Bowker Motor Group, Preston BMW Garage Case Study

The Brief
The Bowker Motor Group is one of the UK’s leading motor groups. Founded in Blackburn in 1919, the Bowker Group has grown rapidly, diversifying in 1984 into the retail motor trade and developing a reputation for the higheset levels of service and an innovative approach to transport needs.

They contacted us in June 2015, looking for a shelter solution to make the most of an outdoor sales area for their range of BMW motorbikes (Bowker Motorrad) at their brand new dealership in Preston, Lancashire. We were recommended to them by an architect’s practice in the city.

The Solution
After a site survey, we recommended our Ulverston Umbrella as a high-quality permanent shelter solution that would not only provide a sheltered year-round display and sales area but could also be colour matched to the environment of the new dealership building. Three 5m x 5m umbrellas would cover the required area perfectly, providing space for around 12 motorbikes.

The waterproof fabric of the umbrella canopies needed to conform to BMW’s corporate identity and were colour matched to Blue (LAC650SL-7450) whilst the posts needed to be in a specific grey to match the colour scheme of the new building – Grey Aluminium (RAL-9007). In addition, as the building was located close to the coast and in an area prone to high winds, the foundations needed to be 1 square metre for the bolt cages to support the posts safely.

Installation
We were informed that the umbrellas needed to be installed prior to the opening of the new dealership building which was taking place on 19th/20th September. The installation was scheduled for September 2015 over 3 days, from 14th to 16th. The installation went smoothly and the umbrellas were installed on time, ready for the opening event that coming weekend.

Paul Pasquali, Group Operations at Bowker Motor Group said “Thanks to you all for the installation from start to finish – We are very pleased with the result.”