What we do

The main goal for Rainbow is always to deliver a successful project which runs smoothly and provides clients with exactly what they are looking for.

To accomplish this we need to fully understand exactly what each client is trying to achieve with their project. In other word, what is the reason they are looking to change their space or purchase additional items?
Once we know this, we can suggest the best products to suit their needs.

Our independence means that we have no agenda in the products we suggest, other than getting the client exactly what they want and taking them where they want to be.

Often, we will suggest a selection of products that vary in their aesthetics and budgets to give our clients as much choice as possible. We will always review the pros and cons of each product in detail with them, so that they know the benefits for all our suggestions This is an important part of making sure everything will work perfectly for them before they place any orders.

Clients often have very specific requirements for certain parts of their projects, where off the shelf products will just not be suitable.

At Rainbow we have the ability to design products specifically to meet these needs and have them made in one of the many bespoke workshops we work closely with on a regular basis.

This means we can accommodate unique requirements and create special bespoke items that are often the most important or prominent part of a project.

When we work directly with end users, it is often the case that plans of the desired outcome will not exist. In order for Rainbow to deliver a successful project, we need to be sure the clients know exactly what the space will look like once everything has been installed, and more importantly, that everything they are looking to purchase will fit.

Rainbow have expert planners who can draw up the desired plans and show our clients how the furniture will fit once everything has been installed. This can then be tweaked and changed to ensure a perfect fit.

On some of our larger projects, we can also produce 3D renders illustrating what the space will look like. These are always very well received because not only does the project manager get to see the space before placing any orders, it also allows them to show it to anyone who will use each respective area. This allows for input from the users, and subsequently gets people excited for the completed project.

As Rainbow have been supplying furniture for over 30 years, we have established excellent purchasing power from our suppliers.

We pass this price benefit directly on to our clients so that our prices are always very competitive. Not only that, but we are also able to provide leasing contracts for the furniture if required. This has huge tax advantages as the payments are 100% tax deductible and means there is no large outlay of funds for the purchase; the payments are spread evenly over 36 or 60 months and everything can be budgeted as the charges are fixed for the length of the contract.

Whilst we are experts at commercial furniture, Rainbow recognise that in order for projects to be a success and the space created be very well received, other considerations need to be addressed.

Ergonomics have been an integral part of commercial furniture for more than 30 years. It is vital that the way people sit and work during the day adheres to the ergonomic guidelines and recommendations. These are in place to ensure everyone is comfortable in the workplace.

Another consideration are the acoustic values of a space. Open plan offices, collaboration spaces, larger kitchen areas, and informal meeting spaces have been around for a long time and have grown in use rapidly over the past few years. These are all recognised parts of the workplace landscape and have an important part to play in the modern office.

However, these can also be very noisy, thus creating a substantial distraction, especially as the design of offices incorporate hard surfaces – no carpet, revealed concrete ceilings, and stone surfaces etc.

Acoustics should always be a consideration for any space yet are only now beginning to play a more important role in modern offices and hospitality spaces, meaning that the relevant products have become more popular than ever.

Rainbow are able to provide expert advice in both Acoustics and Ergonomics as part of our service, meaning that not only do our projects look good, but they will be a pleasure to work in as well.

Technology has been the main driver for most of the changes in the workplace over the past 30 years and while this shift has been relentless it’s likely to  continue for the foreseeable future; as each new product is brought to market, offices use them for their benefit and this needs to be accommodated.

Rainbow recognise the importance of technology and the necessity for it in the workplace. More importantly, we understand the importance of getting the correct technology for the environment it is being used in.

We therefore provide consultancy on the two areas where technology interacts with the furniture;  AV in the meeting rooms, boardrooms, presentation areas and interaction spaces, as well as power and data throughout the workplace. We want to make sure the space works perfectly as well as looking good.

Understanding how a workplace flows is vital when creating a space that works smoothly and intuitively.

The A&D industry are well aware of this and it is an integral part of their offering, however, end users and direct clients do not always appreciate its importance.

Office occupancy has also been much underappreciated too, which is extraordinary as companies are charged per square foot or meter for their rent and rates, yet even before lockdown, average occupancy of a workspace was between 50-60%. If you walked through any office you would always have seen an abundance of empty desks because someone will always be on holiday, off ill, in meetings, at a client site or away from their desk for some reason or another, yet most companies always had one desk per person.

Now after covid the average occupancy will be even less, so an occupancy study and heat map of the workplace will show what the ratio of desks per people actually is in reality, plus where the hot/cold spots are in the office – the most used and underused spaces.

Once a company has this data, the office can then be changed and improved to take advantage of the findings. The end result will be a much more sensible use of space, maybe even a reduction of the area required – which can save a substantial amount of money. Changing the underused areas through clever design and the correct choice of products will then draw people to them.

Rainbow have an excellent workplace consultancy to ensure our clients make the best choices for their building and their people.

Rainbow have always understood and appreciated the importance of wellbeing in the workplace, both physical and mental, and this is something we consider when helping clients changing their workplaces.

