Sustainability overview
With over 50 years of experience we understand the importance of operating in a responsible, sustainable manner. We have always taken our responsibilities to the environment seriously and are committed to playing our part by learning, innovating and implementing sustainable actions to limit our impact on the planet.
With our furniture being timber based we ensure that the wood we use is sourced from responsibly managed forests and is FSC® certified. We also strive to include recycled content where we can. Our cabinet chipboard is manufactured from 66% recycled content, our door and drawer fronts include ranges with various levels of recycled content, with a selection of finishes offering 100% recycled board and foils made from 70% recycled PET (used plastic bottles).
The design and construction of Symphony’s state-of-the-art manufacturing and Head Office facilities incorporated BREEAM standards, including high levels of insulation and energy efficiency.
BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings. Our facility uses a sophisticated dali zoned lighting system in the office and warehouse areas. This detects occupancy, daylight and dimming to ensure best electrical energy use in busy areas, whilst the use of LED lights further conserves electricity.
Following the inclusion of a biomass boiler in our new factory, the Barnsley head office and manufacturing site is now fuelled by two of the largest biomass fired boilers in the UK. Our boilers are fed with wood waste from our manufacturing operations, which is stored in a 500m3 storage silos. We employ 100% recirculation systems to optimise waste and minimise emissions.
All cabinets are FIRA Gold Certified.
All our cabinets are independently verified by FIRA International and have the FIRA Gold Product Certification. This indicates that our high quality products provide a consistent level of performance, and are tested against all relevant British and European Standards, including; structural performance, safety, stability, ergonomics, finish performance, effects of atmosphere (moisture, humidity and temperature), flammability and workmanship.
All the timber-based products used in our
furniture are sourced with full FSC® certification.
This ensures that the wood comes from a well managed forest that is run in accordance with strict environmental, social, and economic standards. Symphony became the first in the industry to be certified with a full Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) chain of custody and we are
committed to supporting international systems of timber
sourcing from independently verified well managed forests.
Water Based Paints.
We have led the way in the quality of our paint finishing and the early adoption of water-based paints. We are proud to have been the first large British furniture manufacturer to have successfully converted all our paint finishes from solvent to an environmentally friendlier water-based option, for all our in-house paint to order ranges.
Our cabinet construction embraces the ‘Repair, Not Replace’ ethos.
Our ‘cam and dowel’ construction method provides the significant environmental benefit of enabling any component on a Symphony cabinet to be replaced if any damage occurs in the products lifetime. This means less material is used for replacements and less waste finds its way to landfill.
The Symphony fleet of vehicles is amongst the most fuel efficient on Britain’s roads, due to the inclusion of Bluetec Euro 6 Mercedes Actros delivery vehicles.
These utilise the latest fuel technology, converting nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen and water, reducing emissions and keeping our air cleaner. Careful loading and detailed journey planning keep mileage, and therefore emissions, to a minimum. All Symphony furniture is electronically scanned on to the vehicle, to ensure that everything is correct, and scanned off at point of delivery. We can therefore confidently guarantee delivery accuracy – first time, every time.
Hybrid Car Fleet.
April 2021 saw the introduction of hybrid electric cars in our company car fleet. In March 2024, we hit our target of 75% of the car fleet being hybrid/electric.