Making it work for the community and the planet

Our FIL Furniture team were delighted to sponsor a full office redesign and fit-out for The Salvation Army, New Zealand’s most respected and trusted community partner. Find out how the Sallies offices were transformed from dull and lifeless to a spectacular new environment, all with upcycled furniture.

Since 1883 The Salvation Army have been supporting Kiwis in need. They are an organisation that care for people, transform lives and reform society. Every year the Sallies help more than 120,000 Kiwi families and individuals in need with budgeting advice, transitional housing, food and clothing assistance, life skills and other social programmes.

At the forefront of this project was the Sallies commitment to the environment and playing their part in the zero waste ‘circular economy.’ The reception area had a generous space with small waiting chairs that look tired and dated. The central workspace was confined with offices either side and partition screens that enclosed the work area.

The challenge was to open up the space, add additional workstations and create a more modern and collaborative working environment, which moves away from the confines of the cubicle but also provides a degree of privacy.

Our National Furniture Manager, Rhiannon Sims managed and coordinated the project from start to finish. This included the initial brief, the spatial layout design, supply of upcycled furniture, advice on office functionality, the delivery and installation of all furniture and the office relocation of staff and their equipment. The end-piece of the project was the ethical clearance and disposal of the old furniture.

FIL’s spatial design team took into consideration adequate space for office furniture and storage while mapping out permanent fixtures such as structural columns and beams, internal glass walls, power supply and fire egress.  A primary consideration was to find a way to access power to each desk, given the previous design had cables running through the partition screens. The old screens were no longer required so this was a challenge.

The Sallies were finally presented with design and furniture options based upon functionality, look and feel. Furniture was then sourced from the FIL upcycled (second-hand) range.

The relocation team cleared the site with precision and speed, dismantling the existing furniture and ceiling fixtures. Once transported back to the FIL warehouse, the furniture items went through our upcycling and recycling process to ensure nothing went to landfill. With a full brief and layout in plan the install team did the delivery, lay-out, assembled the furniture and installed the new ceiling droppers.

FIL Furniture delivered a new and refreshed workspace, ahead of schedule with little disruption.  We did everything in house with our specialist design, clearance, remodelling and installation teams. This was an environmentally ethical project using upcycled office furniture to transform the office space with modern and high quality furniture.