Dubai-based H2O Concepts is poised to launch an aggressive marketing campaign for its newly-established flooring division, following its recent tie-up with Tarkett, a leading French manufacturer of flooring tiles.

Tarkett  – which has grown to become one of the largest producers and distributors of resilient floorings worldwide, ever since its merger with flooring leader Sommer-Allibert in 1997 forming Tarkett Sommer – is planning to introduce a whole range of products that is expected to floor the competition in the region, says a company spokesman.

Greater opportunities
“The new Acczent and Century range of floorings developed by Tarkett’s design department will offer users greater opportunities when designing commercial interiors,” he says. “The patterns and colours are contemporary and the four influences that inspired the collection – mineral, vegetal, metal and synthetic – will harmonise with any mood or sensitivity. Shades and patterns can also be co-coordinated to create striking aesthetic effects.”
Acczent and Century are suitable for heavy traffic areas such as hospitals, schools and stores and shops.
The thick PUR (polyurethane)-reinforced wear layer makes the Acczent and Century ranges exceptionally hardwearing and resistant to abrasion and indentation and gives them superior cleaning and maintenance characteristics.
Heavy, wet cleaning methods are eliminated. No wax or polish is needed. And because cleaning and maintenance represent about 90 per cent of the flooring’s total lifecycle costs, this is where major savings can be made. Savings up to 30 per cent are not unusual, says the spokesman.
In addition, the built-in sanitised treatment gives long-lasting and efficient protection against contamination by bacteria and fungi, and assures a hygienic environment.
Says the spokesman: “The raw materials used in the manufacture have been selected to limit environmental impact, and our use of recycled materials conserves natural resources. The improved cleaning characteristics are also beneficial to the environment, as they reduce the need for water and chemicals.”

New Toro EL
With Tarkett’s launch of Toro EL, the market is being offered a unique product – a flooring system that not only meets high demands for electrical conductivity but is also reinforced with polyurethane. “Tarkett is the first to have a non-insulating polyurethane that does not appreciably affect conductivity,” says the spokesman.
He continues: “Combining electrical conductivity with polyurethane is a hard problem to solve, because polyurethane normally influences the electrical conductivity of floorings and increases its resistance. So this is a huge breakthrough for Tarkett’s technicians, who have now succeeded in producing an electrically conductive polyurethane.”
Toro EL, which has been on the market since 1999, has now been extended into a new nine-colour collection formed by adding five new colours to the existing four most popular colours.
Toro EL is manufactured at Tarkett’s factory in Ronneby, Sweden. “Like its predecessors, it contains carbon fibres and has a black, electrically conductive back. However, thanks to today’s technology the flooring can still be produced with non-directional patterns and in light, attractive colours. Previously, antistatic and conductive floorings were dark and drab, which naturally affected the working environment and imposed restrictions on the interior designer,” says the spokesman.
Toro EL is valued for its excellent electrical conductivity, although, it has not achieved the same cleaning characteristics as Tarkett’s IQ flooring.
“The electronics manufacturing industry is a growing sector that imposes tough demands on its flooring, not least for cleanliness. Healthcare obviously imposes similar demands, and there has been a strong demand from the market for flooring that’s easier to clean. Tarkett can now offer electrically conductive flooring with a PUR-reinforced surface. Tarkett is the only flooring manufacturer able to do this, and the company has applied for a patent for this solution,” says the spokesman.

Electrically conductive flooring
Explains the spokesman: “Electrically conductive flooring is needed in environments where static electricity can affect the results of what is done in the room. For example, in the electronics manufacturing industry, operating theatres, laboratories and computer rooms, static electricity is generated by various types of friction, and is present in the surroundings. When the electricity is transferred between people or to objects, there is a discharge that can cause discomfort or, in the worst case, damage to sensitive equipment. For example, all electronic equipment is very sensitive to static electricity, which can cause both immediate and latent faults that can be manifested several years after the equipment has been put into service.
“In workplaces with sensitive equipment, measures must be taken to protect the equipment. The main protective measure to prevent the charging of people and objects is to connect them to earth, which acts as a massive uncharged receiver. It’s easy to see why the flooring is an important part of this function, and why it should be constantly antistatic and electrically conductive.”

Third-generation PUR
All Tarkett’s IQ floorings have a PUR-reinforced construction that makes them easy to clean and reduces the need for maintenance. Tarkett has continuously developed its successful easy maintenance concept, and Toro EL has a surface that is reinforced with third-generation PUR, which is shared by the Acczent and Century ranges.

ID Moduline
Tarkett’s new ID Moduline helps he user to realise his design ambitions by allowing the creation of floors which combine wood and stone effects, bold geometric designs and contemporary aluminum effects, says the spokesman.
“The emphasis is on modularity and aesthetics, with a wide variety of patterns, colours and formats which will help to inspire the user’s creativity – whether his choice is contemporary or traditional, lively or low-key.
The ID Moduline ‘Minerals’ range offers tiles in nine versatile pattern/colour combinations in clean unobtrusive patterns, either in mineral, marble or granite finishes.
The ‘Metallic’ range offers tiles with an intriguing aluminised effect in Domino, Silk, Chess and Ellipse finishes.
The ‘Woods’ range offers 11 narrow (100 by 8.33 cm) and eight broad (100 by 16.66 cm) strips that provide a warm atmosphere, says the spokesman.
The Tarkett Group is an innovative and global company, present in more than 50 countries and operating 25 production centres in 10 countries, 16 in Europe alone. Globally, Tarkett operates more than 30 sales companies.
Tarkett is also one of the leaders in the hardwood-flooring (refinished parquet) sector and produces 238 million sq m of floor and wall-coverings annually.