Richard Featherstone

"We live in a city of extreme wealth and poverty; my aspiration is to help London manage resources sustainably and maximise the environmental and community benefits."

Why is sustainable development important to you?
Sustainable development is the future way of thinking to counter the over consumption habits that western society has lived by for the last four decades. Sustainable development gives authority to my vocation of furniture reuse, linking the efficient use of natural resources with the community benefits of improving the quality of life for those in hardship.

What does being a London Leader mean to you?
I see very clearly how London could benefit from a greater profile for reuse, I have found out through my own research how London has partly accepted the principles of reuse in the past and from this I see clearly what needs to be done in the future to improve society in a sustainable way. The London Leaders programme provides a great mechanism to make a difference.

Past experience
Richard is a founding member of the national Furniture Reuse Network, which was established in 1989, he held the position of Chairperson for a decade and on standing down was presented with the title of life long President. He is considered one of the Country's leading experts on community furniture reuse.

Whilst at LCRN has established an active network of 25 reuse organisations in London hitherto uncoordinated; built an active relationship with 15 housing associations in London to partner reuse organisations; improved the collection and distribution system of a principal reuse organisation in north London; completed a major research project into third sector reuse capacity in London (GLA June 2008), and an evaluation study of the impact of training methods on supported volunteers for a south London member organisation.  In 2007 his work focussed on increasing demand for reuse. Two promotional campaigns, including the building of a furniture tower with the BBC Changing Rooms designer, Oliver Heath, led to a growing market demand for reuse.

Richard's expertise in community reuse stems from 12 years managing a large furniture and appliance reuse organisation based in Leicester city centre. He grew the project from a small scale furniture supplier of £63,000 to a large scale training unit with a £400,000 turnover saving 300 tonnes of furniture from landfill each year while supplying needy families with essential household effects to make a home.  The experience equipped him with first hand expertise in effectively linking the three agendas of waste, social and economic outcomes.

Richard's driving commitment is to endure the abundant supply of good furniture to people who are living in poor conditions within our society; the environmental benefits associated with this are for him a very close and important second.