Environmentally Friendly Office Furniture

How to Create a More Environmentally Friendly Office

In today's energy-conscious society, there are increasing pressures to make both homes and businesses as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as possible.  


It is important to consider ways in which to conserve energy and to reduce the carbon footprint, not only to protect energy sources, but because it often helps to save your business money.  We've come up with a list of ideas about how to make your office greener- why not get everyone in the office involved?






Let's start at the basics- your office furniture.  


Office furniture manufacturers are also very conscious of the environment, and are constantly looking to reduce the environmental impact of their operations.  


Most manufacturers generally adhere to ISO14001 standards- an internationally recognised standard which ensures that manufacturers identify elements of business which impact upon the environment and produce achievable objectives for continuous improvement.  One of our factories actually uses its material offcuts in order to heat the factory, rather than adding to waste!


Most manufacturers also adhere to FSC (the Forest Stewardship Council) standards, which ensures that any wood used to manufacture the furniture is harvested from sustainably managed forests.  

If you are choosing office furniture, and are conscious of the environmental impact of products, you should also think about product miles.  Rather than choosing a product which has to be imported from places like China, why not choose products which are manufactured within the UK?  As well as supporting British manufacturers, it dramatically reduces the carbon footprint of the product.


An Answer to Environmentally Friendly Desks!

There is also a rather amazing new desk which has been produced, made entirely out of cardboard!  The product is completely sustainable and recyclable- it comes flat-packed, and  can be assembled within around 5 minutes!  The desk is assembled without the use of any nuts and bolts, and is extremely strong and practical.  


The Paperweight desk is made of special single walled clay coated corrugated board, with a solid board, water varnished top which is capable of repelling all spills.  Its design integrates a deep cable management tray and an under-desk 'secret' shelf.  There are cable outlet slots and twin access points with covers that can be found on the top of the desk.  The legs of the desk can be positioned inset or outset as required.  I know that you wouldn't expect a desk made of cardboard to be strong, but it really is- it's strong enough for you to even stand on!


Other Tips for Reducing your Office's Environmental Impact:-

• Why not encourage communications via email rather than paper?  Emails make communication a lot quicker, more cost efficient, less easy to lose and can also cut down paper usage dramatically.  Only print off communications which are absolutely necessary.

• When office equipment is not being used- say at the end of the day- have a quick check and make sure that it is switched off.  That way, you are not draining unnecessary power overnight.

• Make an effort to recycle all of the waste paper that culminates in your office- we all know very well how quickly waste paper can build up!  Make sure that you shred documents which contain important information such as addresses or client names before you recycle them, however.

• When purchasing paper, try and buy brands which use a good proportion of recycled paper fibres.

• Wherever possible, try and print double sided documents, in order to save further on paper usage.  

• Use energy efficient light bulbs around the building- they typically use 80% less energy than normal light bulbs, and are safer because they don't get as hot!  They will reduce your energy usage and your electricity bill!

The advantages of leasing your office furniture

The Advantages of Leasing

If you don't pay for your staff in advance, why pay for your office furniture in advance?  Refurbishing an office can often prove to be an expensive yet necessary task; in today's financial climate, there are many benefits of paying for lease furniture rather than paying for your furniture upfront:-

• The primary benefit you take from your office equipment is in the use you get out of it, rather than the ownership of it.  By leasing your furniture, you may be able to take advantage of the latest technologies by simply upgrading.

• You can acquire what is needed for your office now, without worrying about the constraints of what you can afford.

• Leasing preserves your working capital, so that it can be put to work for more profitable purposes for your company.

• Leasing allows you to budget more accurately, so that you can organise how much you need to pay and at when it needs to be paid- whether monthly, quarterly, annual or seasonally for a period of up to 60 months.

• Leasing is tax efficient, because it allows you to offset the rentals.

If you have any queries or would like to learn more about leasing your office furniture, please don't hesitate to contact our office on: 08450 69 79 89. We aren't leasing experts ourselves, but we have a superb leasing partner who specialises in financing all kinds of office equipment, including furniture- particularly for small to medium sized companies.

