Tarkett, a leader in sustainable flooring, has launched the iQ ONE flooring range in Australia. The range is purpose-designed to improve the air quality and living standards across healthcare, aged care and education facilities.
As a result of its positive impact on the environment and human health, the company has achieved Green Tag Level A Certificate issued by Global Green Tag.
This has been followed by the release of the 2016 Towards Buildings That Thrive Report, authored by the Thrive Research Hub at The University of Melbourne, and commissioned by Tarkett.
The report addresses the need to develop building design and construction practices and interior materials that promote healthier and sustainable commercial spaces, with a focus on indoor air quality.
It finds that exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from building materials such as flooring can result in significant adverse health issues for building occupants and workers, including sick building syndrome.
The report also finds that despite children, elderly and the sick being particularly vulnerable to unhealthy indoor air qualities due to their growing bodies and lowered immune systems, the facilities used to service this group are held to the same indoor air quality thresholds as commercial offices and warehouses.
“Unhealthy indoor air quality is one of the biggest threats to Australian’s health and wellbeing in the built environment but is often completely taken for granted. So it is more important now than ever that manufactures take up strategies that promote healthy indoor environments,” says Ralph Jorissen, managing director of Tarkett Australasia.
The report finds that using sustainable products will:
1. Improve health and wellbeing by providing low levels of long-term health impacting VOCs, increased hygiene, dust reduction, thermal comfort and visual and acoustic appeal,
2. Increase resource efficiency of manufacturing, using less water and energy, producing less waste, product stewardship, maximised recycled material content, use of renewable resources and design for reuse and recyclability,
3. Boost economic benefits through the use of a finish that is easy to clean and maintain and is long lasting and durable, and
4. Improve regeneration impact through creating benefit beyond the immediate product to the systems that the product interacts with across its life cycle.
Dr Robert Crawford, of the Thrive Research Hub says, “The report brings to the forefront the urgent need for the sensible use of materials as the exponential growth of extraction of natural resources for building and construction continues.
“Companies that put the wellbeing of the Earth and the human population at the centre of their practices will be central to the building industry of the future.”
