Francis Combe Academy rent built-in appliances for their brand-new Food Technology department

Francis Combe Academy aims to give ‘young people a huge range of opportunities for success’ and ensures that each student has the ‘support they need to help them make the most of these opportunities’. Based in Hertfordshire, the academy’s brand-new £25 million building, offers cutting-edge facilities to both staff and students. The academy offers a wide range of creative and technology-based subjects including Food Technology and when they were presented with such an amazing prospect to re-build the academy, it was the perfect opportunity to acquire new, top of the range appliances.

Francis Combe Academy had already been renting their Food Technology appliances from Utility Rentals for a number of years before Chris Turton, Resources Manager at the academy, approached them again to provide appliances for the brand-new department. The team at Utility Rentals worked closely with Chris to understand the academy’s exact requirements, enabling them to quote the most suitable equipment within the budget available. After considering all the possibilities, including both purchase and other rental options, Francis Combe Academy decided to continue renting from Utility Rentals. “Utility Rentals were both responsive and competitive on costing with regards to our specification. And having enjoyed a long relationship with them, we have first-hand experience of their quality of service and reliability.” said Chris. In total, Francis Combe Academy required over 50 built-in appliances for their new department. “We were unable to afford the capital cost of such a large requirement within the academy” explains Chris, “but by continuing to rent our equipment from Utility Rentals, we were able to spread the cost, as well as having the reassurance that the goods would be maintained as part of the package.”

When renting appliances from Utility Rentals, the team will not only arrange for them to be delivered and installed, but they will also arrange for the disconnection and removal of any old appliances currently in place. Yet, the service they provide doesn’t stop there. One of the main benefits for schools across the UK who use Utility Rentals, is the fully inclusive parts and labour breakdown warranty that is provided with each appliance. If an appliance was to breakdown at any time, just report the fault to the repair department and they will take care of everything on the schools behalf.

When asked if they would recommend Utility Rentals to other schools, Chris said “Yes we would. They greatly assisted us in what for the academy was a very stressful and busy transition from an old building to a new 21st century one. They kept us informed all through the delivery process and helped co-ordinate the deliveries so as to cause minimum disruption. We were extremely impressed with the service they provided.”