Sustainability is no longer just a consideration in architectural and interior design – it’s a driving force. From reducing carbon to selecting materials rich in recycled content, designers are embracing solutions that merge nature-inspired aesthetics with environmental responsibility. Here, Donna Hannaway, Head of Marketing UK and Ireland, from Forbo Flooring Systems offers insight into the presence of sustainability and nature within the flooring industry…
A recent report found that 70% of construction projects incorporated sustainability targets, with 43% of industry professionals reporting successfully achieving their sustainability goals. Whilst these statistics show a positive trend, there is still more work to be done to ensure projects are being delivered with the environment in mind.
One way this can be achieved is through the specification of more sustainable interior materials and finishes, with new technologies allowing manufacturers to create products with better environmental credentials than ever before. Innovative materials that feature high recycled content and are manufactured using enhanced production processes, resulting in lower embodied carbon at source, are making this endeavour easier for specifiers.
In the case of modern textile flooring collections, there are specialist yarns that can be incorporated into the manufacturing process. Made from post-industrial recycled materials, such as old fishing nets or other synthetic materials, this can help to increase the recycled content within a product. Contributing to a more circular economy, these sourcing and production techniques are helping to divert waste away from landfill sites, providing them with another lease of life.
As well as this, architects are delving further into the embodied carbon of products, looking past offsetting. For this reason, they now need access to documents that are transparent in regards to the environmental credentials of a product, with readily available EPDs allowing them to correctly calculate embodied carbon figures.
In addition to promoting more sustainable building practices, products and materials with low embodied carbon values can help to meet standards like LEED and BREEAM. Textile flooring, such as carpet tiles, are ideal in these scenarios, with many collections featuring low embodied carbon as a result of new production processes and the use of high recycled yarns being used within them.
However, as important as sustainability is to architects, achieving this cannot mean a compromise on design. With nature-inspired aesthetics popular within the industry, biophilic design is clearly a trend that is here to stay, delivered through natural colourways and textures. Carpet tiles are a great medium to convey this, with some collections showcasing naturally inspired textures, reminiscent of surfaces like bark, leaves or stone and available in a range of organic colourways – including greens, greys or browns.
Aligning specification choices with biophilic design can help to bring the outside in – key considering an estimated 90% of our time is spent indoors. Biophilic design is about more than just aesthetics though, proven to result in numerous benefits for people using a space, improving both physical and mental wellbeing. For example, within healthcare environments it has been linked to improved patient recovery times, while workspaces have seen increased productivity levels.
By finding product collections that embody these themes, such as Forbo’s Tessera Twine, architects can create beautiful integrated spaces, all from the same collection. This allows for complementary patterns and colour palettes to be used as part of a wider scheme, alongside more sophisticated design collections, like Tessera Chroma, signposting separate areas within a space.
Forbo also supports The Salvation Army with donations of surplus carpet tiles, lifted from corporate refurbishment and renovation projects, as part of the charity’s Take Back Scheme, with the carpet tiles distributed to the charity’s furniture shops around the UK, providing communities with easy access to affordable and high-quality flooring.
Find out more, here: www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/evolve+