Corporate: A Fortune 100 Tech Firm Places Nearly 2,500 Items for Reuse

Empire Photo 1Situation:  Renovation of 75,000 sq ft of office space housing approximately 1,900 employees.  Existing space emptied in phases over a period of three months.

Material Composition & Quantity:  Adjustable height desks, seating, conference & work tables.

Setting:  Suburban corporate campus, two-story building with multiple access points.

“When we suggested reuse to the client, they were skeptical.  When we finished the project, they were ecstatic.  It upholds their commitment to sustainability, and it cost less than throwing the furniture in the landfill.  We know we’ll see many more projects with them.”

Steelcase Dealer Vice President, National Accounts

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OVERVIEW

Steelcase is assisting a Fortune 100 tech firm with ongoing renovations and upgrades.  In early 2016 the company undertook the relocation of about 1,900 staff from a two-story, 75,000 square foot complex in advance of renovation.

Steelcase and the regional dealer helped the client come up with a removal plan calling for a combination of redeployment and reuse.  The majority of seating was either redeployed directly to other company facilities, or stored to be reinstalled as renovations were completed.  Items slated for reuse included nearly 1,900 adjustable height desks, plus about 500 chairs and 60 work and conference tables.

The client required the project to be completed in several phases stretching over four months, as employees were moved to other company locations.

COMPOSITION

Composition Table

IMPLEMENTATION

The project demanded close coordination between the client, Steelcase dealer, and IRN.  The client notified the dealer of its move schedule (which changed several times during the project).  The dealer in turn notified IRN, and assigned a moving crew for the requested dates.  IRN reached out to its network of charitable partners, identified recipients for the client’s inventory, and set up trucking.  On the move dates, the moving crew emptied the designated client space, set aside the items designated for redeployment (handled by the dealer), and loaded the inventory designated for reuse into trailers brought onsite by IRN.

With multiple schedule changes, the project was ultimately completed in seven phases stretching from February 22 to June 17.

CHALLENGES

The protracted schedule with multiple schedule and inventory changes was the most significant challenge on the project.  There’s a cost to IRN and the charity every time a truck is scheduled and then canceled, so IRN had to wait until each phase of the project was firmly on the books before matching the inventory with a recipient and setting up trucking.

Additionally, the project phasing made it difficult to secure one or just a few recipients for the inventory.  For all intents and purposes, IRN had to identify recipients, on short notice, as if for six independent projects.

DESTINATIONS

Destinations Table

IRN has made a significant investment to expand our network of charitable partners here in the U.S., as this project attests.  80% of the inventory was distributed to seven different U.S. U.S. organizations:  three tractor-trailers to Habitat for Humanity, two trailers to IRN’s charitable partner Life for Relief for schools in three states, two to a public school district, two to charter schools, and one to an adult education center.  Three shipping containers or about one-fifth of the project were provided to our longtime partner Food for the Poor for schools in Honduras.


Let us know what you think, or contact us if you have furniture that should be reused rather than thrown away.

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