How a Furniture Audit Supports Sustainability Goals

There are a number of factors that contribute to the sustainability of an office space. The location is important as it will impact the number of staff coming and going, the use of company vehicles and general travel patterns, parking spaces are another factor which need to be taken into consideration. If you have looked at your furniture inventory lately, as we all should do on an annual basis, you will realise many things. The physical office space, equipment and facilities are one of the most important elements to any business. The comfort and ergonomics of staff can impact performance, morale and even work-life balance.

Whether you’re planning for a big move or a simple lease renewal, there are a lot of considerations to make. You should start budgeting early on to get to know and understand the costs to be expected. This will give businesses a benchmark to work with and the areas they may need to work on to reduce costs and bring it in line with the budget.

A big impact on the cost of the project can sometimes depend on how much new furniture is required to support the organisational change or office move. Completing a furniture audit will present the information for businesses to make informed decisions on what would be the most economical and sustainable option for the furniture project.

When completing a furniture audit the below is taken into consideration and completed:

Inventory of current furniture assets
Condition reporting
Photographic inventory
Secondhand value of the current furniture
What furniture can still be reused in its current condition
What furniture can be donated
What furniture can be refurbished
What new furniture needs to be purchased

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The benefit of businesses knowing the current secondhand value of their furniture gives them more accurate information to help decide on different furniture routes. There will be the potential to resell the furniture with a value, giving money back to the project and reducing the cost of buying new furniture if required or placing the money against another budget line. Furniture which has been used for five or more years may become damaged, require repair or re-upholstery, by completing a furniture audit this will be noted and costs can be obtained for repairing or reupholstering the furniture to show if it’s a cost-effective solution. This will increase the life cycle of the furniture and have a positive impact on the environment by reducing CO2. It will give businesses a chance to adjust their balance sheet to reflect any furniture which needs writing off or changing the product values.

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, after a couple of months businesses were reviewing their office space intending to reconfigure the furniture in their offices to suit a new physical distancing working layout. Our teams completed furniture audits for businesses to understand if they could reuse existing desk components to make up a new desk configuration. This helped businesses save money in buying new furniture components and allowed them to understand their assets in more detail.

As we now move forward from the pandemic and physical distancing is removed from the workplace, we see an increase in activity back into the cities and the offices, businesses are looking at their office space and redefining the space to suit their business and people needs.

To learn more about how our team can support businesses with their workplace projects reach out to hello@uwpl.co.uk or call one of the below numbers near your area:

London: 020 3876 1470

Chelmsford: 01245 976650

Colchester: 01206 413195

Ipswich: 01473 928971

Southend-On-Sea: 01702 936205