A sustainable commercial flooring solution to stand the test of time

When it comes to commercial flooring, it’s not quite one case of size fits all. 

The variety of spaces that fall under the commercial umbrella vary greatly: ranging from shopping mall stores to the thoroughfares throughout the mall itself; from supermarkets to office spaces; small scale convenience superettes to sprawling department stores. 

Flooring requirements vary in tandem with these different spaces: supermarkets naturally have more foot traffic than dairies, so the materiality and function of the flooring in each space will differ considerably. 

In short, commercial spaces must have flooring solutions that can handle the expected foot traffic — and for heavy commercial areas, this means specific, rigid requirements made from quality materials. 

Polyflor has been providing quality flooring for such spaces in New Zealand for almost 60 years One of its latest offerings has been formulated to suit spaces in the retail, leisure, office, education and healthcare sectors, plus other areas with similar levels of foot traffic — all while presenting a clean and stylish aesthetic. 

Dubbed Expona Commercial, the product is a collection of luxury vinyl tiles (LVTs), replicating the beauty of natural timbers and stone for use in these areas. 

The New Zealand colour range for the offering features 20 wood-look planks and 12 stone-look tiles — expanding on its established look and enhancing the product for emerging tastes and trends. 

Polyflor sales director Peter Holmes says that Expona Commercial’s status as an LVT means it can be bought by the square metre — as opposed to standard sheet vinyl, which needs to be bought ‘off the roll’. 

“The beauty of an LVT product is that you can use it by the carton, so you’re using it literally by the square metre,” says Peter. 

LVTs also avoid the cardinal sin of ‘pattern repeat’ — common with standard sheet vinyl, this phenomenon is often seen when vinyl is bought by the lineal metre. It appears as a repeated pattern — for example, an identical knot that appears in every metre of flooring. 

Polyflor’s Expona Commercial evades this problem entirely. “Because it doesn’t have the same pattern repeat as sheet vinyl, it means that you're not seeing that same line in the pattern every every metre, to your left to your right and to your front,” says Peter. “It creates a nice random look on the floor, making it look more authentic.”

This also lends the product more versatility when laid through intricate hallways, or going around floors that require a ‘designer aesthetic’. Customers are also free to choose their own design when laying the tiles: many of Polyflor’s clients pick a herringbone layout, or ship decking design, which is popular in bars and restaurants. 

Peter says it’s this versatility that makes Expona Commercial stand out. “It's about giving more options to the customers — so they can mix and match the product, or put two colours on the floor, for example,” he says. “You're not restricted by the sheet size.” 

Size is a particularly significant factor for customers when it comes to purchasing LVTs. As is the case with many other flooring products, form factor is trending in one direction: bigger. And Polyflor is right on board with this trend. 

“With the stone designs in this particular range of product, we've moved away from the traditional small tile,” says Peter. “Our standard tiles are 600x1200mm now, so that’s a big tile — that’s what we’re being asked for, and so that’s what we’re providing. 

The larger form factor tiles are especially important for concrete-look flooring, another trend that is becoming more and more popular. And, Peter argues, achieving a concrete look with LVTs is much more cost-effective, sustainable, and easier than the real thing. 

“There's a lot of work and time that goes into creating a concrete finish,” says Peter. “And the end result is pretty much down to how the aggregate has separated in the concrete — if it goes wrong, anywhere along the process, you don't have that look. 

“But with LVT, you know you’ll get the right finish on the floor.”

Its status as an alternative to environmentally taxing commercial concrete flooring isn’t Polyflor’s only claim to sustainability: the company has also been certified as a GreenTag Gold+ Level A company — the highest GreenTag level achievable. 

“We’ve had GreenTag certification since 2010, and we’ve retained certification of 27 of our product ranges annually,” says Peter.

He says the company’s high distinction in this category comes from its many and varied manufacturing processes for its products. 

“It's all about the sourcing of the product, the materials that go into the product, the performance that comes from the product, the reduced maintenance costs from the fact that we don’t use chemicals to maintain the product,” Peter says. 

“And then we recycle the product at the end of its life as well — in 2020 alone we recycled 400 tonnes of vinyl globally.” 

This is one of the key hallmarks of Polyflor’s Expona Commercial product — not only is it sturdy, durable, stylish and efficient, it also doesn’t cost the earth. 

“We collectively work on our sustainability and work hard to maintain the highest GreenTag credentials possible — in all the countries we operate in.” 

Learn more about Polyflor’s Expona Commercial range and its other products.