LOFT® Levelling Up: How Strategic Consolidation Drives Growth in Our 23rd Year

The operational benefits of this consolidation are transformative. A single, purpose-built facility eliminates the inefficiencies inherent in managing separate locations. Our teams will no longer navigate between sites for meetings, stock checks, or project coordination. Information flows more freely when everyone occupies the same space, reducing communication lag and accelerating decision-making.

From a logistics perspective, the advantages are substantial. Centralised inventory management means improved stock visibility, faster order processing, and more agile responses to client requirements. Our distribution capabilities expand significantly—what once required coordination across multiple warehouses now happens seamlessly from a single, strategically located hub in Trafford Park, one of the UK's premier industrial estates with excellent transport links across the North West and beyond.

This enhanced logistics capability directly translates to better service for our clients. Faster turnaround times, improved order accuracy, and more reliable delivery schedules become the standard rather than the exception. For our partners across the BTR, PBSA, PRS, and co-living sectors, this means projects stay on track and residents move in on time - every time.

Perhaps nowhere is the impact of this move more visible than in our environmental, social, and governance credentials. The contrast between our current Victorian Bus Depot and the new facility at Longwood Estate couldn't be starker.

Our new warehouse boasts an EPC rating of A - representing best-in-class energy efficiency. Solar panels on the roof will generate renewable energy, directly powering our operations and reducing our carbon footprint. Electric vehicle charging points, set to be installed on site, support our transition to a zero-emission fleet whilst enabling our team members to make sustainable transport choices.

But the ESG benefits extend well beyond the building itself. Consolidation eliminates duplicate utilities consumption across multiple sites. We'll dramatically reduce fuel consumption from internal logistics - no more vans shuttling between warehouse and HQ. Single-site heating, lighting, and water systems operate far more efficiently than maintaining multiple facilities.

The benefits of bringing our entire team under one roof extend far beyond operational metrics. Company culture thrives on human connection, spontaneous collaboration, and shared purpose—all of which flourish when people work together in the same space.

Our design, sales, marketing, operations, and warehouse teams will finally occupy the same building. The designer discussing a new concept can walk over to the warehouse team to understand production constraints. Sales colleagues can bring clients to see our operations firsthand, demonstrating our capabilities rather than simply describing them. Marketing gains immediate insight into what's happening across the business, ensuring our communications remain grounded in operational reality.

Our clients don't simply need furniture suppliers - they need lifecycle partners who can scale with their ambitions, respond to evolving requirements, and deliver consistently across multiple projects and portfolios.

The Longwood Estate facility positions LOFT to be exactly that partner. Enhanced operational capacity means we can handle larger projects, manage multiple concurrent installations, and maintain higher stock levels to support rapid deployment when needed. Improved efficiency translates to better value - we can invest savings from consolidation into service enhancements, product development, and the client experience.

The stability and professionalism of a modern, purpose-built facility also signals our long-term commitment to the sector. We're not a transient supplier operating from temporary arrangements - we're an established business investing significantly in infrastructure to serve our clients for decades to come.

For partners like Grainger, Get Living, Unite Students, and the numerous BTR and co-living operators we work with, this matters. Projects increasingly span years from concept to completion, with ongoing relationships extending well beyond initial furnishing. Our clients need confidence that their partners will not only deliver today but will still be there - and still be excellent - five, ten, or twenty years from now.

The significance of this move extends beyond immediate operational improvements. Consolidation creates capacity for expansion. A larger, more efficient facility doesn't just serve our current business - it provides headroom for growth.

As the UK Living Sector continues to evolve, with institutional investment in BTR and co-living accelerating and student accommodation remaining robust, demand for our services continues to expand. Our international operations—particularly our established presence in China through our Ningbo office and our new Hong Kong entity, LOFT Living Global - are opening new markets and opportunities.

The Longwood Estate facility gives us the operational foundation to capitalise on these opportunities. We can scale production, expand our product range, and take on larger, more complex projects without the constraints that limited us previously. This isn't just about being bigger - it's about being better positioned to serve the sophisticated needs of modern institutional clients.

In many ways, this move represents LOFT coming of age. Twenty-three years ago, we started with a £15,000 student loan and a vision to do things differently in the furniture sector. We've grown to 150+ employees across offices in Manchester, London, China, Dubai, and Hong Kong. We've furnished over 150,000 properties whilst maintaining a 98% waste diversion rate. We've developed proprietary solutions like our FLEX Living collection and the NESTBLOK modular system, now nominated for multiple design awards.

But growth creates complexity, and complexity can become a constraint. The fragmentation across multiple sites in Manchester was a legacy of incremental expansion - understandable in context but ultimately limiting.

Moving to Longwood Estate isn't abandoning our roots; it's providing our business with the infrastructure it needs to fulfil its potential. It's the physical manifestation of our evolution from a scrappy startup to an established leader in the UK Living Sector.

LOFT specialises in the UK Living Sector, providing furniture, interior design, and lifecycle partnership services across Build-to-Rent, student accommodation, co-living, and social housing. For more information about our capabilities and how we can support your next project, visit www.loft.co.uk