Towards Zero Emissions Furniture

Staff in the Product Design subject area at the University of Brighton have worked closely with industry over a number of years. One project has required collaboration with business and environment colleagues to look at the role of environmental benchmarking in the furniture industry. The two year project was sponsored by the British Furniture Manufacturers Association and the UK government’s Department of Trade and Industry (subsequently the Technology Strategy Board) and involved working with a number of leading UK furniture companies.
The project objectives were to undertake an environmental assessment of a range of furniture products, one each for five companies, and to subsequently redesign each item with a view to reducing its energy emissions. The aim was to demonstrate to these, and other companies within the British Furniture Manufacturers Association (BFMA), the purpose and issues in applying environmental benchmarking in their design work.
The outcomes were contained in a Brighton project report1 and released in a summary dissemination document by the BFMA2 which showed that; Significant reductions in emissions could be achieved, that the areas of high environmental impact are however not always obvious and can be counter intuitive, and that there is no, one formulaic redesign solution.
This paper takes the opportunity to release more publicly a fuller explanation of the Brighton outcomes and includes a more recent update of the impact the project has had on the environmental design practice of the partner furniture companies.