Second-hand items are being given a new lease of life by designers and renovators in Trafford
Hidden in Trafford is a treasure trove of reclaimed furniture, one-of-a-kind antiques and unique collectables ready to be lovingly restored and refurbished, then sold on to a new home – with all the money raised going to a suite of charities and community organisations.
This incredible example of the circular economy in action is the brainchild of SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (made up of the 10 Greater Manchester councils and the Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham). The Greater Manchester Renew Hub spans over 5000m2 and holds thousands of items donated from across the region.
The Hub, nestled in a unit in Trafford Park, sells an average of 1,500 donated items every week – from bikes, toys and collectables to sofas, furniture and decorative accessories.
On my tour of the normally private Hub I spotted a mid-century leather sofa, teak dining chairs waiting to be reupholstered, a 1960s record cabinet and vintage table lamps. All these items are either waiting for the talents of the upcycling team, or ready for sale via the Hub’s three shops or its online click-and-collect store. There’s even a pair of vintage aeroplane seats waiting for a groovy new setting.
‘All the items that come through the Renew Hub are given new homes, with many having been lovingly restored by our expert team,’ says SUEZ contract manager Daniel Carolan. ‘When creating the vision for the Hub, one of the main objectives was to showcase the enormous, and at that point untapped, potential of reuse and repair in the region. We wanted Greater Manchester to become the leading example of what can happen when we focus on refurbishing discarded items, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We want this project to act as a blueprint for others to follow.’
Items are set aside at recycling centres across Greater Manchester, then brought to the Hub to be sorted. Some are simply cleaned up and sent on to the three shops – in Altrincham, Eccles and Oldham – while others head to one of the upcycling pods. Here, a team of woodworkers, upholsterers, painters, electricians and more work to renew, refurbish and restore each item.
‘I love working with wooden items,’ says upcycler Carol Hayes. ‘The Hub is doing something really special here, something I’ve not seen or heard of anywhere else. We’re restoring beautiful items of furniture, removing layers upon layers of waxes and stains to reveal the natural grain and then upcycling them with the interior designers. It’s very rewarding to watch a piece develop from an unloved block of wood to a stunning piece of unique furniture.
‘It’s incredibly fulfilling to be part of such an important project; I love giving new life to pre-loved items and seeing them fulfil their potential,’ she adds.
Carol is just one of the upcyclers here. Upholstery is done in partnership with Patch Perfect Academy, where qualified upholsterer Paul Cunliffe strips back, repairs and reupholsters donated items of furniture, ensuring they are fire-safe and ready for sale. Some fabrics are donated via local businesses as well as local designers, such as Avalana, a Chorlton-based designer specialising in stunning hand-painted wallpapers and soft furnishings.
Any items that aren’t able to be repaired or upcycled have their parts and wood salvaged to be made into new items so that as many pieces are reused as possible.
There are also partnerships with Manchester Bike Kitchen, which takes charge of the hundreds of bikes passing through the Hub’s doors, and with the charity Recycling Lives. This social enterprise aims to reduce reoffending by helping former offenders learn a trade. Recycling Lives take ownership of all the donated electrical items here – from fridges to microwaves.
They work with a qualified mechanic to test and repair electrical items so that the items can be sold on. ‘It’s really important to us that we run community partnerships like those with Recycling Lives,’ explains Daniel. ‘The whole ethos behind the Hub is that it gives something back to the community; partnering up with charities and businesses is just one way we can do that.’
The other way the Hub gives back to the community is through its sales. Because it’s run as a partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the Renew Hub operates as a not-for-profit. All the money generated from the sale of items goes back to the community. Every year £100,000 is donated to the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity and a minimum of £220,000 goes to the Recycle for Greater Manchester community fund, funding community projects focused on reducing waste.
At the same time, items are set aside for collection by local charities to give to those most in need. ‘We send everything from beds to bikes to local charities to help them get people back on their feet,’ says Daniel.
‘There’s a growing trend towards thriftiness and a greater awareness of the impact that buying new has on our planet, which is brilliant to see,’ says councillor Martyn Cox, GMCA lead for the environment and waste & recycling. ‘Giving things a new lease of life through expert repair and upcycling is very on trend right now, and the Hub has got that down to a tee.
‘People from all over the country can buy amazing, one-off pieces of furniture which have been lovingly restored, and give something back to the community at the same time.’
Lovingly restored is right. I spot an incredible curved three-seater sofa, expertly upholstered in a cream boucle fabric. ‘This sofa wouldn’t look out of place on the cover of an interiors magazine now, but it was a sight to behold when it came in,’ says Ria Ashcroft Hart, one of the Renew Hub’s managers and a trained interior designer, showing me photographs of the original upholstery in 1970s burgundy and gold. Upholsterers Stringer Brothers repaired and reupholstered the sofa with the on-trend boucle material.
‘This sofa is a prime example of the power of upcycling,’ says Ria. ‘It was unloved, unfashionable and generally forlorn, but with some TLC it’s become a to-die-for sofa that deserves to be the focal point of somebody’s living room. Rather than go to landfill, it’s ready for a second life.’
For now, the Renew Hub’s treasures are only available online via its eBay store, and in its three community shops, on Woodhouse Lane in Altrincham, Liverpool Road in Eccles and Arkwright Street in Oldham. The eBay store is at ebay.co.uk/str/renewgreatermanchester.
