NFS opens doors to new warehouse

A Newcastle furniture company has relocated to a brand new £3.6m warehouse in Newburn Riverside.

Newcastle Furniture Service (NFS), which is the largest furnished tenancy provider in the UK, moved into its new 50,000 sq ft premises on Friday 14 January 2011 after a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the Lord Mayor.

The Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) managed organisation was set up in 1989 and has since given social housing tenants much-needed support by providing them with furniture to help them set up their homes.

NFS provides all types of furniture including kitchen fittings, beds and sofas and it identifies furniture packages for each individual customer, depending upon their needs.

Almost 9,000 tenants across the city are supported by NFS and around two thirds of these are YHN customers. Its reputation for quality has led to a recent surge in contracts and a large increase in staff. At present, 80 staff are employed by NFS – a rise of almost 300 per cent since 2006.

Jason Wylie, business services manager at NFS, said: “Over the last five years our external contracts have more than doubled and the new warehouse will give us the extra space and capability to continue to grow whist improving the service we offer to current clients.

“We’re also really excited about opening our new training and conference centre within the warehouse. It consists of a state of the art IT suite as well as four multi-purpose training rooms and will be used to develop our staff and for YHN tenant and community days. Independent organisations will also be able to hire the centre for events and functions from April.”

NFS currently makes over 1,000 deliveries every month and it has already secured a contract from outside the region, in Wakefield. Its expansion has not gone unnoticed by furniture companies in Liverpool and Wales, which have been looking to NFS for advice and guidance.

YHN chief executive, John Lee, said: “NFS enables thousands of customers including many YHN tenants, to live comfortably in homes that are furnished to an excellent standard.

“The recognition which it has received from around the UK is an accurate reflection of the fantastic work put in by everyone at NFS and national expansion in the future is a strong possibility.”