Iranian-born Jamshid Fakouri came to this country in the seventies and, as a student during the summer, began working for the limousine and chauffeur-driven hire company Dennis Carter Ltd. Today he owns that very company, which is the largest of its kind in the UK, and runs it with the help of his four brothers. But not all of his success has come from just hiring his cars out. The company, or rather its subsidiaries Conversion 2000 and Technocraft, specialise in designing, building and converting vehicles to match the exact tastes of its wealthy clients. At first these conversions were for the company cars only, but following some great engineering success and the relatively low prices offered, the company began receiving orders from other chauffeur hire businesses, and an exclusive list of international clients.

Conversion 2000 and Technocraft deal mostly with Mercedes-Benz vehicles, stretching or converting them to match the specifications of the client. In fact, one of the most extravagant cars they have designed so far is known as the Palace. With a 6x6 Mercedes 15-litre turbo diesel tractor unit, it consists of five mobile accommodation units, accommodating a master suite, conference and satellite communications centre, and guest and dining suites. Even so, this kind of car is an exception as most of the conversions made are extensions, and Mr Fakouri maintains that the reason why most of his work is with Mercedes and not with the likes of Rolls-Royce is because his clients enjoy keeping a low profile. But they are not limited to just Mercedes vehicles, as exemplified by the Toyota Hunter. Two years ago, Mr Fakouri was approached by a client who wanted a £43,000 Toyota Land Cruiser converted into his ultimate hunting vehicle. £100,000 later, he was presented with the Hunter. An awesome vehicle, it is one meter longer than the standard car and has an extra axle, 4 or 6 wheel drive, hydraulic spotting seat with 2ft elevation, reinforced suspension and Kevlar body armour. In fact, Toyota themselves were so impressed with the work done by Taylor Mead that they published an article in their magazine outlining the car's qualities.

But for how long can they hold on to their leading position in the market? Is it not just a matter of time before the larger manufacturers realise that they are losing huge potential profits? Realistically, the market is not big enough to interest them. For small, specialist companies like Conversion 2000, though, the profit making ability is immense. According to Mr Fakouri, there is only a very small niche market, but his companies have the expertise and the experience to dominate it. With the big car manufacturers not really being interested, it leaves a lot of room for expansion, and that is just what Conversion 2000 is planning. Not only are they concentrating more on building prototypes, but they are also planning on branching out overseas.

Mr Fakouri himself has great confidence in the abilities of his company, and especially his engineers. He boasts that his engineers could successfully complete any conversion requested by his clients. In fact, he feels that he offers a better service than the larger manufacturing companies, claiming that they charge too much and the quality of their work leaves a lot to be desired.


Jamshid Fakouri With His Team

On the whole, it is a very expensive service, and is not something readily available to everybody at the moment. The clientele are very elite, and the demand is very low. But of course there are always those who demand perfection, and are willing to pay a considerable amount of money to attain it. After all, it is no mean feat to saw a Mercedes S500L in half, add 40 inches to its length, and reassemble it without losing any of the initial workmanship.

(BIBN) How did you first get into this business?

(JF) We got into building prototypes and specialist cars because we have the largest private limousine hire company in the UK, and we were extremely unhappy with the quality of the work we received. A limousine is an extended car, and therefore the work that goes into building it has to be very specialised and precise. The limousines we were receiving were leaking, making noise, and unsafe. At the same time we were restoring a lot of classic cars, so eventually we established a workshop for the restoration of classic cars, and turned half of it into a conversion and engineering workshop. We started to build limousines for our old fleet, and rectified all the faults on the limousines that were bought from other people. Because the product was extremely good, other limousine companies started to buy from us. Soon we began exporting to Saudi Arabia, to the UAE, and to Germany, limousines that were built in our own factory. That was the basis for our engineering enterprise, and from there we were asked to make special vehicles. Because we have the skill inhouse, we employed more people and added to our crew. Today, we believe that we are the best specialist vehicle maker in this country. There is no conversion that we cannot undertake. A lot of our work is done in a very low-profile way, because our clients are extremely important people. They don't want anybody to know what changes have been made to the vehicle, how safe it is, what level armour has gone into it, and so on. We have now been doing this for nine years.

