The Bureau Group has unveiled plans to create the UK’s first large-scale circular marketplace for commercial furniture, following its acquisition of used furniture business assets from 2ndHnd.
The move brings furniture remanufacture in-house for the first time at the Edinburgh-based workplace furniture procurement firm, after it bought the Dundonald-based business.
2ndHnd entered administration on 17 October, but now five jobs at the company have been secured, with the potential for new roles being created - including apprenticeships - as Bureau Group sets about building the UK’s largest re-manufacture facility for office furniture.
The new roles are likely to include design-focused positions, as part of plans to ramp up the standard and expectation of refurbished furniture.
The facility should see furniture from large corporates, smaller businesses and the public sector refurbished to almost new condition, ready to be resold or redistributed to charities, schools and other not-for-profits; avoiding the need for furniture to go to landfill.
Already, more that 17,000 pieces of furniture are in the warehouse ready to be redistributed.
The new arm of the business will initially operate as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform under The Office Crowd brand, before ultimately also providing complete furniture refurbishment for business-to-business procurement teams – a service that it stated has been typically challenging to date.
Group co-founders Andy and Jennifer Russell say the acquisition is a pivotal moment in supporting large scale decarbonisation of the commercial furniture industry.
Managing director Andy said: “The conversation around the circular economy and commercial furniture has been getting louder for some time, but the thing that makes it possible doesn’t exist in a serious way.
“This acquisition means we can create a genuine opportunity for firms to make a different decision on the way they buy furniture that is more cost effective and also helps to save the planet.”
Group operations director Jennifer said: “We see huge value in this market, and are pleased to rescue the industry-leading skills and experience here in Scotland and add it to our offering as part of our plans to build a stable market.
“Our ambition is to create a remanufacturing facility where we are training people up and developing skills that would otherwise be lost.
“Much like the lifecycle of a chair, we want to invest in the life cycle of these skills and ensure they are passed from generation to generation.”
Shona Campbell, partner at administrator Henderson Loggie, said: “Bureau Group presented an ambitious, exciting and most importantly viable plan for the future of the business, so we're delighted the ongoing employment of five people has been secured.”
2ndHnd had 19 employees, of which 13 were made redundant, with six retained to assist the administrators.
It had two warehouses in Scotland, as well as one in Essex, and sold through its website which promoted sustainable office furniture.
Bureau Group, which also has branches in Glasgow, London and Seattle, is on course to turnover more than £10m next year, delivering projects for UK-based companies around the world, from Shenzhen and Miami to Singapore and Barcelona.
Bureau’s clients include Skyscanner and abrdn, with the latter's headquarters renovation resulting in 6,000 computers being wiped and recycled, with unwanted furniture donated to charity.
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