As one of the biggest flooring contractors in the business, with the bulk of its work inside the M25, it is reassuring to hear that Loughton Contracts are working towards becoming carbon neutral.
The company has certainly done a lot of work on sustainability, both with regard to the handling of its waste and also the way it operates its business.
“Waste is the big issue for us,” says Nick Perkins, Divisional Managing Director (Fit-Out). “On the fit-out side of the business, we install a lot of carpet tiles, where the waste can be quite low. You might see only 2-3% waste if you’re working on a very large area, but if it is offices, you could be looking at 10-20% waste because of the number of cuts you have to do. We use software systems that calculates this for us, which helps reduce the amount of waste we need to allow for. We are now recycling the majority of uplifted material, so it is not going into skips and, in turn, to landfill.
We use Recofloor to recycle vinyl offcuts. wherever possible, which helps reduce the amount of waste, and we are now recycling the majority of uplifted material so it is not going into skips. We use Recofloor for the vinyl offcuts.” Another important area is floor protection, which is required on most jobs. The company works with Protec, who have developed a system where floor protection is recycled and put back into making new protection products. This is the only closed loop scheme of its type.
“Our work comprises commercial, along with high end residential and construction. Office fit-out is a large part of our business and is a busy sector, despite the increase in working from home post-covid. A large number of major corporate firms are looking to improve their premises and make them greener and more sustainable. Landlords are also realising the need to make their buildings more environmentally friendly. Although floor coverings are a small part of the overall project, if the owner of a building is improving its sustainability, they will also want to improve the floorcoverings.”
Nick Perkins says one of the biggest main contractors they work with is now pushing its subcontractors to be carbon neutral, or as near as possible, by next year. “The majority of tenders that we receive contain something around sustainability. There is a cost to this in general, although in some areas this will save money. Whatever scheme the clients sign up for on a building, whether it is BREEAM, LEED, WELL or SKA, these will have sustainability targets that they need to meet in a variety of different areas. Mostly products will be specified by the time
we get on site, but sometimes we get asked for our advice. Typically this might be that the
designer has specified a certain product and we are asked if we can offer an alternative product which is going to achieve the same environmental standard, for a slightly lower price”.
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