Polyflor has become the only flooring manufacturer to achieve an ‘Excellent’ rating for BES 6001 certification, a standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products as certified by Britain’s Building Research Establishment (BRE), for products manufactured at its Whitefield and Teesside facilities. 

According to Tandy Coleman, CEO of Polyflor SA, they are immensely proud of this achievement.  “Polyflor was the first flooring manufacturer to obtain BES 6001 certification in 2015 with a ‘Very Good’ rating. However, refusing to rest on their laurels, the company worked hard over the past two  years to further improve their responsible sourcing procedures at manufacturing facilities to successfully achieve the highest possible rating”, Tandy says, highlighting the fact that Polyflor remains the only floorcovering manufacturer to obtain the BES 6001 standard. 

Polyflor has been manufacturing vinyl floors at its Whitefield manufacturing facility for over 65 years. Independent BRE auditors awarded a fantastic score of 51 out of a maximum 52 points, certifying that Polyflor’s products conform to the highest responsible sourcing standards when judged according to Organisational Management, Supply Chain Management and Environmental and Social Responsibility Management. 

Improving Polyflor’s BES 6001 rating has been a massive undertaking that required input from all areas of the business over the past two years.  Apart from making changes to the supplier base, Polyflor also had to make certain improvements to the way things are recorded and the reporting of the company’s environmental performance in the Polyflor Sustainability Report. The hard work and challenges set out by the BES 6001 framework has driven Polyflor to scrutinize their own supply chain more than ever before with even more commitment to using trusted, local suppliers who are ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. 

“Considering that there are over 60 companies being assessed around the world, this is the highest score ever awarded by the BRE for the BES 6001 standard and is a fantastic achievement which benefits all of us. These are the very same floors that we import into South Africa and which are installed around the country in leading hospitals, hotels, offices, schools and sports complexes.  Polyflor customers in South Africa and the rest of the world can be confident in the knowledge that they are using a flooring supplier that has sound environmental credentials,” Tandy concludes. 

For more information, visit www.polyflor.co.za

Note to the editorBES 6001 certification is one of Polyflor’s many sustainability and corporate social responsibility credentials, sitting alongside ISO 14001, individual BRE A+ ratings, EN 15804 EPDs, Indoor Air Comfort Gold, FloorScore and Recofloor. BES 6001 and BRE certificates are available to view and download at www.polyflor.com/environment or www.greenbooklive.com.