A Revitalized City Hall: Sustainable Office Furniture for Grandview, MO

We are proud of this sustainable office furniture project for the City of Grandview that lasted 18 months.   Main Street in Grandview Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, is a city center highlighted by restaurants and businesses that are representative of the foundation and energy of the community.  To navigate this area, traffic lights are visibly present to manage the flow of vehicles and pedestrians.

However, a new “intersection” was recently installed that may have gone unnoticed…and is representative of both good financial and environmental stewardship on behalf of Grandview city officials.

A Grandview city hall project was recently completed and reflects a crossroads of sorts to use sound practices to reuse office furniture that otherwise would have been landfilled with the added benefit of significant cost savings.  This “reuse” approach to redeploy office furniture has grown in practice in recent years as compared to the purchase of alternative, higher-cost options.  It is directly comparable to the value of a pre-owned automobile as compared to a new model purchased from a dealer lot.

Remanufactured Office Furniture

When executed with the assistance of experienced professional furniture remanufacturers and office furniture  installers, the “look and feel” of the remanufacturered office furniture is often indistinguishable from costly new alternatives. This is important as a sustainable, circular economy demands that little in way of concessions should be accepted for any end user.

Our client on the project was the city architect, Jim Clay.   Jim had hired Benson Method as owner representatives for the project.  They located used Steelcase cubicles and other office furniture from Value Health in Overland Park. Value Health was moving and by covering the cost of the office furniture removal the City was able to use the cubicles, desks, files, tables and chairs for swing spaces. Then, some of the office furniture was designated to be refreshed once city hall was updated.

Used Steelcase Cubicles Before the Refresh

We were responsible to give the cubicles a fresh new look with new upholstery. During a very hot July 2023, we moved the cubicles, desks, and conference tables to a warehouse for storage. The city began moving out of their building for the remodel. From October – December, city employees were relocated to multiple locations in Grandview.   With each move, Jim would create a lay-out.  Then, we would pull the furniture out of storage and install the furniture for that particular location.

Remanufactured Cubicles

In December 2023, the city employees voted for the new fabric for the remanufactured cubicles. James had narrowed the selection down to 5 fabrics. We ordered the fabric and recovered one panel in each fabric. Once the votes were calculated, we had an overwhelming winner.

Remanufactured Cubicle Panels for City Employees to Vote

After 10 months of construction, it was finally time to do a walk thru of the new space. The refurbished Steelcase cubicles look fabulous is the new space.

Sustainability Initiatives

The Grandview City Hall project represents the commitment to sustainability initiatives.  It is arguably the most tangible and visible project to date.  Under the leadership of Jim, 194 cubicle panels in City Hall were refurbished and refreshed.

According to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Calculator, the project avoided disposal of over 46,600 pounds of material and reduction in at least 77,500 pounds of CO2 emissions.  This does not include the emissions and consumption of raw materials, power associated with new furniture purchase.

Apart from these shared costs, Grandview benefits from the reduction in hard dollars spent from this sustainable approach.

“Any time we can gain a ‘win-win’ for our City with regard to responsible, sustainable procurement plans for the benefit of our constituents and our larger community, it is one that we will commit to easily.  We are quite proud of what we have achieved here.” – Jim Clay City of Grandview Architect

Now complete, Grandview’s City Hall and its staff are positioned to receive citizens at this new intersection of regular municipal business and fulfillment of a sustainable office furniture project.  The city is proud of the sustainability impact and cost-conscious mindset.

If you are interested in working with us on a similar project, please contact us.

We also have the video version of this amazing project!