high levels of insulation delivers much more efficient heating, reducing cost and environmental impact.

Heating this type of structure reduces fuel use by 20% vs standard sliding leg design.

Long term hire

We are also able to provide solar panels on long-term hire temporary buildings to provide an efficient additional power source.

The buildings we supply can be specified with:

• highly insulated walls,
• twin skin PVC thermo roofs
• insulated flooring

These additions can vastly reduce the amount of energy required to heat or cool the structure.

The Core of Our Sustainability

The core of sustainability is looking after your existing assets and products you use to extend life and remove the need for premature replacement.  

Our sustainable processes are aimed at extending the life of our marquee frames, doors, walls, PVC and linings.  

• All our PVC and linings are washed before and after use to provide the best quality products to our customers. This also allows us to store clean, dry kit which is then stored in our box system to prevent mould and extend life.
• Our marquee frames, doors and solid walls are all stored in bespoke frames to maintain excellent condition and extend life.

Vehicle Fleet

Fews invests heavily in it’s vehicle fleet,  ensuring vehicles are reliable, well serviced and with the latest levels of fuel efficiency. Control over this important element of our business ensures we can can provide our high levels of service at the lowest environmental cost.

Having invested in our own fleet of vehicles, we are able to control servicing, tyre pressures and route planning to ensure the most efficient use.

This is one of our new Volvo FH500 Trucks with it’s trailer. All nicely liveried and ready to roll. Fitted with a Euro 6 diesel engine, this has been specified to provide the most fuel-efficient service possible. All in line with Fews’ sustainable approach to business.

The latest technology

The Volvo FH with Turbo Compound I-Save technology is known to be the most efficient power unit on the road achieving a world record 9.82mpg in a recent test.

EV Charging Points

We have now installed five charging points for the Electric Vehicles in our fleet.  The was funded by the UK Government and supported by Levelling Up and Wychavon District Council.

General Recycling

Recycling takes three forms at Fews:

PVC

We keep our PVC in excellent condition, and resell it once it falls below our standards.  If any PVC is rendered unusable we convert it into storage bags for other items.

Carpets

Events and weddings usually require carpets and we use an approved recycling scheme which is certificated at the end of each year.

General Waste

All Fews’ general waste is collected, sorted and recycled by a local specialist minimising what is sent to landfill.

Approximately 92% of the waste collected from our facilities is recycled.

We’re Award Winning for our Sustainability!

Fews picked up an award at the prestigious Event Production Awards ceremony staged at Twickenham Stadium. It was a hotly contested category with some of the industry’s leading players in the running, but Fews prevailed with an overall score of 19/20.

Ian Few commented at the ceremony, “This award is recognition of our continual investment in sustainable solutions for our business over many years. We started by installing biomass boilers to provided heating for the Fews’ businesses, and then progressed to Solar Power, and onto development of processes and initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint further.

“Last year we developed a sustainable cleaning