According to Tony Mathé – “An issue with being a finishing trade, is that projects are often out of budget by the time they get to us and that is when ‘value engineering’ tends to arise” he says. “We would love to be able to push harder on environmental issues but we have to be aware of these commercial pressures. The more environmentally friendly you become, the more expensive a project is, simply because the truly sustainable products potentially can be more expensive.”
With regard to product development, Tony Mathé says that they are now starting to see large projects where loose lay vinyl is specified. These products tend to be sold on the basis that they can be quicker to install as they are adhesive free, and they do less damage to the subfloor. But they are still a very small part of the market.
There are also vinyl underlay systems, which are not adhesive-free, but can also protect the subfloor and be easy to remove. The area which Hillside does have control over is ancillaries, and on that side they do try hard to use products that are as close to environmentally friendly as possible. “I believe education and changing the mindset is key for the designers, architects and clients. They are the ones who make the decisions.
We will influence decision making where we can of course. One suggestion to recommend would be to increase the size and quality of entrance matting. There’s no doubt that this would help the lifespan of the floorcoverings.
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