 Flooring& Floorcare


Whenwillwe learn to take care ofwhatwe have?


Howard O’ Brien, managing director of Traffik UK Ltd, looks at why we should all be payingmore attention to the ‘circling longer’ concept and take a common sense approach to the installation and maintenance of commercial flooring.


The space between action and words on corporate social responsibility commit- ments can be vast. For instance, 450,000 tonnes of carpet waste per annumin the UK alone takes up a lot of space - landfill space which was once our countryside. And will continue to take up that space year on year formillennia. Recycling schemes are only scratching at


the surface and will take time before they make a real difference and, as yet, corpo- rate embarrassment has notmademore organisations deliver on their lofty green promises. So, until the integrity and tech- nology catches up with the real world the only solution is to look after what you al- ready have for longer. EllenMacArthur’s Trust is currently pro-


moting its ‘circling longer’ concept - basi- cally, take care of what you have got and build it better in the first place. Common sense really and not difficult to achieve. Traffik, for example, has recently restored


17 year old carpets throughout one of the UK’s leading distribution company’s head- quarters, as part of a large refurbishment programme for the whole building. Just under 4000 squaremetres of good quality, but heavily trafficked, unmaintained carpet


Get the WOW! factor


In an industry firstmove, eight of the UK’s leading wool carpet manufac- turers have announced a brand new aftercare scheme for wool carpet consumers in exclusive partnership with leading experts of carpet care, WoolSafe approved service providers.


Named theWool OwnersWarranty or WOW! for short, the new scheme targets over 338,000 customers who purchase over 7million squaremetres of wool rich carpet on an annual basis. The scheme has been devised to offer new carpet owners a pre- miumaftercare service in line with their wool and wool rich carpet purchases. Rolling out across eight well-known carpet manufacturers in 2014 including Kingsmead Carpets, GaskellWool Rich,Mr Thomkinson, and Crucial Trading,WOW! provides a year’s free aftercare at the point of sale, completely free of charge. As expected, the scheme looks to the


best in the industry andWoolSafe approved service providers are automatically eligible to become exclusive carpet care advisors forWOW!. By signing up to be part of WOW!, registered carpet cleaners are au- tomatically sent the details of new carpet owners. If just 25%of new wool carpet customers register for their free warranty, this equates to some 84,500 customers al- located to approved service providers each year.


24 l C&M l JANUARY 2014 l www.cleaninghub.net


Under the benefits ofWOW!, the assigned registered carpet cleanerwill visit the newcarpet owner to deliver spot removal technique advice and a free gift of WoolSafe approved spot remover, supplied by the manufacturer. The point of the visit is to build amutually beneficial relationship between consumers and service providers.


Under the benefits of WOW!, the as-


signed registered carpet cleaner will visit the new carpet owner to deliver spot re- moval technique advice and a free gift of WoolSafe approved spot remover, sup- plied by the manufacturer. The point of the visit is to build a mutually beneficial relationship between consumers and service providers. Registered carpet cleaners benefit from instant introduc- tions to high-end clients with a genuine interest in aftercare advice, at the time when the carpet is new, as well as that all-important opportunity to build a last- ing rapport through face-to-face interac- tion and upsell other services. After the initial visit, the carpet owner is


invited to keep in contact and use the reg- istered carpet cleaner as the first port of call for advice and assistance with spot re- moval. If a spillage cannot be successfully removed by the carpet owner following the advice they have been given, the registered cleaner will visit the premises to attempt a free of charge professional removal. At the end of the warranty, carpet owners are of-


Traffik has recently restored 17 year old carpets throughout one of the UK’s leading distribution company’s headquarters. Just under 4000 squaremetres of good quality, but heavily trafficked, unmaintained carpetwas fully restored as the finishing touch to the redesign and refurbishment of the building. The photograph shows both before and after restoration.


was fully restored as the finishing touch to the redesign and refurbishment of the building. The result? Over £80,000 saved on re-


placement carpets with no disruption to the company’s working schedule as the car- pets were restored using dry extraction systems during evenings and a weekend. However,most importantly no waste and landfill and no reason - now that the com- pany has implemented a regular dry carpet maintenance schedule - that the carpets cannot last another 17 years. So - unless a decade or so ago some eye


wateringly expensive design teamchose a large swirling bright green and orange de- sign carpet tomatch the company logo or, looking for short termcost savings, speci- fied some wafer thin, 20 fibre to the square inch covering froma factory in the Far East - you can restore what you have and keep it ‘circling’, providing an attractive, comfort- able and healthy surface to walk on...for another decade or two. The natural outcome of all this is that


carpetmanufacturers are now beginning to look at producing high specification, long lasting and completely recyclable product that is easy to clean andmaintain - and in a world of shrinking resources it is the only sensible route to take. Traffik has beenmaintaining floors of all


types for over 20 years for high street chains, offices, and the healthcare and leisure sectors. www.traffik.uk.com


fered the chance to renewWOW! for an- other year, on the condition that they have the carpet professionally cleaned by their registered carpet cleaner. The warranty can be extended each year for the life of the carpet. For each tailormade, personal introduc-


tion, the scheme costs theWOW! regis- tered cleaner just £1.50 administration fee per customer, and £1.00 administration fee when renewing for another year. “One of the things I find so attractive about the scheme is that the £1.50 fee is for a cus- tomer and not someone who ismerely cu- rious and gathering quotations,” said Ken Wainwright,WoolSafe approved service provider. “I have never been one for direct sales andmarketing as it takesme out of my comfort zone, but this is the first time I have ever been enthusiastic about this area ofmy business life.Why? Because it’s all been done forme and I know I will have a new customer before I pick up the phone.” WOW! is already available on carpet pur-


chases, soWoolSafe approved service providers are encouraged to sign up at www.wowwarranty.comas soon as possi- ble. For those interested in becoming WoolSafe approved service providers, the WoolSafe Academy will be runningWool- Safe fibre care specialist training courses throughout 2014, as well asmany others including the new advanced spot and stain removal for wool carpet and rugs. All training is delivered by leading industry ex- perts and course dates are available from www.woolsafeacademy.org.


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