Delivering Sustainable Workspaces Through Circular Procurement – BOF Group Ltd

Although public sector organisations expressed strong interest in reuse and refurbishment furniture solutions, uptake remained low due to fragmentation, unclear routes to procurement, and operational barriers.

To address BOF, a familyrun business with 40 years of experience, explored how to align sustainable furniture solutions with public sector priorities, including carbon reduction, budget pressures, and compliance requirements. Through engagement with Welsh Government, local authorities, estates teams, and sustainability leads, BOF mapped the systemic issues preventing scalable circular procurement across the Welsh public sector.

This insight revealed the need for a single, integrated service that removed complexity, reduced administrative burden, and made sustainable options as easy to procure as buying new. This formed the foundation for BOF’s pioneering approach to designing sustainable workspaces and reshaped how the public sector accesses circular solutions.

To address the challenge BOF implemented a fully integrated “OneStop Shop” for furniture reuse, refurbishment, relocation, and new supply, ensuring sustainable options became simple, accessible, and fully compliant.

The development of new refurbishment facility in Merthyr Tydfil enabled in-house reupholstery, remanufacturing, and lifecycle extension services helping to supporting local employment and SMEs. This approach introduced the principle of “New Furniture as a Last Resort,” enabling BOF to prioritise reuse while still offering high-quality new items only when essential. BOF’s designers integrated reused furniture directly into Building Information Modelling software, seamlessly combining reused and new assets. To support this BOF’s designers seamlessly integrate reused furniture, combining reused and the new assets.

A major factor in the ‘One-stop-shop’ success was the creation of a simple and efficient customer journey. Customers only need to upload photos, and BOF provides a quote within 48 hours. BOF oversees the entire process including audits, inventory management, logistics, and donation routes. The BOF service was developed by working in collaboration with the Welsh Government to ensure full alignment with procurement frameworks, sustainability goals, and operational requirements.

The integrated model has delivered significant carbon savings, cost reductions, and social value for public sector clients with reuse, refurbishment, and donation initiatives diverting thousands of items from landfill while reducing procurement spend and demonstrating compliance with netzero commitments.

The approach has also strengthened community impact through donations, local employment, apprenticeships, and partnerships with charities. The circulareconomy Eco Shop provides accessible, sustainable furniture at scale, while the ‘New Furniture as a Last Resort’ ethos has become a practical benchmark for sustainable procurement. By embedding sustainability into every stage, from design to delivery, BOF has created a model that is now adopted by more than 30 organisations and supported Wales’s overall progress towards net zero.