Author archive for Alex

For this post please read page 32 of the LEED 2009 for Commercial Interiors Rating System

Reusing existing furniture is an interesting topic for a furniture manufacturer to be talking to its customers about. If we encourage you to try and achieve MR Credit 3.2: Materials Reuse—furniture and furnishings we are turning away business, because to gain the LEED point for MR Credit 5 30% of your furniture and furnishing budget should be spent on salvaged, refurbished or used products. Here at Pli we realise due to environmental issues the way furniture companies do business has to change, so we are trying to come up with our own ideas before we are regulated to into a way of working that may not work for our business.

Wrap & Whitechapel refurbishment diagram

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For this post please read page 31 of the LEED 2009 for Commercial Interiors Rating System

In the UK each year DEFRA studies have shown the UK construction industry is the largest producer of waste in England.

…The Government’s Waste Strategy for England 2007 identifies the good potential to increase resource efficiency in construction and reduce waste. The construction industry is a major source of waste in England, using the highest tonnage of solid material resources in any sector, over 400 million tonnes. The construction, demolition & excavation (CD&E) sector generates more waste in England than any other sector, and is the largest generator of hazardous waste, around 1.7 million tonnes…

As new regulations are created to curb this environmental catastrophe, construction waste is costing companies fortunes in disposal penalties.

To encourage participating developers to look more at the construction waste issue, LEED offers points to Material Reuse (called MR Credits). In future posts, I will talk how this relates directly to furniture reuse and refurbishment (MR Credit 3.2) and Recycled content (MR Credit 4), but before then I want to talk about how Pli offers a unique opportunity to help score points in MR Credit 3.1: Materials Reuse.

Pli’s Wrap table, which normally uses Oriented Strand Board (OSB) in its core, was designed to accept various board materials. This means it is possible to reuse a percentage of your own project’s construction waste in the manufacture of your new Wrap tables. We will work with your construction company to divert suitably selected waste boards back into the core of your tables. Those tables will be treated by Pli as new and covered by all our warranties.

Points earned from using the recycled board would naturally fall under MR Credit 4: Recycled Content. However, considering you are using recycled waste from your own construction site, we also think you have a strong case for including the tables in your points calculation for MR Credit 3.1.

When making a decision, most people look for outside endorsement. We at Pli value the opinions of companies like Steelcase and Herman Miller, who are the market leaders in the office furniture industry. Both these companies are early adopters of LEED-thinking and it’s application to furniture design. They see the value to the customer of furniture that will help contribute towards the credentials of green building projects. Herman Miller even sets an example: its European Headquarters at the VillageGreen facility in Chippenham, England, was one of the first buildings in the UK to gain LEED NC Gold (new construction) certification.

BREEAM is the UK version of the US based LEED building certification system. BREEAM is a good system but does not have as much emphasis on interior furnishings. Fixed furnishing, such as fitted cabinets, falls under BREEAM but loose furniture does not. We want our products to make as much impact on a project as possible. Using BREEAM, our furniture would be purchased in the spirit of the project, but using LEED it makes a positive contribution to the overall interior project rating.

Example of the LEED points label for commercial interiors

The following posts in the “LEED & Pli” series will explain exactly how our products will earn points for your project. Over the certification process, Pli’s products can help towards 10 out of 100 possible LEED Commercial Interior certification points, and at least 1 of the 6 extra points available in the Innovation in Design section. (see LEED label above).

With the difference between the various levels of certification being 10 points, your choice of furniture could be the difference between just certifying your project and achieving silver, gold, or platinum certification. Considering the cost of the furniture compared to the total cost of some building projects, there are valuable points to be earned.

As Pli develops as a company, we are always trying to find new ways to express how our furniture can help you and your projects become greener. Our latest idea is to help you, our customers, to understand how our furniture can help towards gaining LEED ( an internationally recognized green building certification system) accreditation.

Over the next few months we will be looking at some of the different criteria involved, with regards to furniture and commercial interiors, in gaining LEED accreditation . The first step for you is to visit the LEED website, then download the LEED 2009 for Commercial Interiors Rating System and become familiar with the sections that will be relevant to the series. Below is an outline of the posts with relevant section heading and pages which you can refer back to the LEED 2009 for Commercial Interiors Rating System.

