Premiere Kitchens News Feed All the latest news from Premiere Kitchens, including new ranges and exciting developments. http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php Government woody biomass subsidies forcing raw material costs up throughout the Furniture Industry One of the most pressing concerns as a furniture manufacturer is the problem of increasing wood prices and the impact this is having on margins and competitiveness.

In the past five years wood prices have risen by 55.1 per cent, this has been mainly due to the Government woody biomass subsidy to Forestry owners.

The All Party Parliamentary Furniture Industry Group chaired by Stephen McPartland MP in association with FIRA, The BFC & several of the country’s leading manufacturers & sheet material producers have produced a report & recommendations to change the current subsidy to prevent it damaging UK manufacturers and retailers.

There are a number of measures outlined in this report the Government could adopt to improve the outcome for industries using substantial quantities of wood.

The past few years have seen a rising trend in the price of wood that has become increasingly difficult for users of wood throughout the supply chain to absorb. These pressures have become the chief concern of both the UK wood panel and furniture industries as they seek to remain competitive and profitable in an uncertain economic climate.

This timely report sets out how the current woody biomass subsidies are a significant cause of rising wood prices which are damaging British furniture businesses. Its publication provides an opportunity to find an appropriate solution that would remove a considerable obstacle for the furniture industry. I look forward to working with the industry and the Government over the coming months to find a way to resolve this ongoing concern.

For several decades, wood was bought by user industries on a competitive basis. The competitive
Market began to be undermined in 2002 by the Government’s introduction of a subsidy to compensate electricity generators for burning renewable fuel, which included wood and wood products. The subsidy is paid by consumers through their electricity bills.

There is a downloadable PDF of the entire report available here:
http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/pdf/biomass-government-report.pdf
http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php?id=15 Premiere passes ISO14001 Annual Compliance Audit Premiere are pleased to announce that it has successfully passed its annual ISO14001 Environmental compliance audit through BM Trada without a single minor or major non-conformance.

Premiere was complemented on the quality & integrity of its systems & environmental achievements during the previous 12 months.

We were cited by our auditor as one of the best examples he had seen in many years, using ISO14001 to drive clearly visible & evidenced improvements throughout our business.
http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php?id=14 A new kitchen for Community Green The Greenwich social services day centre users and staff of Community Green had a nice surprise when they arrived at their centre Monday morning, a brand new kitchen. Supplied by Premiere and fitted by the Greenwich Apollo team.

Community Green is a day centre for young and older adults with learning disabilities where the service users can take part in various arts, crafts and socialise. The Greenwich Apollo team had become firm friends with the staff and service users after hosting two Christmas discos, a summer Hawaiian themed picnic and hosting a ‘design your own T shirt’ workshop.

Once the old kitchen had been completely removed, and plumbing and electrical work completed, Apollo‘s Scott McNeil, Tadas Murauskas and Ricky McNeil set to work fitting the new units and worktops kindly supplied free of charge courtesy of Premiere Kitchens.

The kitchen was officially opened by Greenwich Councillor and Cabinet Member for Health for adults and older people Peter Kotz, with Apollo Divisional Manager Brian Stern, Project Manager Dick Bessent and from Premiere Kitchens Marc Zbinden and Jamie DeOliveira.

The community Green service users had prepared a selection of cakes in their new kitchen for their guests and created some personalised gifts for Apollo and Premiere to mark the occasion and say thank you.


“I would like to thank Apollo and Premiere for the
work they’ve done, not just by donating this
fantastic kitchen but also the work they’ve done
with people with learning difficulties. It’s good to
see true collaboration between Greenwich Council
and private companies like Apollo doing so much
for local communities.”

Peter Kotz.
Greenwich Councillor.


“I wanted to thank Apollo and Premiere from
the bottom of my heart for all your kindness
and consideration towards us. Myself and all
the service users and staff really do appreciate
all that you do for us and all the amazing
things you have done for us in the past. The
new kitchen will really open up a new world for
the service users and help to teach them
hygiene and food preparation skills helping
them to be more independent.”

Fran Dalton.
Community Green.
http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php?id=13 Premiere achieves ISO9001 Quality Standard Premiere is pleased to announce that it has successfully achieved the ISO9001 Quality Standard.

Combined with our FIRA Gold Award, this re-enforces our total commitment to providing our customers with superior, quality products & service.
http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php?id=12 Premiere Kitchens passes annual FIRA Gold Award audit Premiere Kitchens are proud to announce that we have successfully passed our annual FIRA Gold Award external audit without any minor or major non-conformances.

The FIRA Gold Award Standard combined with out ISO9001 Quality Management system re-enforces our total commitment to providing our customers with superior quality products & service.

http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php?id=7 Premiere Kitchens awarded National Recycling Star Gold Award Premiere Kitchens are proud to have been awarded the National Recycling Star Gold Award further demonstrating our total commitment to sustainability & recycling initiatives in respect of our manufacturing processes, products & service. http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php?id=9 WOODWORKING NEWS Vol 26: FIRA's New Showcase Kitchen Helps Train Technicians At FIRA's Stevenage headquarters a new state-of-the-art kitchen has been installed, with the aim of providing an area for FIRA Service Technicians and FIRA consultants to learn how the latest kitchen technology has developed and to use their understanding in their work in the field.

The kitchen was provided by sponsors Premiere, Blum, iGlass and Sensio Furniture Lighting Solutions.

Premiere Kitchens, manufacturer of quality kitchens for the public sector housing market, provided kitchen units, doors, the worktops and the sinks and taps. The kitchen units feature Blum's new Aventos Servo- Drive, aimed at high end kitchen studios and manufacturers, which allows a handle-free design in conjunction with the proven Blumotion soft close facility. Blum also helped with the overall design and layout of the kitchen.

Sensio provided the ceiling and pelmet lighting and iGlass the glass splash back.

Jonny Westbrooke, chief operating officer at FIRA, said "We're delighted with our new kitchen, which we'll be using to help train our Service Technicians and consultants about the latest kitchen equipment and installation. Many thanks to all our sponsors for their support".

www.fira.co.uk



http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news.php?id=10 Premiere Kitchen News available as RSS feed From today, Premiere Kitchens are offering a news feed in the popular RSS feed format. You can set up this feed in a number of readers, and see all the latest Premiere Kitchen news as it happens.

http://www.premierekitchens.co.uk/news-rss.php

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