Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has saved more than £152,000 by reusing 760 desks, thanks to a project led by its Facilities Team.

Instead of buying new desks, the team replaced only the desktops, keeping the chromed steel frames. The "Newton desktop replacement project" also diverted 5320kg of waste from landfill. 

The project is part of the Facilities Team’s broader commitment to sustainability. They use the Warp It platform to track both the monetary and environmental savings of furniture reuse. This project marks their most significant achievement to date.

Tony Parr, NTU Facilities Coordinator, oversaw the project. He said:

“As part of my annual survey of furniture in teaching and open spaces, I found there was a need to replace the ageing tables in the Newton building. As the main teaching building on the Nottingham Trent University (NTU) city campus, it has a high turnover of teaching. The original teaching tables were ordered at great expense as part of the multimillion-pound update back in 2008.

Rather than replacing the entire desks, Tony used his knowledge of the building’s refit, recognising the table frames were still in excellent condition. He estimated replacing the tables entirely would have cost £250 to £300 each but, by fitting new tops instead, he reduced the cost to about £80 per desk. His decision also saved around five tonnes of steel.

Tony said:

“The frames were high-quality and didn’t need replacing. I don’t like wasting money or sending items to landfill, especially when the cost of like-for-like replacements would have been extremely high. Also, metal costs were expensive, which would have been reflected in supplier quotes.”

Following this success, Tony has begun discussions with the NTU’s Capital Development Team about expanding the reuse of furniture from other refits and clear-outs. 

Tony continued:

“In addition to the Newton Project, we have reused 44 expensive desks for smaller projects across the City Campus as well as tambour units and bookcases. Working alongside Sarah King in Capital Projects we have also set up an inventory of items available for use by project managers. Anything not required is then uploaded to Warp It for use by staff across the university campuses.”

Warp It has been key to NTU’s sustainability efforts, helping the university avoid 37,377kg of waste and achieve total savings of more than £321,000 across all campuses.

Read our guide to reuse.

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