South East Coachworks has grown and diversified hugely since it was started in 2003, spawning a number of subsidiary companies. But, as Director Chris Bichard explained to Peter Jackson, it hasn’t lost sight of its roots [wlm_nonmember][…]
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Located in Faversham’s historic town centre, Preston Street has a been a familiar fixture for residents for hundreds of years. Over the decades, shops have changed hands, businesses have come and gone and, despite the buildings still looking much the same as they did a century ago, Preston Street is a very different place in 2018 (good luck finding a branch of Domino’s Pizza there in the late 1800s).
Much like every other shop on Preston Street, number 38 has evolved over the years too. In the late 19th century, the address was home to blacksmith L. S. Foreman, which carried out repairs on vans and carts, shod horses and completed general fabrication work. Later, a bus depot was built on the site, operated by Maidstone & District – continuing the transport theme. And today, it’s this former depot that South East Coachworks calls home.
“We started as South East Coachworks in 2003, having acquired the building and the previous business, Preston Street Coachworks – which went into liquidation,” said Director Chris Bichard. “When we started, our core activity was converting buses and repairing them – mainly exhibition and promotional vehicles.
“Our clients include Carling, a phenomenal charity in London called XLP, O2, cosmetics company Warpaint, Lidl, Elemis and so on.”
On the company’s website, bold claims are made about how “no task is too big or too small and no concept is too extreme.” And it doesn’t take long to realise that they really mean it! “We also built a bus for ‘Bathing Under the Sky,’ with three hot tubs on the top deck,” Chris continued. “It had never been done before, and we had to reinforce the bus to cope with the 10 tonnes of weight.”
Evolve or dissolve
Today, South East Coachworks is just one of a group of companies called SEC Works Group. In the 15 years since the coachworks side of the business was created, much like Preston Street itself, things have evolved considerably.
“When we started the business, we had a conversion from Welcome Break,” recalled Chris. “The Managing Director was here, and they were buying a Routemaster bus to promote Coffee Primo around the country. At the time, we only did the conversion work, but I asked them who was going to do the signage on the bus. They said they hadn’t decided yet, because they hadn’t got the bus. But it sparked in my mind – I thought, ‘there’s an opportunity there.’ I then asked who was going to be driving it; again, they hadn’t decided.
“That was the start of it all. We created a sign company in 2007, which worked out well. Three years ago, we converted it into a separate limited company because it was doing more than just buses – floor graphics, sign manufacturing and all sorts. It’s now called SEC Signworks. It’s a subsidiary of the group company, and Manager Jamie Thomson has shares in it too.
“Shortly afterwards, we also started up EPT – Exhibitions Promotions Tours. This is another subsidiary, and we can run buses for companies after we’ve converted them. It’s intended to offer a complete package, and also give us longevity. In the past, we would convert or repair a bus and it would go away, and we would wait for the next one. But with EPT, we have continuation of work.
“We started this in about 2006 or 2007, and in 2009 Paul Chapman – who handles the operations side of the group – took an equity in the business and became Managing Director.”
Chris’ eagerness to further build on the company’s offering led to the acquisition of Coachbuild Quality in 2010, which is now used to re-sell buses which have been converted or restored at Preston Street.
“It was a coachbuilding company, but we use it for our vehicle sales,” he said. “When we have the buses that we’ve previously converted come back to us, we offer them for sale.”
Most of the vehicles offered up for sale have proven their worth on promotional duties for other companies, having had any teething problems ironed out since they were initially converted. This makes them ideal for buyers looking for something that’s ready to go. SEC can also make further alterations or ‘re-convert’ them for another purpose if the buyer desires.
Currently up for sale is S398HVV, a Dennis Dart SLF. Chris continued: “It was first converted into the Medway SOS Bus. Then it was sold to St John Ambulance, who have now gifted it back to us. It’s now about to become the Ipswich Soup Kitchen. “It’s fantastic, because it’s a very good charity and they’re buying the bus dirt cheap – and we’re able to give something back.”
