ON the release of Shaw Contract’s new carpet tile collection Living Systems, which is made at its facilities in Scotland, the company decided to refurbish its London showroom to not only display the collection but also feature a range of products that complemented it and showcased its product mix insitu.
Says Shaw Contract: ‘The biophilic design and cool colour palette in the flooring on the basement level helps create a calming environment while the wood look of the looselay LVT chosen for the ground floor was chosen to enhance the industrial studio feel of the space and also act as a blank canvas for presentations and events.’
Separate meeting areas in this space were also created using two of Shaw Contract’s most popular designs, Dye Lab and Suited, chosen in colours to complement the basement level and provide a different mood and atmosphere.
Continues Shaw: ‘The showroom while it’s a shop window for our products also needs to provide a comfortable working environment for our UK team and any visitors. Acoustic considerations were key given the exposed nature of the ceiling soffit.
‘While the high traffic entrance area and ground floor kitchen space needed to be easy to clean to keep its smart appearance, the LVT in that area features our ExoGuard finish as standard which provides for scratch resistance and easy maintenance.’
The biggest challenge Shaw Contract faced with this refurbishment was the unevenness of the ground floor. Levelling of this area was needed before anything could be put down. Other challenges faced was the constrained site with no external storage area and the showroom is on a one way street with no dock meaning all stock of palettes had to be offloaded manually and so careful scheduling of deliveries was critical.
Social distancing during a pandemic was also a big obstacle during this project meaning the amount of people working at one time in the space had to be limited and all protocols followed to be Covid-19 secure.
Again scheduling and planning was the way to overcome this along with adherence to working and government regulations around distancing and cleaning etc.
Finally the design required a mix of hard and soft flooring options to accommodate zones within the open plan ground floor, and the installation of Unite as a 5mm depth LVT meant the transition to the carpet tile areas is seamless which not only is visually appealing but means no transition strips were needed.
Sustainability aspects of the project included that carpet tiles were all cradle-to-cradle certified. The fibre was Eco Solution Q Polyamide 6, containing 25% recycled content designed for high traffic applications. Also, the modular flooring allowed for tiles to be easily uplifted and replaced as required thus increasing the lifespan of the floor.
Shaw Contract says it works in accordance with regional certifications to meet environmental standards. Environmental product declarations (EPDs) which are based on lifecycle assessment data and published by a third party are available across its product platforms. In addition, the company is a carbon neutral manufacturer.
