All the major flooring suppliers rely heavily on products made from oil. We believe it's time for a different approach.
It's an uncomfortable truth but around 90% of commercial flooring used in the UK is made from oil - this includes vinyl, nylon & polypropylene fibres, bitumen carpet backing and synthetic rubber. This shouldn't come as a surprise because all of the major flooring suppliers have these products at the heart of their business models and have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo despite growing evidence that these products have high carbon footprints and inflict other negative environmental impacts.
The planet can't wait whilst the flooring sector slowly weans itself of its dependency on oil so we need to look for more radical and faster-acting solutions.
We have made it our mission to build a library of materials that supports the immediate and rapid transition to low-carbon, oil-free flooring specification.
The library includes innovative biopolymers - derived from vegetable oils, not crude oil, products made from cork - the most sustainable material of all and clever hybrids and composites that use natural elements in a 'best of both worlds' kind of way.
Collectively, this represents the UK's largest portfolio dedicated to sustainable flooring. This addresses the need for oil-free alternatives which broaden the interior design palette. We are bringing these materials to the UK, often for the first time, but they are widely used in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Transparent
We believe that the key to responsible material specification is the provision of relevant environmental data - in an easy-to-understand format - at the point of product selection. We are continually trying to improve the environmental analysis of our products - carbon footprints, ingredient breakdowns, 3rd party accreditation - and to embed this in the product data set to make environmental assessments as straightforward as possible.
We work with First Planit - the leading provider of building materials information and measurement tools for specifiers - to independently evaluate environmental, social, health & monetary impacts.
We observe that many of the makers and sellers of oil-based flooring do not measure the environmental impacts of their products and, if they do, the data is not readily accessible. Glossy Environmental Reports and slick websites promote general environmental commitments but don't help in the benchmarking of specific products.
Responsive
We are committed to working to your brief, to find the best solution - delivering on your sustainability, design and product performance needs - and, if we can't achieve that, we will say so. We don't employ pushy salespeople. So, we are driven by client satisfaction, not sales targets.
We will support you throughout the project from initial shortlisting to installation which we will take care of.
Flexible
We understand that you have to operate flexibly to get the job done and in the past few years the need for flexibility has only increased. So, we don't operate the standard Mon-Fri 9-5 corporate working hours and we're available via any communication channel that works for you.
Responsible
We keep our company's carbon footprint to a minimum by working digitally and remotely wherever possible to minimise travel impacts. This doesn't compromise the service we provide but means that we can be there when you need us.
