University of Cardiff

We were appointed by University of Cardiff to supply, deliver and install the new furniture for the Welsh School of Architecture Grade II Listed Bute Building under the project WIDER-BE (Well Informed Design Education and Research in the Built Environment). The project will bring the School from three sites across campus to one in the Bute Building. The total project value was £500k, completed in October 2021.

Working with design and architecture partners BDP

At the early stages of the project, we worked closely with BDP to understand their vision and some of the key architectural features of the building. We discussed furniture options and layouts with them throughout the process as we began incorporating existing furniture.

Re-use & Recycle Core Service

As one of our core services, we were able to offer our re-use and recycle service and add to the university’s CSR reports by providing them with a report of where all their furniture had been recycled. We recommended re-upholstering and up-cycling some of their existing furniture which was great from a sustainability perspective. We successfully saved the client over £180,000 from the tender stage by taking them through this process.

Our Waste to Wonder partnership

Due to our ongoing partnership with Waste to Wonder we worked with them to recycle the clients’ items that could not be reused as they were not fit for purpose. These items went to a local Welsh charity and to Waste to Wonder’s outreach project in Gambia.

Conclusion

Overall this was an extremely complex project, with the combination of new and existing furniture, consideration of pedagogical design and space planning, amongst the challenges along the way. However we were successfully able to deliver this project in readiness for the students back on site, with minimal snagging, and University of Cardiff pleased with our end result.