One of the real positives to come from lockdown is the fact that this has become a consideration for most people and organisations due to its coverage in the media.

Wellbeing has many aspects to it, from incorporating natural materials and  plants into the workplace, which experts know has a positive impact on people’s mental wellbeing, to incorporating a gym, fitness studio, or a relaxation area for both physical and mental health benefits.

A well designed space that flows and has the ideal environments for people to complete their tasks is also important. Two examples of this are, having concentration spaces for people to work away from the noise of an open plan space when needed, and a place where people can make private or confidential calls. If someone needs to make a personal call and they have to make it in a place where they can be heard, this can lead to anxiety and stress.

Wellbeing can also be the provision of an independent councillor for people to talk to discuss issues and concerns with, or the provision of a full wellbeing program which looks at peoples, dietary, sleep and physical conditions.

All aspects of wellbeing are very important and will become even more so once the workplaces open up following the end of lockdown.

Rainbow can help with all aspects of wellbeing.

Furniture installation is obviously all part and parcel of Rainbows service when delivering new products. Our team of expert installers have decades of experience installing products from all over the world. Their quality, speed and experience is excellent and often complimented by our clients.

There is, however, much more to our service than simply installing new furniture.

Whilst companies do not continually purchase new products, they often change their workplaces for many reasons, such as increasing team sizes, new teams being created, new managers changing the way their teams work, or indeed companies changing the landscape of their workplace, which is very prominent at the moment.

Rainbow are pleased to help our clients with any changes and our expertise is often requested to ensure the process is handled in a professional manner with minimal inconvenience. These changes can be carried out during normal hours or just as easily outside normal hours, over the weekend or overnight, so that they are ready for when people return to the office.

This is an integral part of our business and is something we would be pleased to help anyone with, so if you have any changes planned, let us know and we will be happy to help.

As well as storing new furniture ready for an install, Rainbow also store furniture for clients who need product offsite for a short or long period of time.

There are many reasons why furniture needs to be stored, from downsizing, creating space for temporary projects, relocating, and as is happening at the moment, removing product for social distancing.

Whatever the reason a company needs to remove but keep furniture, Rainbow will be pleased to organise this service this for you.

Rainbow prides itself on the fact that we have our clients best interests in mind at all times. This is how we manage to forge such long term relationships with them because clients know they can trust us to continually give them the best help, advice, and support.

Part of this is our honesty, support, and expertise in refurbishing and reusing product where possible.

We have countless  examples of when Rainbow have been asked to supply new products for certain parts of a project. However, when we have seen the furniture the client are already using, we know that the best solution would be to refurbish them, particularly where they are using expensive or iconic pieces.

Our team of French polishers and experienced upholsterers can bring old products back to life and make them.

We very much enjoy giving a new lease of life to classic pieces and seeing them work well in a modern workplace, knowing we have also saved our client’s money and unnecessary waste.

Often clients will have a mixture of good and poor quality furniture in their workplace due to the time it was purchased, the budget spent and the use it has had. This means that many offices will have products that could be reused in the new workplace, some with little or no refurbishment required.

Rainbow are able to provide an inventory of a client’s furniture, detailing what the product is, a brief description, a location, a score of whether it can or cannot be reused, and an image fit for reference.

This document can then be used to assess how much product a client would like to keep or have environmentally disposed of and has proven to be very useful, particularly on larger projects.

With the change from paper filing to electronic filing happening at apace, there is a huge amount of redundant storage units within a workplace, or cabinets that are holding out of date items. This happens in all workplaces because it is uncommon for companies to carry out a huge clearance across the whole workplace at one time.

Rainbow provide a service where we will audit the entire physical storage within a workplace, noting all the cabinets, the type of storage they have, and what they are actually holding.

This is then used to determine how much storage is actually needed in the workplace and more often than not, the requirement for new cabinets is reduced significantly once this study has been carried out.

Not only will this save a company money because they will need to buy less cabinets than they thought, it also saves copious amounts of space.

Rainbow have always been very conscious of the environment and our commencement into ISO 14001 as well as our scheme to plant a tree for every order over £500 is testament to this.

So too is the way we help clients dispose of their old furniture.

We work with companies who will firstly try to find a new home for the existing furniture as reuse is by far the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of product.

If we are unable to find a home we will then recycle the furniture, breaking it down into its component parts. Wood, metal, glass, and some plastics can easily be recycled, as is the cardboard packaging that the new product will be wrapped in.

For any items that are not able to be recycled, we work with a company who have retained the recycling performance standard PAS 402:2013 for the past 5 years in a row.

They have an agreement to provide high grade RDF (refuse derived fuel) bales which are sent from Port of Sheerness on Kent to Oxelösund Port in East Sweden using return sea freight journeys. It is then supplied to the Fortum owned Hogdalen energy-from-waste (EFW) facility in Stockholm. This plant, for which our recycle company supplies approximately 30% of the fuel, produces 2,174 GWh heat and 197 GWh electricity each year. This is enough to heat and power 20,000 homes in South Stockholm.

This means that none of the waste from Rainbow’s projects ends up in landfill, a fact we are very proud of.