Junckers is taking part in this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week, the UK’s leading design festival, opening its Leather Lane showroom during three busy days, 23-25 May. As one of CDW’s showroom partners, Junckers will host a topic-led programme of events and talks, as well as welcoming visitors – flooring professionals, designers, architects, specifiers and sustainability consultants – on an informal drop-in basis.

For the duration of CDW, Junckers’ experienced team will be available to offer guidance on the best flooring solution for every project, be it residential, commercial, sports or a public building. They’ll advise on how to choose a sustainable floor for a project and why this is a topic that matters to clients and specifiers alike. They’ll be on hand to discuss installation methods and the selection of the correct subfloor system for sports and activity floors as well as show you the latest trends in hardwood flooring.

Giving old floors a new life
At CDW, Junckers is launching a brand new sustainability initiative, the Buy Back Scheme. As part of its commitment to work in a sustainable way to care for the environment, Junckers is introducing a programme where the company will pair flooring contractors who are lifting a Junckers floor for replacement with reclaimed flooring specialists. Junckers will act as a go-between to ensure a floor that may have years of life left in it will not end up on a landfill site, thereby promoting a circular economy.

Junckers’ flooring made in solid wood is well-known for its long lifespan. It can be sanded and refinished many times to restore it to as-new condition. Junckers’ oak, beech and maple floors are designed and made to last for generations, even a well-used sports floor has a lifespan of 60-plus years. When a Junckers floor is replaced, it can be lifted with ease without causing damage to the floorboards.

It can then be repurposed as a floor in a new location, in a home, restaurant, workspace or bar, for example. Reclaimed solid wood floors are in high demand for both residential and commercial projects as more and more people look for ways to recycle honest, natural materials. The scheme will give hundreds of square metres of flooring a new lease of life every year.

When the reclaimed floor is installed in its new setting, it can either be sanded and refinished with an oil or a lacquer to make it good as new. At CDW, Junckers’ team will be highlighting all available options, and help select the best method and product for individual projects. The company’s own-produced woodcare range is ideal, with a wide choice of natural colours and finishes available as both primers and oils.

New RIBA-approved CPD
With a continued focus on sustainability and providing a product and manufacturing process which is not harmful to the environment, Junckers was one of the first companies in the flooring industry to offer complete traceability and transparency.

Over the past few years, the company has worked hard to ensure its product offer and ways of working follow strict sustainability guidelines with independently verified certification and schemes available to give clients and specifiers the reassurance they need when designing and building net zero carbon projects. Junckers has put all its expertise together in a new CPD presentation which has been approved by the RIBA.

The CPD, Specifying Sustainable Flooring, covers how specifying sustainable flooring contributes to sustainable and net zero architecture and building, how a product with a long lifecycle has a positive impact on the environment, how by using wood, we can keep CO2 out of the atmosphere, create a healthy indoor climate, aid daylighting and wellbeing. Throughout CDW, Junckers will be running CPD drop-in sessions in its showroom.

Talking trends
Trends come and go, even in flooring. Although wood flooring is considered a classic choice which will never go out of style, trends will filter down from the world of fashion and interior design. For some time, the paler-looking timber species have dominated the market catering to the clean and minimalist look influenced by Scandinavian interiors.

The floorboard of choice was a plank with very little colour variation and structural grain pattern on show. But this is changing. Today’s interiors are all about brighter, warmer colours, natural finishes and textures. The immense popularity of the herringbone pattern in wood flooring has brought with it an appreciation for a livelier, patterned look.

In the past year, a resurgence in two-stave floorboards has become more and more apparent, with more and more projects opting for a look with a more natural look. The style of these boards can create warmth and interest, especially when made from mid to dark coloured timbers.

And the good news for sustainability is that a solid floor made from narrower strips generates significantly less wood waste than larger, traditional planks and there is often a greater amount of knottier and variable grain wood in raw logs than there is in very plain coloured wood.

In the past the main way to follow changing design trends in flooring was to uplift and replace your old floor. With a solid hardwood floor, the possibilities to renew and refinish the floor are plentiful; Junckers’ experts will be on hand to discuss the ins and outs of your refurb project, suggesting the best methods and products to use.

Visit Junckers showroom during CDW, 45-49 Leather Lane, London EC1N 7TJ.
www.junckers.co.uk