Vipex

Vipex trailer with Lions sits outside the Natural History Museum in London

Vipex was commissioned to design and build a lightweight artic purpose built trailer with glass sides by the Lionheart project (for their website please go to www.lionheart project.com )  to house three giant lions which were hand crocheted by Shauna Richardson over a period of 18 months. The three lions which represent the three lions of England were sculptured in Leicester and are the largest hand crocheted sculptures in the world.

Mark and Shauna from Lionheart needed a showcase to take their sculptures to different venues during this Jubilee and Olympic year to show off the lions around the country and their specifications were quite demanding. The trailer and sculptures were all funded by the Arts Council and the brief was that it had to be able to stand alone with air conditioned interior to prevent condensation on the glass and onboard generator to power this when not connected to land power and be lit up, both when stationary and when in transit, without infringing any road traffic laws. It also had to be able to be pulled by a small truck so that the exhibit itself looked bigger.

Vipex designed and built this trailer, mounted the lions onto the trailer and supplied the truck as well as co-ordinated  the operations. The show trailer in itself is something quite different as it features 12mm toughened glass sides which can withstand the flexing during normal road movement but is able to be pulled by a 7.5 ton truck.

The Lionheart sculptures are on display throughout the UK and the itinerary can be found on the website.

To view a video please follow the following link http://www.vipex.co.uk/gallery/the-three-lions/

Lighting and Wiring Accessory manufacturer Scolmore International Ltd who sell products under the CLICK brand have aligned the launch of their new mobile showroom with the rebranding of their lighting range under the name OVIA
After strong competition from other vehicle manufacturers, Vipex were chosen because of the quality and style of the product, the extensive knowledge of the workforce on similar projects and the ethics of dealing with a family business.
The Fiat cab with Alko chassis rated at 5,000 kg was chosen for the project and Vipex have added their own unique body mouldings together with a styled body and hydraulic extending side. The design offers one of the lowest floor levels for access in its class, and makes the unit attractive and easily accessible for visitors. It has in-built air conditioning, fully glazed windows which can be folded back to form an open stage and features the customer’s display panels .This provided an ideal opportunity to showcase the product range on offer. There is also a centre meeting table with concealed storage for discussions and presentations which is removable to enable the hydraulics to close the stage. There is a built in 4 kva diesel generator which is linked to the vehicle fuel tank, a refrigerator built in to the rear cupboard and glass handrails to go across the stage when the glazing is folded back.
The customer provided their own lighting and switchgear products which were installed throughout the vehicle utilising the latest LED technology combined with cutting edge design.
The exhibition vehicle will be touring around distributors and installers to promote the product range and demonstrate the new OVIA range of lighting. For more information on Scolmore International please see http://scolmore.com

Vipex have recently built a 13.9 metre Vanguard training/ simulation/ exhibition/ presentation trailer to be used as a working trailer to fulfil the needs of an East Yorkshire LGV training specialist. The trailer, which is hydraulically expandable, was built for TIR Training, and had its debut at the Commercial Vehicle Show in the NEC in Birmingham.

Coming straight from the build process to the show, after a training day at the factory, and having a short build period of around 12 weeks from laying down the chassis to completion ensured that there was never a dull moment.. All Vipex units are built from start to finish at their Nottinghamshire manufacturing facility in the UK.

The trailer featured  two state of the art truck driver  simulators which can simulate anything from a deer running out in the road in front of the driver to blizzard conditions and snow chains being fitted. It was also able to train an additional 10 drivers on computer courses such as CPC training. Added to this the option to have presentations for up to 20 people on board and have a totally open side for indoor exhibitions and nice days or a fully glazed side for the not so nice days, make this a very flexible unit.

There is also a crew room/ kitchen/ laptop storage room for the staff to use in between sessions and the striking full vinyl wrap on the outside completes the package.

To view the TIR website click on the link here www.t-i-r.com

Back in 2004, Vipex built a brand new double expandable mobile exhibition and hospitality unit for Bentley Motors. It was one of the first to feature the curved frontage design which stops units becoming boxes on wheels. It had a fully glazed curved front and hydraulic canopy with a big 9 metre pod at the rear. Along with solid aluminium skirts and the classic British Racing green paint work it featured curved entrance steps and polished stainless steel handrails.

For 2010 Bentley Motors, based at Crewe, decided they needed an interior revamp to bring the exhibition trailer in line with their showroom finishes and to enable them to use some of their samples for paint and leather which a customer uses to decide upon their chosen finishs when they purchase a Bentley. A sample wall was built by Vipex to replicate the wall in the showroom and fitted in the pod as a permanent feature. There was also a new wall built in the rear with big screen and leather hide displays.

Due to the hectic schedule of the exhibition and hospitality trailer the walls had to be built in the Vipex factory and then fitted within a week, which was the only free time within the schedule. The main carpeting and interior paint also had to be done within this timescale so it was a case of all hands on deck. The trailer went out on time and to its next event with a fresh new interior

The latest lightweight artic exhibition unit to hit the roads has just been built by Vipex. The 10 metre stepframe trailer features a double hydraulic expansion and a low floor height. The two level trailer has full air conditioning, screen, blue tinted fold back glazing for a large curved, fully enclosed extension, or an open stage depending on weather. The unit known as a Vipex Vantage has the lowest floor height in its class thanks to the tri-axle chassis and 13″ wheels. It is designed to be pulled by a 7.5 ton tractor unit and has aerodynamic mouldings front and rear, with the rear moulding raising hydraulically to form a canopy over the rear steps. The exhibition trailer  had its first outing to the Showmans Show last week where it was in use with events staging and seating company EventServ.

