Facilities Manager of the Year
Excellence in Customer Service
Excellence in Product Development
Service Provider of the Year - Large
Service Provider of the Year - SME
Impact on Organisation and Workplace
Innovation in Technology and Systems
Learning and Career Development
Rising talent in Facilities Management
13 October 2014
A new form of flooring system that incorporates attributes of both carpet and vinyl flooring products has been announced as the winner of this year's BIFM Award for Excellence in Product Development.
J+J Flooring's product has been engineered in response to a long-standing need for a soft-surface flooring product that performs more like a hard-surface floor covering - a need particularly high in educational and healthcare facilities that have much higher standards for cleaning, durability, moisture management, acoustics, indoor air quality, resistance to slips and falls and sustainability.
In the healthcare and education markets people who use the facility can be highly affected by the chosen finishes - even as far as their healing progress and learning abilities. Unlike hard-surface floors, Kinetex sequesters airborne allergens and irritants until they can be removed through vacuuming. The floor can be easily sanitised with bleach solutions and meets the rigorous standards for volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions.
However, J+J believes Kinetex has much wider applications and is already being used in corporate office locations.
Kinetex is manufactured by fusing knitted polyester fabric with cushioned polyester felt backing under high heat and pressure. The result is a moulded flooring with the soft textile aesthetics of carpet and the performance and durability of hard surface flooring.
With more than 50 per cent recycled content, it has 50 per cent lower environmental impact than other commercial floor coverings. It also is less expensive: Life cycle costs (over seven to 10 years) are 30 per cent less than rubber flooring, 35 per cent less than LVT and almost 50 per cent less than VCT.
