Working sustainably

Environmental vigilance
We have, for decades, been concerned with the impact our business operations have on our surrounding environment and actively look for more sustainable, environmentally friendly ways of operating. We think hard and logically about the best ways of doing everything... from the materials that we source to the transport that delivers your product - we care about it.

There are physical limits to the resources of the Earth (both in terms of generating materials and absorbing wastes), and any business activity exceeding such limits is, by definition, unsustainable. Furthermore, there are ethical and social components to sustainable development for which businesses should be accountable. These extend far beyond the legislative compliance.

Profitability through environmentally friendly operations...
When reducing environmental impact, profitability should naturally increase. Both require companies to monitor every aspect of their operations. Reducing the energy used, materials sourced and even the time taken to complete projects.

Competitive advantage
We believe that being ahead of environmental government legislation has held us in good stead. Being actively vigilant, not through necessity but through environmental concern, we’ve grown organically into recent legislation demands. We’ve not had to adopt new standards in a hurry; we were already there, doing it. This will keep us competitive - our costs are low and we have trusted environmental practices (not just policies) in place.

Together with our Guiding Principles, Futurama has taken steps to actively create a more environmentally sound operation. Stringent product design and manufacturing processes have been put in place, environmental responsibility is treated as a design objective, not a constraint.

Our resources
All resources at Futurama come together and work to improve the greenness and the fundamental strategic soundness of each of these aspects, within every programme and every product we create. Futurama is fortunate to have collaborated with Brunel University’s engineers and advisors. They have guided us for many years as to the best manufacturing techniques, the most economically sound design methods, the environmental effectiveness of the materials that we use and our construction and assembly methods.

Our strategy
Employing Brunel’s engineering graduates within our Design and Project Management departments means that we are able to have this valuable resource to hand and at every stage. And as always, our Researchers and Buyers are on the look out constantly for new environmentally friendly and cost effective materials and suppliers.
For every product we create, we conduct a uniformed inquiry developed to probe every corner of the environmental sustainability of the product. It is from this interrogation of every product that we are able to analyse and evaluate the environmental performance of the following areas of the product’s life;

• Design
• Manufacture
• Materials
• Recycling & afterlife
• Maintenance & running costs
• Delivery (distribution & installation)

Product inquiry examples;

• Has the material thickness been reduced where possible (without impacting on design)?
• Has the specification on unseen materials been reduced?
• Have all unnecessary components been designed-out?
• Are specified materials available in the UK?

Transfer of principles
Not every company has the same environmental perspective or understanding that we do. Transferring our principles and ensuring they are being acted upon is a big responsibility for us.

We ensure that our suppliers are very aware of our ethos and how we like to ideally conduct our operations. Our suppliers are asked to consult us for advice before changing the way they supply to us. Strict processes are outlined within contracts where we have an influence.

Outcomes and benefits
With Futurama, you will have an end product that has been stripped down to the bare essentials and re-designed according to environmental objectives. It will be environmentally and value engineered to get the best possible price for the least environmental effect.

A reduction in project time frames through manufacture is usually also a result of our engineering process, as well as a drop in cost, resource usage and energy consumption. Recycling rates will improve and the longevity of the product will be greatly improved.