Furniture at Llys Cadwyn
Introduction
We used up-cycled, reused and local furniture to furnish our new headquarters at Llys Cadwyn.
Well-being goals
Ways of working
Our journey
TfW first announced the move to its new headquarters in Pontypridd, Llys Cadwyn, in 2017. Once the building was completed in 2020, the challenge was to furnish the offices in preparation for moving around 400 team members.
Supported by WRAP Cymru, TfW organised a supplier event in February 2020 in which 30 suppliers attended. The session helped suppliers understand TfW’s objectives in furnishing our new headquarters in line with our values, our brand, and our vision, emphasising sustainability and supporting the circular economy.
An Open Procedure was undertaken using Sell2Wales to advertise the tender. There were 8 bids in total and the contract was awarded to Rype Office due to their experience and ability to demonstrate benefits in support of a circular economy, recycled furniture and utilising local suppliers.
Remanufactured and refurbished furniture was prioritised since its environmental footprint is 80% less than that of new furniture. TfW was able to make use of our own office furniture for around 140 team members, but needed to procure extra seating, kitchen furniture, meeting room furniture, desks, chairs and lockers.
Our approach
Working with Rype Office and Merthyr Institute for the Blind we remanufactured desks, sourced coffee tables made locally from recycled chopping boards and black plastic bags and created the world’s most sustainable sofa comprised of 100% recycled polyester, a frame made from recycled post-consumer plastic, recycled foam cushions, and recycled plastic zippers.
Merthyr Tydfil Institute for the Blind provided long-term employment to five local refurbishers with disabilities.
We achieved:
- 30% of the furniture in the office is reused from TfW.
- 49% of the furniture is reused from other organisations.
- 3% of the furniture was handmade in Pentre by employees of Merthyr Institute for the Blind. All staff were paid the Real Living Wage.
- 13% of the furniture is new and locally sourced, and another 6% is new and sourced outside of Wales.
- This project has saved 92,784 kgs CO2 and 32,141 kgs of furniture. We also saved 2,500kgs carbon by using recycled paint to paint the office interior.