       

                                                                                     

How to choose the right office furniture and layout for a busy office

When Planning an Office, Please Remember this Poor Chap...!

We all know very well that people come in all different shapes and sizes, so when you are planning the layout of an office, you need to think very carefully about how to maximise the potential of your office.  It is important to maximise the available space you have to work with, but you also need to create a workspace that each individual can work comfortably and efficiently from.  
After all, if the office workers are happy with their work environments, they should be happier and more willing to work hard for the company.

Here are a few ideas of what you should think about whilst you are planning the layout of your office- particularly for an office which accommodates a high proportion of staff:


Space 

There aren't really any guidelines for space, but you should think logically about the spacing within your office- particularly regarding how much room each individual has to work from.  Each employee needs to have enough space to work comfortably, probably with enough room to accommodate a computer.  If the office is designed so that some staff have their backs to each other, you should make sure that their is enough room between them so that they do not obstruct each other.  If the employees are dealing with confidential matters, they should be spaced a fair distance apart from each other, for privacy and confidentiality matters.

High Traffic Areas and Emergency Exits

The staff in the office are the responsibility of the office, and you should make sure that there are emergency exit routes around the office, so that every member of staff could exit the building safely in the case of an emergency.  There will also be high traffic areas where many members of staff will frequently be walking up and down the office.  You should make sure that these areas are clear and easily accessible, in order to avoid accidents.


Noise

Offices are generally very busy, and depending upon the type of work that the office
does, phones are frequently used to speak to clients.  With lots of people in an office using phones at the same time, the office will be an extremely noisy place.  It may be an idea to try to break up the noise using screens or partitions, which will also aid with confidentiality problems.

Confidentiality

If there are HR staff or other workers in the office who deal with confidential information, it may be necessary to create an area which is separate from other workers, perhaps through screens and partitions, so that these members of staff can discuss sensitive topics in a higher degree of privacy.  You may want to think about reducing noise through the use of screens, so that these members of staff are less likely to be heard.

Light and Screen Reflection

Decent lighting is very important for an efficient office.  If there are lots of windows around the office, you should think very carefully about where you place workstations, because sometimes, if workstations are faced away from windows, it may be the case that the window will be reflected in to the monitor screens of computers, making staff unable to see clearly.  Blinds may be useful as a solution in these cases, but you could also use artificial lighting so that all areas of the office receive the same amounts of light.  There are a wide range of options available to create a well-lit work environment. 

Storage

A busy office is a happy office, but it will also process a sea of paperwork and use many resources.  You should think about what types of storage are needed for your office- for example, if your company deals with a lot of paperwork, a good filing system would be extremely helpful, as well as a storage cupboard for stationary resources.  There are many different options available in terms of storage, and they will definitely help you to maximise the efficiency of your office.

How to Design and Furnish a Reception

A Day in the Life of Verve Workspace...

Okay, so you are well aware by now that we are a well-established office furniture organisation.  But what does that entail?  How do we help our customers to make the most of their offices or workspaces?  This blog shows how we have helped one of our clients to design and plan their reception, to give you a little idea of how we work.

At Verve, we work exceptionally hard as a team in order to provide office furniture solutions for each of our clients, taking in to account the individual specifications of each business we serve.  After all, it is our clients who will be putting the furniture to use- it needs to meet their requirements!

For example, we had a call from a solicitors firm last week, who wanted us to work out some furniture ideas for their reception.  The client drew out a rough plan of their reception with measurements for us to work from.  The reception area is a relatively small area, with an existing sofa.  It was a difficult task because the reception work area needed to be big enough to sit three receptionists comfortably, whilst also adhering to health and safety regulations. 

Working from the client's plan, we created a 3D CAD impression of the reception room, with its existing furniture, in order to get an idea of what space we had to work with.  In order to optimise the available space for the receptionists, we inverted the normal 'L' shape reception desk style.  We inserted a 1.8 m length desk, for two of the receptionists to work comfortably from, and a slightly smaller desk for the other. 

