AN EAST Yorkshire caravan manufacturer has secured a £5.5m contract to build holiday homes across the UK.
Cottingham-based Swift Group was awarded the multi-million-pound contract, which is its largest single order to date, after bidding against other industry leaders.
The order from a national park operator is for about 350 holiday homes over four of Swift's ranges.
The homes will be sited across UK parks for the 2014 holiday season.
Commercial director Nick Page said: "We are obviously delighted with this order and the recognition from our customer of the quality build and design of our holiday homes.
"This is a big boost for us as we continue to work hard to drive growth and deliver another record-breaking year."
Swift, which employs about 1,000 people across its three sites in Cottingham, Hedon Road and Mexborough, has recently taken delivery of a new £1.4m router, a piece of machinery the firm says will increase production volume and manufacturing efficiency.
The latest order will seeproduction increase at Swift's headquarters in Cottingham.
Managing director James Turner said: "All the products we are going to manufacture for this contract need to be delivered before Christmas, which is great news for our employees.
"It means sustained employment on a full-time basis. We always try to secure the autumn and winter sales at the earliest point possible and we have been able to do that this year.
"We have had to make some minor adjustments to our production schedule to accommodate the order but nothing major."
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The announcement of the deal comes on the back of another successful Lawns caravan show, which saw yet more sales orders roll in.
Mr Turner said: "We have had a very good year here at Swift – better than we had done the previous year.
"We have actually grown our market share in the holiday homes sector and increased our production quantity, too."
Swift won the order following an intensive supplier selection process.
The park operator commented that Swift impressed with the construction quality and stylish design of its holiday homes, along with their approach to sustainability, which that includes rigorous thermal insulation testing.
The four Holiday Home ranges include the entry level Soleil launched last season, up to the mid-range Bordeaux, which is one of Swift's most popular.
Mr Turner said: "It's an absolutely fantastic contract to receive. The process we went through to win the contract was particularly rigorous.
"The main thrust and drive of the pitch were really centred around two main aspects – quality and sustainability. Those were the two main constituent parts.
"Not only that, it was the whole nature of the package that was important to the customer.
"We put together a complete package that was attractive on all fronts. We certainly didn't win it on price alone."
Last year, the Treasury announced static caravans would be VAT-rated at 5 per cent instead of increasing tax to 20 per cent.
The proposals had threatened to cripple the caravan industry.
However, Mr Turner feels Swift has weathered the financial storm and is now looking to continue to grow the business on the back of this lucrative contract.
"It's a very prestigious order to win. It's not only good for the company, it's good for the employees and for the region," he said.
"I know what we did well. We had a very cohesive team who presented our offer on a number of fronts.
"We presented on quality, specification, sustainability and overall design, backed up by our customer service offering.
"The growth we are seeing is on the back of great products, a strong brand and a solid reputation for building quality products and looking after our customers.
"From a holiday home point of view, it's a little early to say, but we are certainly up by in excess of 20 per cent on business last year and we had a good year last year.
"The staycation is becoming ever-popular and we have a mix of products that really work well with that way of life.
"Based on the fact we have won the contract, there is opportunity to do more business in other regions of the country."
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