The UK’s largest on demand, carbon neutral, clearance and recycling company is to move to new headquarters in Birmingham and pilot a pioneering project.
Letting 22,000 sq ft at IM Properties’ The Hub scheme in Witton, Clearabee’s move follows a growth in turnover over the past eight years to £24m, to place it in the FT 1000’s Fastest Growing Companies in Europe for four years running, employing nearly 300 people.
The pioneering new sofa recycling project will give new life to old sofas by repairing and relabelling, ready to reuse.
Clearabee operates nationwide and its sustainable approach to clearance and easy to book, online system has been instrumental in driving the business forward. It aims to recycle over 95 per cent of all materials it collects.
It offsets the carbon used in its business operation by creating new native woodlands in Scotland, Cumbria and its latest near Worcester, will see nearly 20,000 trees planted to date.
Rob Linton operations director and co-founder of Clearabee said the close proximity of The Hub to Birmingham city centre and the motorway network had played a crucial role in its decision to move to the prime industrial and distribution park.
“The Hub is easily accessible and offers excellent connectivity, which is ideal for our team and the new sofa recycling centre, as we aim to be as efficient as possible in our miles travelled.
“The new facility will provide both offices and a workshop space to repurpose the sofas we collect, assisting in promoting a circular economy and helping to plug the five per cent we have previously been unable to recycle at licenced centres.”
Linton continued: “The project is a personal passion for both myself and the co-founder of the business, Danny Long, and helps ensure we all play our part in trying to be more responsible with our waste and where possible repurposing pre-loved furniture items.”
Richard Sykes from IM Properties said: “Clearabee highlights a new genre of companies understanding the need to be more sustainable and make a positive impact on the environment from its business processes”.
“It also underlines the success of The Hub for attracting some of the biggest names in distribution and our ability to invest in and asset manage high quality schemes, delivering quality employment opportunities for the surrounding communities.”
The Clearabee letting follows close behind Network Rail acquiring 30,000 sq ft at The Hub to provide storage and distribution space for its Design and Civils Delivery Team and create a new Apprentice Academy.
The Hub’s agents are the Birmingham offices of CBRE, Darby Keye and Savills.