New customs clearance facility
Temporary building specialist Smart-Space has provided Stop 24 Folkestone Services with a semi-permanent structure for a combined lorry park and customs clearance facility in Stanford.
Stop 24 is a service station located at Junction 11 M20 near Folkestone in Kent and is a five minute drive from the Channel Tunnel and 15 minutes from the port of Dover.
Stop 24 constructed a new purpose built parking facility with the capacity for 82 spaces to provide a rest stop for HGV drivers. It wanted to combine this with a customs clearance service for trucks travelling through to Dover and via the Channel Tunnel, for vehicles from inside and outside the European Union. To achieve this it needed a structure large enough to accommodate up to three HGVs at a time. This required a flexible yet cost-effective solution, which could be built within a week.
Smart-Space provided Stop 24 with a 20m x 20m x 6m custom-made temporary building. The structure features windows, lighting, high roof, a raised mezzanine floor enabling easy vehicle inspection and three large roller doors allowing HGVs to enter and leave the structure easily. It is fitted with 40mm steel wall cladding for improved energy efficiency, and a sturdy steel roof for extra security and protection.
Smart-Space took care of the entire project from planning and design through to implementation and handover, which included obtaining necessary planning permissions.
Stop 24 chose Smart-Space because overall it offered the best service and the best solution. The flexibility of the product was another key factor as Stop 24 is a growing business and may need to expand in the future, which the Smart-Space solution allows as the temporary structure can be moved around.
