The newly opened Extra Motorway Service Area located on the M25 near Cobham, has been well received by the public since its launch last week. Breaking up a previous 63-mile gap in-between motorway services, the new, innovative and cutting edge Service Area has opened following 19 years of planning and a £75m investment.
The site has been developed in conjunction with Extra’s designers, project managers and construction contractors, and has been heralded a triumph in design, facilities and sustainable developments since its launch. At 66 acres, the new motorway service area is a third larger in size than Extra’s Beaconsfield site.
Examples of the innovative site developments include the rainwater harvest facility – designed to save water and utilise rainwater collected, waterless urinal cartridges – for toilets and large solar wall installation – which provides enough power to pre-heat the main concourse and food court building. The site has also been fitted out with low energy bulbs and light sensors in order to maximise energy efficiency.
The main food court/concourse building has been specifically designed to provide natural lighting through the installation of floor to ceiling glass panelling, which also saves on the lighting requirement within the building.
During the main civil engineering phase of the construction programme approximately 300,000 cubic metres of soil was excavated, ensuring that upon completion the highest point of the site was level with the M25 carriageway. This was also a major consideration for the design, to ensure that the surrounding local community was protected from the noise and lighting associated with this project.
Another major focus for the design was to enable access to both carriageways of traffic from the M25, with the facilities situated on the Cobham side. The solution devised by the design team to address this was to construct a tunnel to link both sides. This tunnel was constructed whilst traffic was temporarily diverted.
Andrew Long, CEO of Extra Group, commented: “Extra has worked closely with its designers, project managers and construction contractors in order to develop a truly unique and innovative 66 acre site at Cobham. The site boasts a wealth of green and sustainable developments and initiatives.
“The Cobham MSA has been 19 years in development and we are delighted to see the final results of the hard work and planning of the team involved. Our aim was to provide an attractive, relaxing and comfortable environment, designed to offer the ideal opportunity for mid-journey rest and refreshment; a quick refuelling stop, convenient meeting location and / or overnight stay.”
The 4,000 sq metre impressive food court boasts floor to ceiling glass walling, designed to create a light, airy, relaxing and comfortable environment. The building houses a wide range of popular brands including McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, M&S Simply Food, Greggs, WHSmith, Eat In and Quicksilver; something for everyone. Further customer choice is also available through the innovative kiosk offers, El Mexicana, Moodog, Dessert Station and Chozen Noodle.
There is also an alcohol licensed 75-bedroom Days Inn hotel with a comfortable separate lounge facility, together with a Regus Business Centre, offering a full range of business services and meeting rooms.
Another attractive innovation which Extra MSA Group has also introduced to the Cobham site – following the success of this feature at Beaconsfield Services – is to have a large lakeside terrace and outdoor eating area with pathways through landscaped grounds, providing the ideal pit-stop for a leg stretch during a long journey. This will also feature an ‘Eco’ area with reeds and long grasses.
The interior of the concourse building has also been developed to incorporate Extra’s usual high quality, award-winning facilities and washrooms. Although already achieving high standards of operation and customer choice at its existing Service Areas, Extra strives to keep improving the overall customer experience, the new Cobham Service Area being an excellent example of this.
The site provides parking for all types of vehicles and has full signage on both carriageways of the M25 with access from and to all directions via its new designated motorway junction.The introduction of these Services fills a 63-mile gap in a previously un-serviced section of the motorway network, this being one of the busiest stretches of road in the UK. The new Shell Filling Station will be the largest in the UK; it houses 141 fuel nozzles and is the only site on the M25 to sell autogas (automotive liquefied petroleum gas). It also offers six high speed Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) lanes and three Adblue pumps, designed to help reduce exhaust emissions from diesel engines, which is not currently widely available in the UK.
For more information about the facilities on offer visit the website www.extraservices.co.uk
or call 01522 813688.