(BIBN) Are big manufacturers not interested in this market?

(JF) If a big manufacturer was to do what we do, it would cost them hundreds of millions of pounds, because that is the way they work. When BMW last brought out the 7-series it cost them £800 million dollars just for the research and development. Of course we are nowhere near these manufacturers. We are a small, specialised vehicle developer. What we do is on our experience, on our craftsmanship and on our background. That is why we are approaching it in a totally different way. So it is not cost-effective for the big manufacturers to go into what we do.

(BIBN) Are you planning to go into car manufacturing outside the UK also?

(JF) Yes. But our headquarters will be the UK base. The skill is here. We have clients that we have had for many years and we want to continue to satisfy them. Our plan is to continue with the existing conversion and specialist vehicle making, and expand in a slow and calculated way into prototype making. We have the skill. As I said, we have, in just over three months, taken a very old vehicle, thrown the top away, used the platform and made a very stylish 4WD vehicle that will be in the show. We are waiting to see the reaction of the public. We ran a survey of 2500 people in Tehran and other towns, and used all their advice in making this car. So it is really made for an Iranian market. At the same time we have made it with European regulations in mind. We have already talked to people in different countries and shown them the vehicle, and the response has been amazingly favourable. If this vehicle is built in Iran, the building cost will be very low. So the price will be very affordable for the poorer countries.

(BIBN) Would you be considering to float the company on the stock market?

(JF) As a group we could be floated on the market and my advisors have advised me to, but I like the way things are working at the moment. We have a free hand as a private company to do what we think is right for ourselves and our staff. Once you have shareholders, you have to take into consideration all their views. We are a family business, and all of our staff are like family. It is very much a Japanese philosophy. And we have very few people leaving us. Because of the way the company is structured and because of the way it has been run in the last 20 years, it will affect a lot of people if we suddenly float the company, take the money and walk away. This philosophy has helped us to progress very rapidly over a short period of time.

(BIBN) When it comes to management style, what makes you so different and makes your company run so efficiently?

(JF) Over the years we have worked a lot with the Japanese. I even flew to Japan and looked at the way they run their companies, and tried to bring the same sort of philosophy into my own organisation. We have our own philosophy that in a workplace everybody is equal. There is only division of responsibility and the type of work everybody does. When you bring this type of thinking to the people, you bring most of the people who are of lower ranks up, not to the level of responsibility, but to the level of acceptance. That makes people want to work harder for you and more loyal. We treat everybody absolutely the same. The only thing that makes a slight difference is the period of time that they have served the company. Of course you have to look after the man who has shown loyalty to you better, but you cannot ignore the man who has just joined you, because eventually he will take the place of the other. We have been very fortunate to have a superb set of people working with us, and with their cooperation we have progressed and they have progressed. You cannot treat people as numbers. That is when things start going downhill.

Farahmand Jahanpour, Civil & Structural Engineering Director, Building Design Partnership, and leader of BDP Special Structures Group -

The evolution of stadium technology has been rapid in the last decade but occasionally an idea comes along that is truly revolutionary and that could usher in a new era of stadium design. Such an idea, a retractable roof system called Skylid, has been designed and patented by Building Design Partnership, Europe’s largest architect/engineer firm.

The greatest obstacle to the creation of multi-functional stadia has been the economical design of a retractable roof. The arguments for the development of such stadia are well rehearsed but it is worth mentioning what they are. Although a retractable roof is not a requirement of stadium-based sporting activities the advantage of such a system is clear. The threat of adverse weather is a concern of groundsmen and organisers alike. The retractable roof can minimise or eliminate any disruption caused by the weather. For sporting events requiring or preferring the roof to be open during play, weather problems prior to the game can be easily dealt with. Water-logged or frozen pitches could be a thing of the past with a retractable roof allowing events to go ahead on schedule so minimising lost revenue and spectator disappointment.

