Architect and Builder August/September 2019 | Page 101

NEWSWORTHY
MEASURING CARBON-
NEUTRAL FLOORING
CREDENTIALS TO BOOST
GREEN STATUS
Interface,
the
world’s
leading
modular flooring producer, has
announced that all its products,
including all carpet tiles and luxury
vinyl tiles, are now carbon-neutral
across the entire product lifecycle.
The company has also introduced
a system whereby any Interface
floor’s environmental credentials
can be assessed.
As the SA distributor of Interface
products, KBAC Flooring - currently
in its 50th year of operations -
TREND GROUP COMPLETES FAST-TRACK FIT-OUT OF FIRST
WEWORK OFFICE IN SA
When global office-sharing group WeWork decided to open its first office in South
Africa, it was aware that this had to be a definitive statement for the global giant. By the
end of January, WeWork already had 425 offices in 32 countries. Hence for its first foray
into Africa, the company selected 173 Oxford Road in Rosebank, also known as The Link.
Here WeWork would occupy six floors of the 15-storey The Link building, taking up almost
10,000m 2 of space. Design-and-build specialist the Trend Group was shortlisted during a
tender process that attracted competitive bids from six major contractors.
This was a mammoth undertaking from grey box to completion, including all of the
electromechanical and plumbing as well as all of the components of the fit-out itself. Trend
Group Project Director Mohamed Okasha reveals that the project had a near impossible
14-week timeframe. Handed over officially at the beginning of July after work began in March,
not only was the project completed on schedule but the end result has been highly successful.
In order to meet the deadline, the Trend Group team worked two shifts a day, seven
days a week, including all public holidays. “We effectively did not stop at all for the entire
duration until we finished,” said Okasha. Daily progress reports were submitted to the
London-based client, with live cameras installed on-site to track real-time progress.
“It was a real achievement to finish in that timeframe and also to have a happy client at
the end. Also being the first WeWork office in South Africa, the approval process was very
rigorous and exacting,” he adds. However, this was a challenge that Trend Group was more
than prepared for, having implemented offices for some of the most iconic brands globally,
including Facebook, Oracle, Google, Citibank, Red Bull, Uber, BBC, Coca-Cola, Bloomberg,
Unilever, Bidvest, and Porsche. www.trendgroup.co.za
can now, advise designers and
customers about the extent of
carbon emission reductions for
each Interface sale upon request.
This is
for greener
valuable
as
demands
buildings
grow.
Interface offers the environmental
credentials
consumers
service
meet
to
help
sustainability
goals while reducing the polluting
impact of their projects.
To mark the 25th anniversary of
its “Mission Zero” commitment to
sustainability, Interface has taken
a holistic approach to carbon
neutrality, looking beyond carbon
emissions
from
manufacturing
to include emissions across the
entire product lifecycle including
transportation,
maintenance
and end-of-life recycling. Inter-
face
calculates
greenhouse
gas
all
remaining
emissions
for
the entire lifecycle of its products
and invests in verified emission
reduction projects all over the
world to offset them.
www.kbacflooring.co.za
Interior Watch
101