Also on offer is R903TCH, another Dennis Dart. “This used to be the Rainbow bus that was in Harlow,” said Chris. “Now it’s going to be an autism bus, with a sensory room at the back. It’s another great charity getting another cheap bus. They don’t care about the age of the bus as long as it works – and these are good quality buses.”
The next generation
After successfully adding signwriting, exhibitions and vehicle sales to South East Coachworks’ portfolio, Chris and his team set their sights on further expansion.
“Eventually, the Signworks business got too big to allow for on-site manufacturing, so we acquired Gordon Engraving – a sign manufacturer based in Canterbury,” he recalled. “We’d used them a lot in the past on our own conversions, but they were having a lot of financial difficulty, so we decided to acquire them.”
Allied to Gordon Engraving is Perspex Direct, which supplies a range of plastics in custom sizes, made to order – ideal for anything from ticket holders to assault screens.
“We soon realised and appreciated that we should do vehicle graphics, because we outsourced it at first,” Chris continued. “We also realised at that time that we should have our own electricians and carpenters, because we outsourced it all. And when we had a conversion to do in a tight timeframe, we couldn’t rely on independent contractors. So, we started an apprenticeship scheme – and we’re now on our third-generation apprentice coachbuilder.”
The apprenticeship scheme is something Chris is particularly proud of. As he points out, those with the skills required to convert and restore buses are in short supply in the UK – a situation which looks set to continue. “We are a dying breed. For Paul and I, our passion is teaching people about coachbuilding and the skills involved, and the apprenticeship scheme is key to our business.
“When we acquired the business in 2003, the average age of our employees was 58. Now, it’s about 32. Our youngest apprentice is 16 and our oldest man is 72.”
One-stop service
Lately, SEC’s upholstery and trimming division has branched out to work with operators on service buses. “In 2015, we converted some double-deckers for Reading Buses’ Claret university service,” said Chris. “They had loungers at the back, with an iPod player, phone chargers, game stations and a library on a service bus, which was quite good fun!”
The four Scania OmniDekkas were known as Claret Spritzers to distinguish them from the regular Claret buses, and featured a fully-carpeted upper deck.
“Interestingly, Reading Buses’ revenue went up 17% on that route because of the bus itself,” Chris revealed. “People waited for one of the Spritzer buses to turn up as opposed to the normal Claret buses. It can make a massive difference, and with their volume of passengers it was totally quantifiable.
“I think uniquely to us, not only do we do conversions, but in the case of these Reading buses we took them to the test centre and made sure they were fully Department for Transport-compliant. We can give a genuinely one-stop service where everything is in-house.”
More recently, the firm worked with Uno Buses to come up with a special interior for its Dragonfly MCV eVoRas. “This was a great one for us – a service bus that we put a lounge seat in. Ray Stenning of Best Impressions did the original design drawings for Uno, so they came to us with a clear idea of what they wanted. So, we worked with MCV, who modified the floor slightly to allow the seats to be fitted. We then did the initial fabrication and fitted one bus up here, then completed the rest at Uno Bus. It’s definitely a new thing that more bus companies are taking an interest in.
“Our problem is that trimming is a dying trade. Bus seats have changed; nowadays, they’re a very thin pad and that’s it. There’s no real trimming skill needed to make them. So we’re expanding on trimming to do things other than buses – things like restaurant chairs and other kinds of vehicles.”
Despite the numerous challenges involved in running SEC Works Group, the diverse range of services it now offers should stand it in good stead for the future. As Chris explained, expanding beyond coachbuilding has proven to be a sound decision. “It’s so difficult to make a margin as a coachbuilder, so you have to evolve as a business,” he said. “We’ve never moved away from our roots – we’ve always been about buses and we still are – but we’ve had to evolve and add to the business to give us the longevity we need to stay alive.”
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