AYRSHIRE jobs have been saved following a recent company buy out.
The recent acquisition by commercial furniture experts Bureau Group secured five jobs at Dundonald-based 2NDHND Ltd, which entered administration on October 17, as well as the promise of further jobs down the line including apprenticeships.
Bureau Group co-founders Andy and Jennifer Russell say the acquisition of the local furniture shop is a ’pivotal moment in supporting large scale decarbonisation of the commercial furniture industry’ in Bureau Group’s pursuit of helping prevent millions of tonnes of office furniture needlessly going to landfill every year.
Andy Russell, managing director at Bureau Group, said: “This is huge – it’s exactly in line with our trajectory as a sustainable and design-led business.
"Our purpose is to help support companies to be as sustainable as possible, by embedding circularity within every business decision.
“The conversation around the circular economy and commercial furniture has been getting louder for some time, but the thing that makes it possible doesn’t exist in a serious way. Nobody is doing this on a mass scale – until now.
“This acquisition means we can create a genuine opportunity for firms to make a different decision on the way they buy furniture that is more cost effective and also helps to save the planet.
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“A sustainable approach to procurement that prevents FF&E going to landfill is one of, if not the, biggest decision a company can make to realise their sustainability ambitions and responsibilities.
"Our role is to help them deliver that, and the creation of this facility and marketplace is a massive leap on our road towards it.”
Jennifer Russell, co-founder and Group Operations Director at Bureau Group, said: “We see huge value in this market, and are pleased to rescue the industry-leading skills and experience here in Scotland and add it to our offering as part of our plans to build a stable market.
“Our ambition is to create a remanufacturing facility where we are training people up and developing skills that would otherwise be lost.
"The demand for these services will not diminish and that makes the sector and marketplace sustainable in itself.
“Much like the lifecycle of a chair, we want to invest in the life cycle of these skills and ensure they are passed from generation to generation.”
Bureau Group, which also has branches in Glasgow, London and US tech hub Seattle, is on course to turnover £10 million plus next year, delivering projects for UK-based companies around the world from Shenzhen and Miami to Singapore and Barcelona.
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