Karndean Designflooring Builds a Greener Environment with Biophilic Design 21st April 2023 | IN PRODUCT NEWS | BY SBID

With a people-centric approach to sustainability, the UK’s market leader in vinyl flooring Karndean Designflooring is building commercial interiors that have a reduced impact on the environment whilst also delivering outstanding style, durability and performance.

Working with RFD Interior Architecture, its latest project has created an attractive biophilic design for Groupe Atlantic’s Expert Training Academy in East Yorkshire that combines sustainable performance with thermal and acoustic comfort.

flooring design, Karndean Designflooring Builds a Greener Environment with Biophilic Design

Groupe Atlantic’s mission is to help society rise to the challenge of reducing energy consumption and increasing the use of renewable energy whilst still satisfying the demand for thermal comfort. Its new Expert Training Academy has been established to further these goals, training the heating and hot water industry in the next generation of renewable energy sourced appliances. With the business’ clear focus on sustainable development, it was key that the academy’s interior should itself have minimal impact.

Project designer and principal contractor RFD Interior Architecture has reflected Groupe Atlantic’s ambition to create a greener built environment with a comfortable yet practical interior in a biophilic style that supports health and wellbeing, meeting its sustainability brief with a focus on decarbonisation and recycled materials.

flooring design, Karndean Designflooring Builds a Greener Environment with Biophilic Design

A terrazzo design floor from Karndean Designflooring sits alongside a natural moss wall and FSC certified oak cladding with recycled plastic acoustic backing. The furniture and accessories were also chosen for their superb eco credentials, including ultra-low carbon furniture made with recycled upholstery materials.

Jamie Shaw, head of ESG at Karndean Designflooring, said: “The Groupe Atlantic project amply demonstrates how our flooring can balance on-trend biophilic aesthetics with practicality and sustainability.

flooring design, Karndean Designflooring Builds a Greener Environment with Biophilic Design

“Like all our designs, our new Opus Abstracts capsule collection replicates the beauty of natural materials using cutting edge technology to provide a hard wearing flooring that also improves indoor environmental quality and reduces a project’s impact over its entire lifecycle.

“The durability of Karndean flooring is key to product longevity and in commercial environments this can result in a carbon footprint that is up to 85% lower than other flooring products. These sustainability credentials were a key decision point for RFD Interior Architecture when specifying for Groupe Atlantic’s academy.”

flooring design, Karndean Designflooring Builds a Greener Environment with Biophilic Design

Dalmata from Karndean’s Opus abstracts capsule collection has provided a statement floor that can stand up to the academy’s heavy footfall yet is easy to maintain. Featuring large black marble chips that stand out against a simple white background in a striking ‘dalmatian’ effect, the flooring brings an impactful neoclassical look to the clean lines of the interior. Introducing additional visual interest and comfort underfoot, breakout zones have been highlighted with thick pile rugs.

flooring design, Karndean Designflooring Builds a Greener Environment with Biophilic Design

Alex Jenneson, design director at RFD Interior Architecture, explained: “From a design aesthetic, the newly launched Karndean terrazzo was a great looking product for our story. This design statement of monochrome maximalism stands out perfectly as a confident stone effect feature juxtaposed against the neat, uniform oak panels and earthy fabric colour tones. Natural materials, controllable low carbon lighting, biophilic elements and the clean yet playful interior design speak volumes about how workplaces can look and operate in the market today.”

The Opus abstracts capsule collection presents a range of bold contemporary designs and offers designers complete creative freedom of expression with endless options to create intriguing and impactful bespoke floors. Suitable for installation alongside other Opus wood plank and stone tile designs, these new abstract designs have expanded the boundaries of design and opened up new opportunities for personalised interiors.

flooring design, Karndean Designflooring Builds a Greener Environment with Biophilic Design

Karndean products are manufactured in factories certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management and ISO 9001 Quality Management International Standards and meet LEED Credit 4.3 and CAL 01350 standards. Using production and operating processes that are increasingly energy efficient and making use of renewable energy sources, Karndean flooring provides a resilient, comfortable and attractive flooring that is the ideal choice to meet the sustainability challenges of the future.

For more information on Karndean’s Opus Abstracts capsule collection, visit www.karndean.com.

About Karndean Designflooring

Our design process begins with a meeting…with nature. We see flooring differently. Pushing the boundaries has to be an adventure of discovery. It’s why we travel the world for inspiration. From the ancient European woodlands to the Australian outback, we pack our bags and go there. Every time, we connect with something extraordinary that shapes our every step. It’s how we bring the unimaginable, inspired from the outdoors, indoors.

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