Office and Outdoor Furniture Brochure
Our Office and Outdoor Furniture framework agreement brings together an extensive range from 23 suppliers, including the market leaders.
Our framework agreement has been designed to support trusts who are looking for:
- A compliant route to market for all their office, outdoor and children’s furniture items.
- Advice on installations including mobile and fixed shelving.
- Workspace solutions to support new ways of working due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Sustainable furniture options.
Sustainability Vlog – Office and Outdoor Furniture Framework
Sustainability Manager Steph Gibney sat down in front of the cameras with Suzi Richards our Category Manager to talk all things office and outdoor furniture and the links between recycling, sustainability and a circular economy. Watch the full vlog here.
Customers can contact us to learn more about what services are available through the framework and to ask us to consult with suppliers on their behalf. From this, customers are able to request we manage their projects.
Our Category Manager can also come along to talk about the opportunities this framework offers at various events and forums at trust or ICS level meetings. Please contact Suzi directly.
See our Useful Links section to read a case study from Black Country Health Care NHS Foundation Trust, which recently used the framework and achieved 43 tonnes of carbon, waste reduction and cost avoidance.
Product Areas Covered
General office furniture and metal storage including:
- Bariatric and petite seating options
- Canteen and dining furniture
- Desking
- Desk and floor screens
- Tables
- Wooden storage
- Modular pods and breakout furniture
- Homeworking furniture
- Metal storage items
- Conference, lecture, and meeting room furniture.
Lockers including:
- Nested lockers
- Clothing lockers
- Standalone lockers
- COSHH lockers.
Racking and shelving:
- Laundry storage
- Mobile shelving
- Racking
- Static shelving
- Ward and pharmacy storage
- X-ray storage.
Outdoor furniture:
- External seating
- Picnic tables
- Wheelchair accessible tables
- Planters
- External signage and wayfinding
- Static external bins.
Specialised sustainability lot which allows for:
- Refurbishment of existing products
- Reuse – Usable furniture can be offered back to the market or to charitable institutions
- Repurposing or existing products
- Detailed sustainability reports provided back to the customer for their records
- Furniture hire and leasing
- Project work assistance with fully integrated sustainability and social values focus.
Children’s and play furniture – covering early years to primary:
- Seating
- Tables
- Wooden storage and bookcases
- Metal drawer units
- Children’s indoor activity furniture
- Children’s outdoor activity furniture.
There is an extensive range of specialist suppliers available on all these lots, covering more than just those items listed on the core range. For more information on any of these lots, please contact the Office Solutions team for more information.
Facilities and Office Solutions Support
How to Order
Choose
Select the products you want to purchase.
Contact
Contact the NHS Supply Chain Office Solutions Team.
Quote
Quote the framework Reference number: 2020/S 046-109639.
Delivery
Products are then delivered in accordance with agreed lead times directly to your trust.
Social Values and Sustainability
When out to tender, we weighted our framework evaluation to have at least 30% of the awarding score based on the supplier’s social value and sustainability responses.
Services
Our suppliers can help you work towards reducing your waste, making the most of your budgets and helping achieve your sustainability targets. We will work with you on:
- Performance measurement reporting
- Social value and local community benefits
- Space planning and design
- Sustainability net zero targets.
Benefits
- Diverts waste from landfill
- Procurement savings
- Reduces CO2 emissions.
Specialised Sustainability Lot… More Than Just Buying Furniture
We are proud to offer trusts a dedicated design to allow customers access to a wide range of suppliers specialising in sustainability and social value.
Furniture is the biggest source of carbon emissions in a non-domestic building. With 46% of the carbon emissions over a building’s entire life from furnishings, a fundamental rethink of how we design and fit-out interiors are necessary to address the climate emergency.
The Lot focuses primarily on promoting re-use and recycling options rather than procuring new products. Specialist suppliers with extensive product ranges and years of knowledge are available through the framework and are keen to provide insight and assistance on how to make the most of existing products in the workplace.
Our suppliers can work to get your existing furniture to as-new condition and bring new life back into furniture using recycled materials. Suppliers not only focus on renovation and repairs but there are awarded suppliers within this Lot who work to support local trades, SMEs and social enterprises.
Whether you are looking for a supplier who is offering to present free seminars to help NHS trusts understand how to create beautiful, affordable, low carbon interiors – or just a supplier that can help you redesign, rewrap or resize existing products; there are a wealth of sustainability options available that can meet the needs of any activity, budget or purchase.
What Makes a Seat Comfortable?
Generally, seats should allow your body to be comfortable and not restricted. The seat design is critical for this.
Seat height
The seat height should never be so high that your legs are left dangling. This can result in pressure on the soft tissues underneath your thighs. This pressure interferes with the return of blood from the lower limbs, which may cause tingling and numbness in the thighs, due to pressure on blood vessels and nerves.