In addition, the added control of pitch environment has the advantage that the playing surface can be kept in peak condition, minimising the need for turf exchange/replacement due to damage caused by play. However, current retractable roof designs have the disadvantage of excessive shading of the pitch as spans across the field of play are kept to a minimum to keep costs down.


Farahmand Jahanpour, Skylid Designer

For events such as concerts there is no restriction on tour dates caused by concerns over weather. The provision of the roof can also provide a barrier to noise levels thus allowing a larger numbers of concerts to take place than would otherwise be allowed due to any local legal restrictions that might be in operation. Exhibition and convention uses are made possible. In short, acompletely different business plan can be created for a roofed stadium.

With all these advantages and few disadvantages one would assume that more stadia would now incorporate retractable roofs but there are problems with the roof designs currently available. A study of the structural systems on existing stadia shows that they are generally heavy, averaging 250 kg per square metre. When the costs of roofs are calculated they often represent up to 15% on the cost of the project compared to conventional roofing. Given the marginal economics of stadia this level of extra development cost is often impossible to recoup, even allowing for the increased event profile of the venue, and often immediately kills the possibility of the inclusion of a retractable roof.

The BDP Skylid system structure, however, weighs only approximately 50 kg per square metre with a consequent massive saving in cost, not only in the roof element but also in the supporting structure and the foundations. This means that this type of roof is feasible for a much greater number of potential stadia.

This breakthrough design is by BDP’s Special Structures Group, which operates within the main structural engineering profession of BDP. The Group, whose members comprise BDP’s most highly skilled and creative engineers, was established to develop cost effective and innovative structural solutions for projects that it is involved in. As a progression from their work on the award-winning Wimbledon No. 1 Court and the Sydney Olympic Tennis Centre they became interested in the possibilities of stadium roof design in general and this led to the development of the Skylid concept.

The key to the Skylid concept is its use of conventional structural materials at their optimum efficiency by a combination of tensile and compressive structural design. A slender grid shell roof provides the fixed element.

Typically, four towers then support wires in tension, that are connected to the roof segments. The wires are looped between a pair of towers and when moved pull the segments of the roof into position. Apart from the constraint of having pairs of towers the system is totally flexible in arrangement. The roof design can adapt to all stadium based sporting events and is so flexible that almost any configuration of playing field could be accommodated.

There is also the possibility that existing stadia could be re-examined to establish whether the addition of this lightweight, economical solution could allow the introduction of true multifunctional event programmes where they are not now possible.

The towers, wires and cables can be configured so that any shape of segment can be moved and the segments can even be telescoped into smaller parts to reduce the area needed for parking them when the roof is open. In this way the problem of pitch overshadowing is dealt with and the open sky aperture over the playing surface can be maximised. This reduces the problems currently associated with shaded grass playing areas without resorting to artificial lighting, expensive palletised systems or turf replacement.

The efficiency of the roof design also has an effect on its aesthetics. The heavy appearance of current moving roof systems is avoided and there is a great potential to fine tune designs to marry the shape of the roof to suit the activity area and stand forms.

The roof only takes 10 minutes to close or open, another advantage over conventional systems and an aspect of the design that will please all event organisers.

The Special Structures Group is now developing the design through modelling and analysis and it only awaits a project application in order to demonstrate its potential to the world. The applications are obvious and with a system like this the choice of an economical, yet elegant, moving roof option is finally available to stadium developers. The design’s simplicity and ingenuity make it a striking addition to any stadium design.

For more information on the Skylid retractable roof system contact Farahmand Jahanpour of Building Design Partnership’s Special Structuresgroup in London.