As with all Vipex units the entire trailer is designed and built at the 20,000 square feet Nottinghamshire factory. The chassis was built from pressed lightweight steel, the braking system, electrics, floor, body, lighting, painting, graphics, were all completed by the multiskilled Vipex workforce.

News item – January 2011

This week, Healthwise, Barnsley’s cancer information mobile unit, will be celebrating a year of being out and about in the borough offering information and advice about the disease.

Over the last year, more than 4000 people have visited the information unit on its many trips to supermarkets, town centres and businesses in the area. Not only that, but it’s visited the police, fitness centres and local voluntary support groups too.

The service has educated children and adults in how to make healthy lifestyle choices which will reduce their risk of developing a cancer in the future. We have helped people understand how to control their own health and how their actions can impact on their risk of developing cancer. And we have advised people when and where to access services and further support and information about cancer here in Barnsley.

And in 2011, the Healthwise service is planning to visit Bannetyne’s gym, supermarkets and Barnsley town centre once a month. We will also be in Hoyland market, and doing more educational programmes with schools, young people and local businesses.

Katie Hopkins, Cancer Information Manager, who normally takes the unit out and about, said, “It’s likely that 1 in 3 of us will develop a cancer at some point in our lives. Now think of yourself, your partner, your family and friends. Can you think of 12 people you care dearly about? Four of them are likely to develop cancer during their life but, the more shocking figure is that two of them could have prevented it! Services like this really do change lives.”

Last year the mobile Healthwise unit gained an award at the BHNFT Heart Awards for “Partnership working with internal and external partners to deliver better service & care”

Vipex were approached by an audio visual company in the UK to supply President Museveni of Uganda with a Stage Truck with Public Address system to address up to 100,000 people during his election campaign.

The stage Truck also had to be able to carry 2 tons of PA equipment inside when moving between venues and provide power for the PA system with a 30 kva diesel generator built into an acoustic housing. They opted for an 18 ton Iveco which had plenty of weight carrying capacity and was in stock, which was very important as the deadline meant they had to build a truck which would normally have taken 12 weeks in 8. This was quite a tall order as it had to be built from scratch, finsihed and painted within this time period. The truck left on time and managed to reach Uganda in time for the election campaign to take place.
The unit features a hydraulic stage with extension, together with a hydraulic canopy raised at 30 degrees and a hydraulic moulding which forms a rear canopy. The podium area was lit with LED panels and all cabling went under the floor. The audio visual equipment was housed in an awning to the rear which let the stage have the most presence for the president.

Vipex has started to manufacture a specially designed off-road artic which will be based on the Landrover Defender 130 double cab pick up. The donor vehicle has been stripped down ready for the application of the fifth wheel and rear bodywork and materials are coming in for the conversion to air brakes for the trailer. Once built the whole combination will be taken to a local off road centre for testing.

Update on 09/09/11

The Tractor Unit is built and has been roadtested. Photographs of the completed Defender are adjacent to this post.Trailer parts have been ordered and will commence manufacture soon.

The Landrover Defender 130 was chosen over all of its 4×4 competitors due to its diminutive dimensions and it’s 7,000kg Gross Train weight. Its modular construction also allows for greater flexibility in the pre-design stages.

The Open University has decided to use Vipex to build another access vehicle for enabling disabled students to study and take part in Disabled Students Allowance needs assessments following their purchase of the original vehicle, which is still in use today, from Vipex in 2001.

The proposal for the second disabled access vehicle was helped along by Vipex, who provided a detailed scale model showing external details and internal layout, for the Open University staff to present their proposals to potential funders. The mobile access vehicle is now under construction and will be delivered before the end of July 2011.

The Vipex Vector is based on a 3,500 kg Fiat Ducato with alko chassis and features automatic disabled access lift, built in generator, air conditioning, adjustable height desk and I-Mac displays, together with an external wind- out awning. It has virtually the same layout as the original unit as it has proved to be effective for the students and staff to work in.

A new concept in trailer design took to the road on the 22nd of June this year when Pirelli tyres, based at Burton on Trent, took delivery of a new Vipex Venue 7 metre turntable steer trailer.

The unit has been designed to operate within different sizes of plot at various events around the UK. The flexibility of the trailer is such that it can be either a fully furnished hospitality trailer, a partly furnished or empty exhibition trailer, or a  furnished presentation area. Couple this with the fact that the glazing across the front can be folded back to provide an open stage area with handrails,  the Vipex end mouldings fold out to encompass either a 14 metre wide plot or an 8 metre plot, and that the whole thing can be towed on a car licence, and the concept starts to make sense.

The trailer features the following specification:

• One person setup with hydraulic side roof and floor on display side, together with hydraulic slide out extension on other side.
• Flush floor layout throughout the unit, with automatically folding internal floor to allow hydraulic extension to retract.
• Air conditioning and heating fitted
• Kitchen and reception area with storage, sink and refrigerator.
• Fold out end mouldings with 2 position stays and legs, with fold out display panels hinging off the end of the mouldings.
• 42″ DVD LCD screen
• modular flexible removable furniture
• fold back glazed frontage with deployable polished stainless steel handrails

The first outing for the hospitality unit was Snetterton, closely followed by the British Grand Prix Formula One at Silverstone where the unit was used as a staff hospitality for Pirelli on their show stand.