Seat depth
The seat depth should allow clearance at the back of your knees, to prevent pressure on the network of blood vessels and nerves.
Seat back
The seat back and angle should support the natural curves of your spine – in particular your lower back. The main weight-bearing should be taken by your upper legs and the top half of the thighs. In addition, a chair should enable you to change your posture at intervals, ensuring that different groups of muscles can be used for support – and that no particular group of muscles gets tired. The consequences of poor seating are discomfort, fatigue, and inefficiency in what you are doing.
Choosing the right seat height for you
We understand that everyone is unique. To ensure you get the right chair for your needs, we offer
a wide choice of task seating options allowing you to create your own ideal task chair. A range of uplift options enables you to specify individual parts of the chair, providing you with a tailored solution to your needs.
Benefits of Ordering Through Us
Wide choice of brands from a single source- the widest choice of office, children’s and outdoor furniture and metal storage solutions, including the latest innovations.
Complementary products – we also have additional framework agreements covering:
- Batteries, Lighting and Tools
- Printable Patient Identification Wristbands, Thermal Printers and Associated Accessories
- Stationery, Computer Consumables and Miscellaneous Office Equipment and Services.
See our Useful Links section to view all of our frameworks.
Upfront lead times – there is a standard four-week lead time on this contract for all items with the exception of bespoke, made to order lines. Accelerated delivery time of next day delivery is available on some products depending on the supplier and whether the item is stocked or made to order.
All products are delivered directly from the supplier. We have suppliers on the framework that can provide many items such as flat-pack furniture. We also have a range of suppliers that have specialist self-assembled, dedicated home working product ranges and are fully GDPR compliant and able to support home deliveries for orders.
Time and money – you can avoid individual trust tendering costs, by using our framework, as we complete the tender process for you. The buying team offer a bespoke service to meet your requirements. This allows customers to free up valuable resources to work on other projects, with the peace of mind that work is underway, and the process is following your requirements. There are no minimum purchase amounts needed to receive this support and it covers all categories.
An integrated approach -the financial benefits of NHS Supply Chain are not just access to competitive product prices. Our approach reduces cost throughout the supply chain, from raw materials to global sourcing.
Discounts are available for NHS and public sector customers
Due to volume purchases, we have been able to secure price reductions for our customers.
Volume based pricing – this is available for trusts who commit to one supplier. For large projects, running a mini-competition option is recommended. By choosing this option, customers can benefit from the guidance of suppliers to ensure best value and service. For further information on options, please contact us.
Capital project management service – another essential element of this contract is the ability to provide a bespoke design and planning service, then to supply and install for larger projects. The suppliers on contract can service these projects as well as having flexibility around pricing.
Full support from a dedicated team – either order through your Customer Relationship Manager or you can contact the supplier directly quoting 2020/S 046-109639 to access NHS Supply Chain prices.
We procure for a broad range of public sector customers
The framework has been constructed to enable all statutory bodies to order using our framework agreement.
Guaranteed compliance
When procuring via NHS Supply Chain you will be compliant with EU Public Procurement regulations.
Products are guaranteed – our framework agreement incorporates all the latest required standards and procedures including British Standards (BS), European Standards (EN), International Standards (ISO) Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA), the leading furniture research and testing agency in the UK, to ensure all products supplied under this contract adhere to the very latest BS/EN/ISO standards as well as specific national legislation and NHS-specific procedures/policies.
FISP (Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme) membership – all suppliers meet environmental and corporate social responsibility obligations set by FISP – focusing on not just environmental issues but also purchasing, end of product life, social and community issues.
We care about sustainability and the environment – we selected suppliers with a strong track record in sustainable development for our framework. Wood and wood-based materials are obtained from well managed and sustainable forests and suppliers recycle and refurbish old furniture.
Free advice – our framework provides access to comprehensive and professional advice on any queries you may
have, from what is the correct task chair to purchase – to how to source bespoke items or match existing furniture. Not only that, but we can also provide you with trial products or arrange supplier visits.
DSE assessments – our suppliers have fully trained staff who can provide you with free onsite DSE assessments. Providing any immediate adjustments to existing equipment and offering recommendations of new products if necessary.
Design and layout planning – suppliers have teams of experienced staff who will work with you to maximise the space you have and make recommendations on any future requirements you may need. They can also help you maximise storage space.
Refurbishment – any design and layout planning will always incorporate the use of existing furniture where possible or required. Further reducing costs by refurbishing existing items as well as working towards sustainability targets by reducing wastage.
Project work assistance – when planning projects, suppliers are happy to come in person to discuss your options and help you plan your budgets. There is the option to send us your furniture requirements and we can help you facilitate a mini competition amongst the approved suppliers.
