Savings underfoot – the key steps to take

Richard Harrison, operations manager of floor cleaning experts, PHS Interclean, argues, however, that replacement can frequently be avoided, and the lifetime of floors extended, using the latest maintenance and preservation methods.

It is fair to say that most people take floors for granted – only tending to notice flooring when it is either new, or in poor condition in terms of its cleanliness, aesthetic impression, or functional performance. In the health sector scrutiny may be higher in terms of hygiene and safety, but attention paid to floors is often limited to the estates and facilities managers, and the cleaning or maintenance teams working for them. All other staff, patients, and visitors just keep walking; an army of feet and an artillery of equipment that wear the floor day in, day out. With hospital floors having so much daily abuse to contend with, it is good news that estates and facilities teams have such a considerable range of flooring surfaces to choose from, offering differing functionality, varied visual styles, and a range of lifespans. From stone to ceramics, wood, vinyl, and carpet, they can choose the material that will best suit the specific situation and required duration of wear, and, with careful maintenance, flooring can last from anything over a decade to several centuries. Given many flooring systems’ hardwearing properties, it might thus seem strange that so much flooring is replaced every year, especially when you consider that this can cost anything from around £20 to £150 per square metre. When you multiply that across the area of a hospital, clinic, or other health sector site, and add associated costs such as fitting, the expense quickly runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds. So, financially speaking, flooring replacement is a decision to be taken carefully, and only when absolutely necessary. Judging when that necessity has actually arisen requires not only an expert eye, but also an unbiased viewpoint. Added to the financial expense, there is an environmental cost of replacement to consider; in the UK we dispose of 583,000 tonnes of flooring every year, and 90 per cent of it goes straight to landfill. Only two per cent is currently recycled. A significant proportion of this waste is caused by premature replacement or redevelopment, when restoration or renovation may, in fact, be appropriate alternatives to consider.

Risk and reputation