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King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls Academy – Case Study

The brief

YPO was tasked with sourcing and delivering sustainable furniture for the redevelopment of King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls Academy in Birmingham. The project involved a new three-storey secondary school for 1,100 students aged 11 to 16, alongside a sixth-form college. A key objective of the redevelopment was to achieve a zero-carbon operations target through innovative design and technology, with furniture solutions that complement the building’s credentials and the school’s ethos.

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The challenge

The primary challenge was to provide furniture that not only met the functional needs of a large, modern educational environment but also supported the school’s ambitious sustainability goals. This included ensuring materials were recyclable or made from recycled content, minimising waste through sustainable packaging, and considering the long‑term lifecycle of each product to reduce future replacement requirements.

The process

YPO began with initial discussions focused on understanding the school’s sustainability priorities and the building credentials. A variety of furniture options were sourced, and samples were provided to support decision‑making. After face-to-face and online meetings, YPO produced a full design and quotation package, which was ordered and installed by the team, whilst liaising with the school and main contractor.

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The outcome

YPO provided furniture for:

Classrooms, offices and meeting rooms
The school dining room
SEN provision
Technology rooms, library shelving and other areas.

Products supplied included classroom chairs, manufactured from 30 percent recycled and fully recyclable materials. Similarly, all classroom tables were 100 percent recyclable, using fabric to create operators’ chairs and sofas generated from 100 percent, post-consumer recycled polyester. Packaging was always sustainable and disposed of using the main contractors’ eco-waste systems. Throughout, YPO factored in the furniture’s life cycle - plus the capability to repair, rather than replace, in future. Finally, YPO’s package included the repositioning of existing technology machinery, upgrading, plus the supply and delivery of new machinery where necessary.

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