We added only one top box to the singular desk, in order to give a little bit more storage space and privacy to the receptionists, should they need it.  This way, the rest of the reception unit is left open and welcoming to visitors. 

The major problem with the small space, in this case, was the lack of storage space.  We all know how paperwork builds up quickly- particularly in a reception environment!  We placed a pedestal under the smaller desk, but added another pedestal to the end of the longest desk as there would not be enough space under that desk.  In addition, we made the curved component of the reception desk a tambour cupboard, for added storage solutions.

There are a whole range of ideas that can be used for every space that we see.  We try our best to find solutions which will be the most helpful and efficient as workspaces for our clients, whilst also designing them so that they look extremely aesthetically pleasing. 

A Fantastic New Invention for Offices, Schools, Universities and Homes

Let your Ideas Flourish with Ideapaint

 

Last week, we attended the 100% Design trade show at Earl's Court, and although we were disappointed with the lack of furniture ideas, we were really impressed with lots of the new design ideas that we saw!  One of our favourite new inventions is called Ideapaint- one layer of 'ideapaint' turns virtually any smooth surface in to a high-performance dry-erase surface, meaning that you could turn anything from conference tables to walls in to whiteboards!

It is amazing how useful dry-erase surfaces can be, whether it be for displaying special menus in restaurants, giving your colleagues visual aids to help during a conference, or planning in a team meeting.  Whiteboards are helpful, but they limit your space and ideas- Ideapaint can be used on virtually any smooth surface, meaning that you could turn unused space, such as cupboard doors or walls in to dry-erase surfaces! 

 

Ideapaint Application

The application process to create the dry-erase surface is very simple.  All you need to do, is clean the surface thoroughly, apply some primer to the surface, and once that is dry, you need to stir the Ideapaint components in together, and apply one coat of the Ideapaint to the surface.  The paint needs 7 days to dry, before you can start to write on it. 

If you eventually decide that you don't want to use the dry-erase surface anymore, all you have to do is paint or wallpaper over the top- this is far more environmentally friendly than the thousands of whiteboards which eventually find themselves on landfill sites!  You could even use the paint to resurface existing whiteboards if you wanted to.  Ideapaint is created using fewer procedural processes, and is shipped in small boxes, using as little packaging material as possible, in an effort to cause as little environmental impact as possible. 

Why not let your ideas flourish with this fantastic new invention?  Call us on: 08450 69 79 89 for more information.

A helpful guide on how to help you move offices or change furniture

How to Make the Most of your Office

Thinking about changing or refurbishing an office can often seem a little extravagant within today's financial climate, but the truth is that it can bring your company a lot of benefits, both in terms of your customers and your colleagues.  A well-designed office can be seen to reflect the solidity of company as a whole, as well as significantly raising the productivity of the company as a whole. 

We understand that the prospect of refurbishing an office or replacing furniture can be a highly daunting and stressful task, as there are many decisions to make that you may need advice on.  If you are thinking of changing your office, you should really speak to a company who specialise in office furniture solutions, because they will be able to give you the most comprehensive advice, as well as helping you to design an office which meets your company's own specification. 

Office furniture specialists work hard to accommodate the specific needs of a company, whilst optimising all of the space used; they also work hard to provide the staff with a comfortable work environment where they may work conscientiously, thus raising their staff morale and productivity.  As office solutions speicialists, Verve takes a great interest in office refurbishment projects, because we really enjoy helping our clients to add a breath of fresh air to their offices.  Here is a little bit of general insight as to how we work as a company, helping our clients with office refurbishments:-

STAGE ONE-  If we get a call from a company who is interested in altering their office design somehow, whether it be new furniture or through a whole office refit, we usually arrange to visit the client's existing office, in order to get an idea of what the office is used for, or what is needed from the new design.  Otherwise, we will request a plan or a rough sketch of the layout of the building, which we can just as easily work from.

