One of the UK’s leading motorway service area operators, Roadchef, is looking for University of Bristol students to work together to come up with concepts, visually engaging designs or a framework to create a Motorway Service Area of the Future. Final concepts will be reviewed by the board at Roadchef where the student(s) with the most impressive idea will win £1,500 and the chance to work with the company to bring it to life.
Final concepts must be submitted by Friday 15 December 2023 17.00 and will be reviewed by the board of directors at Roadchef. The most impressive idea(s) will win a cash prize (a total of £1,500 is up for grabs) along with the potential to work with the business to bring your concept to life in a real-life scenario.
Please express your interest by signing up here – you can enter as a team of up to four people.
Some more information on the completion brief is available here:
Letter to students_University of Bristol Dec 23]
Motorway Service Area of the Future_University of Bristol_Student Brief
Background to the business
Roadchef is one of the UK’s leading motorway and trunk road service area operators. With 30 locations across the country, the company aims to provide a restful and relaxing environment for over 52 million visitors to its motorway service areas each year.Roadchef achieved an overall satisfaction rate of 95% in 2020, the highest of the big three motorway service area operators, according to consumers responding to the Independent Transport Focus survey.
Roadchef is committed to ensuring its business operates in a sustainable way, minimising environmental impact and pioneering new and innovative ways of supporting this. It uses 100% renewable energy and was the first MSA operator in the UK to introduce solar panels to most of its sites, providing green energy to power its business. This alone has reduced carbon emissions by 480 tonnes per year.
The company is the proud recipient of the Zero to Landfill certification, which highlights that it reuses, recycles or safely disposes all solid waste without the use of landfills. To achieve this, Roadchef has undertaken a number of initiatives including collecting and recycling all waste coffee grounds.
All sites have recycling stations that make it easy for customers to separate and recycle plastic bottles and Roadchef was the first business in the UK to introduce “return reward” machines for plastic bottles. Consumers are encouraged to recycle their plastic bottles in return for a money off voucher. All of the company’s electricity comes from green sources thanks to its close relationship with Co-op Power.
Roadchef is also expanding its electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities – urgently delivering on an expanded charging network as part of the company’s wider sustainability focus and agenda to support Britain’s journey to be safer and greener. The rollout will help motorists make greener journeys by transforming the backbone of the strategic road network to support low and zero carbon travel, making it quicker and easier than ever to recharge.
In addition, Roadchef has recently announced a new partnership with sustainability certification provider Planet Mark, highlighting a major step in the company’s journey to reducing its carbon footprint. Demonstrating the business’ commitment to building a more sustainable future, Roadchef and Planet Mark have been working together to measure the company’s carbon footprint. By understanding Roadchef’s current position they have been able set a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. Over the course of the partnership, Planet Mark will help Roadchef to both deliver on its sustainability goals and certify its achievements.