The British Rail Board (BRB), which oversaw the project, tasked the project team with creating a flexible and contemporary workspace with sustainability firmly at the top of the agenda, and so its architects, from Abel Partnership, turned to environmentally responsible manufacturer, InterfaceFLOR, to produce a sustainable flooring solution for its Manchester based office.

“The space needed to meet the challenging sustainability criteria that the public sector has been tasked to achieve, including the stringent Sustainable Operations on Government Estate (SOGE) targets. To do this, it was important to select products that have been certified with an official environmental accreditation,” said Gordon Rautenbach, architect at Abel Partnership.

Gordon continued: “InterfaceFLOR is committed to sustainability as well as creative design, which is why we were keen to work with the company on such an iconic development.”

With help from InterfaceFLOR, the new government building is now one of the UK’s top examples of sustainable and multi-functional design. It has achieved an outstanding B* Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating and also an Excellent Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM rating.

Four contemporary InterfaceFLOR products were selected for the project to cover 9500m2 across four floors: Duet Lunar, Shadowland Perimeter, Accent Flannel Gold Twill and RePrise Topaz.

Although all the products are different in design, the colour combinations, textures and patterns have helped to produce a stylish and adaptable space. Duet Lunar is simply styled with tonal colours and varying pile heights, complementary to Accent Flannel, which is a tufted, patterned, level cut pile with accent stripes. With its random patchwork of fields, Shadowland reflects an aerial view of a British landscape. Whereas RePrise has a unique and random linear design, enabling the tiles to be installed non-directionally, which minimises waste and increases the flexibility of the design.

Barry Peel, Project Manager for Loughton Contracts PLC, which installed the InterfaceFLOR products said, “Having worked with InterfaceFLOR on numerous projects, it’s easy to understand why the company is number one in the market place. We always receive great technical support and advice, both on and off site, from InterfaceFLOR, and this project was no different. The result is a premium quality finish that met with the client’s very strict sustainability objectives.”