Cornish office furniture manufacturer MARK Product to build new factory

A manufacturer of office furniture is building a new HQ and factory on the site of an old tin mine in Cornwall.

Contract furniture producer MARK Product’s new base will also house the offices of sister interior design company Hart Miller Design.

Although in a rural setting, MARK Product’s new factory is strategically located at the heart of the firm’s Cornish supply base. Central to the towns of Redruth, Camborne, Helston and Penryn, MARK’s current base, the location ensures most of MARK’s products will only travel a few miles as they progress from raw material to finished furniture.

The new factory is being built on the site of a former tin mine. Polhigey Mine was operational in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. It was one of Cornwall’s leading tin mines at the time and among the first to be powered by electricity. After a period of use as a coal yard during the 80s and 90s the site has since deteriorated.

Given its location in a World Heritage Site, one of the attractions to company founders Anna Hart and John Miller was the opportunity for a transformation.

This “unloved area of concrete” is to become a site to generate income and employment for the area as well as being a haven for wildlife, the MARK team said. Some areas of the site are being reserved for re-wilding and more than 150 trees are to be planted.

The building will use recycled concrete from the site and the biomass heating will also use logs from within the area. The company plans to move in by the end of 2021.

“This is a major milestone in the development of our company,” said Mr Miller “We have outgrown our current premises and they do not meet the high sustainability standards we have set ourselves.”

Ms Hart added: “Having designed the building in-house it enables us to create a space that is just right for our business now and for future growth. Some practical things are to do with the way we make furniture, but also how we want it to work and feel for our team.”

She said architects Manalo and White, which have a 10-year association with MARK, have supported the team as consultants bringing expertise in designing industrial buildings to the project.

The resulting building will enable MARK to make specific efficiencies and improvements in their sustainable practices which are all part of the firm’s “Do Net Good” sustainability mission which will be launched in October 2021.

MARK Product designs and manufactures contract furniture for offices and commercial settings. Founded in 2008 by Mr Miller and Ms Hart, MARK has supplied furniture across the workplace, education and hospitality sectors nationally and internationally.

Clients include leading workplace providers in the tech, media and financial sectors such as BBC, EY, Asos, Hachette, YNAP, Google, Amazon, Facebook, PwC as well as universities and cultural destinations National Gallery, Tate St Ives, King's College London, Royal College of Art and the University of Plymouth.

With a design studio in Cornwall and a showroom and office in the heart of London’s Clerkenwell design district, MARK Product is known for its “unusual combination of high principles and relaxed, people-centred design”.