When Zeal Hotels were looking to create a new brand of sustainable hotel at Exeter’s Science Park, they turned to Westworks Interiors for their design expertise. Looking for building materials and finishes that would promote sustainability at every turn, Westworks Interiors specified a wide range of Forbo Flooring Systems’ floor coverings, including its Climate Positive (carbon negative) Marmoleum Cocoa Decibel.
Conveniently situated at the entrance of Exeter Science Park, the South West’s centre of activity for businesses in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM), voco Zeal Exeter Science Park is a premium, 142 bedroom, 4-star hotel that offers an exceptional stay for the environmentally conscious traveller. In alignment with 2050 sustainability targets, the hotel leverages cutting-edge solar panel technology, ensuring it generates more electricity than it consumes. As well as meeting net zero principles, it’s the hope of Zeal Hotels that this site forms a blueprint for the leisure and hospitality industry for how sustainable hotels can be achieved.
Ruth Wainwright, Director and Interior Designer at Westworks Interiors was involved on the hotel’s interior design scheme. Speaking about the project, she said:
“This hotel has been the brainchild of the Zeal Hotels team for a while now. Both Zeal Hotels and their partner brand IHG Hotels & Resorts set a requirement to achieve net zero with this hotel. Working with architects ECE Westworks, we collaborated from the outset to execute this vision.
“As the interior designers on this project, it was our job to figure out how we could perfectly combine both sustainability and design into one package. It is for this reason that we looked to Forbo and its range of sustainable floor coverings.
“Having previously worked with Forbo on a variety of projects, we already knew of the company’s forward thinking nature and were confident in its product portfolio meeting modern design needs. It was important to us that the solutions specified for this project had an interesting story behind them, as well as being truly sustainable. Marmoleum Cocoa Decibel was perfect in this regard, blending circularity and beauty into one, and manufactured using recycled cocoa husks from the chocolate industry.”
Containing 43% combined recycled content derived from installation waste and uplifted post-consumer flooring, alongside internally recycled production waste and other industry recycled materials like wood flour and cocoa husks, Marmoleum Cocoa is a truly sustainable floor covering. In fact, it is Climate Positive (carbon negative), removing 0.125kg of CO2 for every square metre installed. Being specified in the Decibel format, this product also provides 18 dB impact sound reduction, perfect for hotel environments where noise transmission between rooms and levels needs to be minimised – enhancing the customer experience.
The collection also perfectly fit the design brief pitched by Westworks Interiors, as Ruth explained:
“We specified Marmoleum Cocoa in the ‘Nori’ colourway, which is a beautiful neutral green and grey tone that looks lovely with the flecks of cocoa husks within it. As it is quite a soft looking and feeling material, we thought it was ideal for the ‘porch area’ as you enter the guest bedrooms, providing both a durable surface and dirt hiding properties, thanks to the flecks of cocoa husks. This colourway also worked well with our warm, neutral and inviting colour palette.”
Forbo’s Allura Flex LVT flooring was also specified across the guest bathrooms on the ground floor, with the ‘Grigio Concrete’ and ‘Sand Cement’ colourways complementing the wider interior scheme, as well as adding a durable finish to the bathrooms. With an R10 slip rated factory finish, Allura Flex provides added protection against slips and falls. It also contains a minimum of 20% recycled content and all of Forbo’s collections are made in factories running off of 100% renewable electricity.
To ensure the safety of staff within the hotel, Forbo’s Safestep safety vinyl in the R11, R12 and Aqua ranges were all installed in the ‘Elephant’ colourways across the kitchen, bar, linen store and staff changing areas. Further enhancing the sustainability of this building, the Step collection has one of the lowest embodied carbon figures on the market for safety flooring and contains 24% recycled content by weight.
In an effort to minimise the amount of walked-in dirt brought into the hotel, protecting the wider flooring scheme and aiding cleaning and maintenance, Forbo’s Nuway Tuftiguard Bamboo was chosen for the hotel entranceway. Ruth expanded on this, saying:
“Made with a high-density Moso bamboo, the fastest growing plant in the world, this product provided the same leading performance attributes as Tuftiguard, just with improved sustainability credentials. This again fit into our sustainable objectives, as well as having its own unique story, with bamboo an uncommon material within the flooring industry.”
Opened in March 2025, the hotel has received positive feedback from guests and the owners themselves, with Tim Wheeldon, Founding Director at Zeal Hotels, saying:
“The decision to build our net zero hotel reflects our commitment to combating climate change and reducing our carbon footprint. By harnessing renewable energy sources, implementing energy-efficient designs, and utilising innovative technology, we have created a space that not only provides comfort and luxury for our guests but also prioritises environmental responsibility.”
Westwork Interiors’ work on the project saw the team win Sustainable Project of the Year at the 2025 Forbo Awards. Ruth commented:
“When I found out we’d won, I was thrilled! Most of the projects we design are years in the making, and so to be recognised for such hard work and dedication on this particular project was incredibly rewarding. It’s been such a pleasure working with the whole design team on voco Zeal Exeter Science Park and this award is a fantastic way to celebrate that hard work.”
Visit Forbo’s website to find out more about its solutions for the leisure and hospitality sector: https://www.forbo.com/flooring/en-uk/segments/leisure-hospitality/pbcvj9#accordion_0
For more information on the Forbo Awards, please visit www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/forboawards