We usually arrange to visit the existing offices, in order to get a clearer idea of what the offices are used for and what is needed from the new design.  We also take measurements of the existing space, in order to create accurate designs, taking in to account all of the space available.  We ask you a few questions, in order to get a firm idea of what you have in mind for your office, and how to cater for your office needs.  You may be worrying that you don't have any specific plans for your offices, but don't worry- with our help, you soon realise that you have a more specific specification than you realised!


STAGE TWO-  We then produce a range of design ideas, which we send you, along with wood samples or other items, which help to give you a clearer idea of our designs.  We send you these as soon as possible; we tend to send our ideas via email as a PDF file- this way you can send it to colleagues and discuss it more easily, though we can also produce hard copies.  Sometimes, particularly with office re-fits, we will produce CAD images of our design ideas, so that you can get a good idea of what the room would look like, and where everything would go.  We provide quotations for each option, to help you to get an idea of prices too. 
PLEASE NOTE- there is no charge or commitment for our services here, we are just doing what we can to help you.

STAGE THREE-  After you have looked over our ideas, we discuss with you any changes that you would like to make to our suggested ideas.  We carefully discuss what you like and dislike- after all, we want to create something that you will be 100% happy with.  We work hard to produce give our customers the best prices.

STAGE FOUR-  When you are 100% happy with the proposal, and are happy and confident to place the order with us, we arrange timescales and finalise the order.  We don't do a pushy sales approach- we really don't believe in it; we prefer to make sure that you are happy with everything.  We manage each of our orders carefully, in order to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible, releasing some of the pressure from your shoulders, as a consumer!

STAGE FIVE-  We receive the furniture in to our warehouse, then our installations team will bring it into your premises.  They will assemble the furniture, put the furniture into place according to the plans, and then remove all the packaging to leave you ready to enjoy your new workspace.  We can also offer other services such as existing furniture clearance and redecoration.

If your project involves refurbishment or interior works, then we effectively project manage the whole process for you at no extra charge.  We make sure that all of the 'trades' are working as they should, lowering your stress levels somewhat!

STAGE SIX-  We like to make sure that you are satisfied with your furniture and/or new office, so we check that everything has gone smoothly.  If there are any problems that have occurred, we try our best to solve them as quickly as possible for you. 

Design in Today's Society

Keeping Quality at the Heart of Design

The term, 'quality' is used to define a level of excellence, or a property or attribute which differentiates a thing or person.  We, at Verve, believe strongly in safeguarding quality as one of the most important elements at the heart of a product's design.  We much prefer to supply our clients with high quality products, which are designed to last them a very long time, rather than cheap products which will last a fraction of the time.   

Sadly, we live in a society, which is driven by commercial fads and disposable products.  Our society has an increasingly 'temporary' mindset with regard to products- we tend to choose products which are cheaper, intending to save our pennies, without even thinking about the life-span of what we are buying.  Over the past few years, large supermarket outlets have expanded, so that they now sell a whole range of products, such as office chairs, cameras, furniture etc., making it increasingly easy and tempting for us to choose the cheaper option. 

Our country's current financial climate seems to have helped people to think more carefully about a product, and the benefits of buying a slightly more expensive product of a much higher quality, rather than a cheap product. 

Let's take office chairs as an example; most of our clients find that cheap chairs will last less than a year, and will be very uncomfortable to sit in- often leading to back complaints.  Most cheap chairs are manufactured in other countries such as China, and so their carbon footprints tend to be huge, adding further to environmental pollution; this really needs to be taken in to account alongside the fact that these products tend to only last a fraction of the time. 

The slightly more expensive chairs are designed and manufactured specifically for the user's comfort, as well as to last a considerably long time.  The chairs are manufactured with much higher quality materials, making the chairs more durable and more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  Most of the chairs that we offer come with a FIVE YEAR GUARANTEE, which indicates an excellent standard of manufacture, as well as taking some stress off the shoulders of the consumer.  Many of our products are manufactured within the U.K., significantly improving the environmental impact of our products, with much smaller carbon footprints.