Premiere Kitchens makes finals of Sustainability Award
For the second year running, Premiere Kitchens was shortlisted for the 2013 Furniture Makers‘ Sustainability Award, open to members of the Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme (FISP) and holders of the Furniture Makers’ Manufacturing Guild Mark (MGM). However, the kitchen manufacturer was pipped to the post by office furniture manufacturer Senator International, who scooped the second award made by the Furniture Makers’ to recognise the progress of reducing furniture manufacturing in Britain’s impact on the environment.
Gloucester-based Premiere Kitchens was a finalist for the second time this year. It is said to have a systematic approach to reducing energy consumption and waste, which made considerable cost savings and improved the bottom line. Skip costs were reduced by 96% and energy-saving investments were forecast to produce significant annual cost reductions. The company also claimed to source suppliers locally, subject to an annual environmental review. Plus, the residual ash from its Biomass burner has been declared landfill safe and is now being used by a local farmer as fertiliser.
Organiser of the awards, Oliver Heal said: “All the shortlisted companies were able to demonstrate they had made significant progress during the year to improve sustainability across all aspects of their businesses. But in the end, the judges were unanimous in their decision. It was obvious that sustainability is a crusade that goes to the very heart of Senator’s business.”
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David Walton, chair of FISP and one of the judges, said: “The standard of entry was extremely good last year but this year even that was exceeded. It is very good to see that companies are pushing back the boundaries on sustainability and making real cost effective improvements as a result.
“Companies within FISP are no longer satisfied with a level of performance that just meets the requirements of ISO14001, they are now looking at new, novel approaches to sustainability that are beginning to have a real business impact.”