1. Why LEED? an introduction to the LEED system and why we choose it.
2. Material reuse. Using building waste in furniture manufacturer. MR Credit 3.1 page 31
3. Material reuse – Furniture & Furnishings. How refurbished furniture can save waste. MR Credit 3.2 page 32
4. Recycled content. Incorporating recycled material into new furniture. MR Credit 4 page 33
5. Regional materials – Manufacture. How using locally manufactured products help. MR Credit 5 page 34
6. Regional materials – Extraction , harvesting & recovery. Where does every component come from and why it is important. MR Credit 5 page 34
7. Rapidly renewable materials. The use of fasting growing material in furniture. MR Credit 6 page 35
8. Certified wood. The importance of using certified wood in your projects. MR Credit 7 page 36
9. Low-emitting Material. How furniture effects the air quality of your interior. IEQ Credit 4.5 page 52-53
10. Now & into the future. A summary of the series with a look at future directions for LEED & PLI.

In the food industry there is a major push to buy “Local”. This movement, as well as cutting carbon footprints, helps pump the pound back into the UK economy. This patriotic movement has bought to light that the UK produces top quality products and you don’t have to go much further than your doorstep to find them.

Can the same patriotism that has led the masses to buy British pork convince the British furniture industry that they might sell some more tables if they make their product in the UK rather than abroad? With British design being so strong it seems a bit of a shame that we ship our manufacture off-shore to reduce the price rather than designing for UK industries.

Simon Andrews, designer of the Wrap table

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How much value for money do we get from cheap products? Customer demands for cheaper products have led manufacturers to develop ever lower-cost solutions. Design can play a big part in reducing the cost but many manufacturers resort to using low quality materials and limiting assembly costs to compete. These compromises to the manufacturing quality can seem like a good idea at the cash register but can lead to frustration when your expectations aren’t meet.

Take low cost furniture for example, is it really the lowest cost solution over time? You may spend half as much on your table but if it only lasts half as long then you need two, when one would have done. To get a real comparison you have to add up the extra costs. Your delivery/collection costs have now doubled. You also will have spent another 4 hours of your life trawling isles looking for another table to fit in what is now reduced budget. The low cost table has started to become just the opposite.
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Last night Christopher and I attended the Lambeth Business Awards 2009 at the Oval cricket ground. It was a great occasion and gave us a chance to meet some really interesting people and find out about more businesses in our borough.

We were nominated in the ‘Best Green Business’ category along with five other businesses:

• Fusion Glass – Architectural glass manufacturer
• Ganesha – Fair trade retailer
• Okido Studio - Magazine publisher
• Solar Century – Solar panel company
• Waterloo Quarter – Business development Alliance

Highly Commended Green Business

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When developing the Wrap table, durability was at the top of our agenda. To meet this goal we used high quality materials and a simple design which allows Wrap to live happily both indoors and outdoors. The two parts that delivery durability to the design are the top surface and the core panel. We have used a weatherproof powder-coated steel top surface and matched it with Oriented Strand Board (OSB) which provides a durable core panel for the table.

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When choosing a chair, most people have about 30 seconds before they decide whether it is going to be comfortable or not. Is this enough time to gauge the true comfort of the chair? Well the short answer is, no.

The following feature is a guide to helping you select a comfortable chair and outlines how the Reee chair will suit your needs. There are a few things that you should consider when choosing a comfortable chair. These include: How are you using the chair? How do you sit? How long you are sitting for? Answering these questions should point you towards the chair you need.

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To celebrate the start of 2009 we have released the Wrap table. The deceptively simple design, by Simon Andrews of Two.three.four, is made from sheet steel and FSC certified oriented strand board with solid bamboo detailing. A lot of the development time was spent reducing the complexity of the top panel and clever use of materials. As a result Wrap’s clean lines mask a versatile design that allows for different sustainable materials in the core and regular refurbishment.

The top and legs are available to purchase separately and the Wrap top has been designed to accept other bases.