Environmental concerns require us to go further than ever before when it comes to designing healthcare spaces. Floor finishes and the installation of them, account for less than 10% of the embodied carbon emissions of a healthcare building. That’s around 1000 kg eq. CO2/M2 across its whole life cycle.
Building a low carbon hospital or healthcare facility means adopting a life cycle approach to assess all the environmental impacts during all stages of the building’s life, from construction, to operation and disposal. To do this, we must move from a linear economy based on a ‘take, make, use and dispose’ model to a circular economy that encourages sustainable consumption, eliminating waste by reusing or recycling materials post use.
As a leader in the flooring industry, Tarkett considers four crucial factors when it comes to designing healthcare spaces:
Cradle to Cradle principles ensure all materials are kept in use for as long as possible, by transforming them into new ones when products reach their end of life. We fully adopted these principles and have been manufacturing our floor and wall solutions in-line with them since 2011.
When making a purchase decision, we often focus on the initial purchase itself, but there are many other factors to consider such a product durability, life span, cleanability and maintenance requirements. All are essential considerations in a healthcare environment, to guarantee performance over the products lifetime.
Proper maintenance of surfaces is vital. Ease of maintenance can also have a significant ecological impact over a products lifespan. In fact, to reduce maintenance-related environmental impact, materials must be highly cleanable, resistant to chemicals and bacteriostatic without biocides.
Recycling used materials is one of the most efficient ways to combat global warming. Tarkett floors are 100% recyclable, and to ensure they do get recycled we have invested in 10 in-house recycling facilities, including one in the UK. Why not utilise our ReStart take-back programme to ensure discarded materials become high quality raw materials once again, becoming part of the circular movement.
We want to make a positive difference to both people and the environment, why not join us. For more information - https://professionals.tarkett.co.uk/en_GB/node/circular-economy-10604
