Fitzpatrick Contractors, a leading privately owned construction and civil engineering company, has re-launched its Provecta provided ECO scheme by investing in lower CO2 vehicles for its 460-strong fleet.  The company’s aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of the fleet by nearly 30% over three years.The new scheme, which launches today (1^st August 2008), has higher grades of benchmark cars but with significantly lower CO2 emissions.  All the new benchmark cars are low C02 VW, Audi and new technology BMWs.  The aim of the scheme is to have all drivers selecting benchmark CO2 cars or lower.

Winner of the ‘Best Place to Work in Construction Award’ for two years running, Fitzpatrick was keen to promote the greener driving message as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy without penalising drivers financially.  Cash bonuses have been introduced for drivers who select their benchmark car, or a lower CO2 than their benchmark.

Fitzpatrick’s Facilities Manager Geoff Varey worked closely with Provecta to set the benchmark cars.  An internal working party was set up to provide feedback regarding the cars and the CO2 based bonuses.

Alison Foster, Company Secretary for Fitzpatrick comments: “Our aim with the new ECO scheme was to continue to provide flexibility and choice to our drivers while significantly lowering CO2 emissions.  We recognised that many of the new technology vehicles with significantly lower CO2 ratings are often more expensive to operate, so we took the decision to invest in our scheme so that drivers could select these vehicles without being out of pocket.  We believe that we are the first company operating an ECO scheme that has increased its costs in order to invest in lower CO2 vehicles.”