FLOORING IN EDUCATION
FLOORING MASTERCLASS
Junckers outlines the key considerations when choosing sports and activity floors for schools. HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Junckers is the UK’s leading supplier of solid hardwood floors to the education sector with a long history of manufacturing long- lasting, safe, high performing and sustainable flooring systems. In the past 10 years, the company has supplied flooring to over 800 schools, colleges, and universities in the UK.
SUSTAINABILITY
For any new schools being built in England, a new maximum allowable embodied carbon measurement is now applicable, an initiative that has been in place for several years in Scotland. In 2019, the Scottish Futures Trust, which grants funding for new schools, introduced a figure for maximum allowable embodied carbon of 600 kg CO2e/m² for any new school buildings. Since then, Scotland has largely applied Passivhaus principles to all their new-build schools. Built to support healthy and innovative learning and at the same time minimise energy consumption and emissions, the reduction in the school’s energy costs can be as much as 70%.
Since the introduction of maximum 600 kg CO2e/m² allowed per school, Junckers has provided its sports floors, and sometimes solid wood flooring for other parts of the school, to 90% of all new schools built.
This autumn, the Department for Education (DfE) is following suit and is introducing a maximum allowable embodied carbon of 550 kg/ CO2e/m² for 200 new schools to be built in the next five years. Contractors must adhere to the specification requirement and provide materials, including flooring, that will keep the embodied carbon figure as low as possible. The DfE’s objective is to build sustainable schools with the lowest possible whole life carbon in line with the UK’s net zero objectives.
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As well as a low embodied carbon measurement, Junckers’ flooring delivers excellent indoor quality to benefit the health and wellbeing of students and staff, known to have a significant effect on learning as well as happiness. The pre-finished floors and the range of cleaning and woodcare products used to maintain the floor carry the Danish Indoor Climate label having undergone extensive independent testing.
A LONG LIFESPAN
A Junckers solid wood floor can be sanded and sealed up to 10 times and with 12-year intervals between sandings, a typical lifespan of 60 years will comfortably be exceeded, a claim that probably no other type of sports floor can match. Compared with a typical 15-year life of a synthetic or engineered floor there really is no comparison in terms of life cycle cost.
SUSTAINABILITY
It goes without saying that a floor with a long lifespan is also beneficial to the environment. As well as being naturally low in embodied carbon, Junckers’ solid wood floors have full environmental credentials including EPDs, FSC, PEFC, and Indoor Climate certification.
SOCIAL VALUE
For any new or refurbished school, demonstrating social value is a strong factor in securing funding. A state-of-the-art sports hall equipped with a high-quality sports flooring system suitable for a wide range of sports and activities is an asset not only
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