Over 230 guests attended FIRA’s annual House of Lords event, hosted by Lord Hoyle of Warrington, earlier his month. FIRA COO Phil Reynolds says: “The night was a great success, with thanks again to Lord Hoyle for hosting and to everyone involved in the organisation of the event. During the past year we have been focusing on consolidating our services and strengthening our team of experts. We have welcomed 40 new FIRA members, achieved a 9% rise in membership for The Furniture Ombudsman, and FIRA Service Technicians added new clients.
“This event provides a fantastic opportunity to meet our new members and catch up with long-standing members, associates, clients and friends. I look forward to working with them in the coming months.”
During the speeches by Phil, FIRA council chairman Michael Powell, and Lord Hoyle of Warrington, it was also mentioned that FIRA has made several new appointments in testing, ergonomics, consultancy and marketing departments.
FIRA took the opportunity to present awards and certifications on the night, including the Innovation Award, Ergonomics Excellence, FIRA Gold Certification and the Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme (FISP) Certification.
The winners of the Innovation Award were: Blum UK, for the Clip Top Blumotion hinge; Flute Office, for the FlutePro Desk; project:ff&e, for the Fortis range of kitchen products, Fortis fascia panels, Fortis worktop jointing strip and Fortis worktop liquid director; and Vita Cellular Foams (UK) with Westmeria Healthcare, for their mattress and cover treated with Microban.
The winners of the Ergonomics Excellence Award were: Dataflex, for its Viewlite Plus monitor arm; Ergonomic Café, for the Arrow tablet stand; Humanscale, for its M/flex monitor arm; and Interstuhl, for the Movy chair.
In addition, Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme (FISP) certification was awarded to Connection Seating.
FIRA Gold Installation Certification was awarded to: Contract Kitchens (New Milton) for kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms – the first Independent Retailer Scheme member; Chaucer Furniture Logistics, for office interiors – the first member in this new sector; and Mark Two Distributions, for kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms.
FIRA Gold Product Certification was awarded to: Symphony, for the Aquadi bathroom range – the first in this new sector; and Wilsonart, for its Earthstone ange of solid surface worktops.
