Press release
On healthy ground
Floor coverings of rubber are the first choice for schools and nurseries
Especially where schools and nurseries are concerned, ever greater
importance is being attached to the subject of healthy living. What this
means is the quality of indoor air in buildings, which is primarily
determined by the choice of building materials. The floor covering plays
a decisive role here, because the floor takes up a large area in the
room. In new and renovated nurseries and schools, developers should
choose low emission products like floor coverings of rubber.
We Germans spend on average about 80–90% of our time in closed rooms.
The indoor climate is therefore crucial to our well being and our health.
Above all children, whose immune system is still developing, react sensitively
to pollutants in indoor air and may suffer irritation of the mucous membranes,
headaches, asthma, and allergies as a result.
One of the causes promoting these complaints lies in the effective heat
insulation installed in new buildings. In conjunction with modern window
systems, this acts as a virtually airtight seal around rooms, preventing
draughts that were earlier so common, and therefore the supply of fresh air.
Poor ventilation increases the indoor concentration of pollutants that are
given off by furniture, fittings, and building materials. Above all plasticisers
(phthalates), a general constituent of PVC floor coverings, have come under
fire.
Plasticisers a health hazard
In a drive to determine the burden of pollution on children (“KiTas unter der
Lupe – Zukunft ohne Gift”), the largest environmental group in Germany
BUND recently analysed dust samples from 200 institutes. The result: The
dust from all nurseries exhibited above average high levels of plasticisers.
According to this study, it is particularly infants whose health and
development are at jeopardy because plasticisers are suspected of
interfering in the hormone system and therefore disrupting the healthy
development of organs.
Polluted indoor air also caused problems at the Regenbogenschule primary
school in Hemer, North Rhine-Westphalia. Shortly after it had opened in
2009, it had to be closed again because the children and teachers
complained of offensive smells, coughing, and irritation to the respiratory
tract. The indoor air was then measured and found to contain harmful
substances. There was no other choice but to renovate the whole building.
Markus Rahrbach, Project Manager for Building Management in the Mark
Brandenburg district, drew the obvious conclusion: “We clearly saw that only
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sustainable and healthy building materials may be used.” Rahrbach therefore
decided in favour of the rubber floor coverings from nora systems.
Floor covering as a system solution for a healthy living environment
Rubber scores on many levels: as a safe raw material it is free of PVC,
phthalates, and other plasticisers and does not contain any organochlorine
compounds or halogens. Yet nora systems, a leader on the world market for
rubber floor coverings, has taken a step further on the road to healthy
building and developed the system solution nora system blue. This complies
with the indoor air health guidelines issued by the Federal Environmental
Office and was also installed in the Regenbogenschule.
All of the installation materials for nora system blue are a harmonised
combination of primer, filler, adhesive, etc., and the rubber floor covering
itself. These materials have therefore been approved for the quality label
“Blue Angel for low emissions”. Yet not only that: “The personnel installing
this floor covering have received special training, passed both written and
practical examinations, and been certificated by the TÜV Rheinland Safety
Inspectorate,” explained Friedhelm Beiteke, Sales Manager for Germany at
nora systems. “Before a floor can be verified to be ecologically safe, both its
installation materials taken separately and their interaction with each other
must fulfil healthy living and sustainability criteria.”
A further advantage of nora system blue is the close collaboration during
installation. The developer, installation company, and experts for nora system
applications share their ideas and experience at regular intervals and can
therefore respond together to the most diverse requirements on site. Also,
every phase of the installation is documented meticulously – ensuring
transparency and safety for both developers and users.
“Green” building a new trend
Building according to environmental criteria is pointing the way into the
future. When nora systems recognised this at an early stage, it committed
both its product portfolio and its corporate philosophy to the advancement of
sustainability. With its environmental product declaration under DIN EN ISO
14025, the company has become devoted to the Green Design certification
of the German Sustainable Building Council DGNB. Moreover, nora systems
has been validated since 1996 under EMAS, the voluntary environmental
management and audit scheme applying throughout Europe.
With its system solution nora system blue, the company also ranks among
the exclusive partners of the Sentinel-Haus Institut (SHI) in Freiburg. The
concept of the same name developed at the SHI serves as a contract that
guarantees developers and investors indoor air for a healthy living
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environment. This involves testing all of the used building materials for their
emissions. In addition, planners and personnel are trained in how to handle
these low emission materials. At the end of the building or renovation project,
an independent expert measures the quality of the indoor air and confirms its
healthy living properties.
“The materials our partners use have been verified to be low emission and
healthy,” stressed Peter Bachmann, Managing Director of the SHI. “nora
systems is a key constituent of our network. After all, floors always take up
large areas in buildings and often cause health problems when they are not
low emission. Rubber floor coverings are an excellent solution for healthy
living especially in nurseries and schools.”*
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Playing on healthy ground
For its new nursery in Essen, RWE put its trust in the low emission rubber
floor coverings from nora systems.
Owing to pollutants in its indoor air, the Regenbogenschule primary school in
Hemer had to be renovated. Now its healthy living environment is supported
by rubber floor coverings processed according to the eco friendly concept
nora system blue.
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Never a dull moment in the breaks: Inlays in the rubber floor coverings from
nora systems turn the hallway of the Thomas-Müntzer-Grundschule primary
school in Lutherstadt-Eisleben into a playground.
Safety, systematically – nora system blue is a low emission system that
applies to both the floor covering and the installation materials, which are
installed by qualified personnel only.
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* Approved for printing. Please send us a reference copy.
About nora systems
nora systems develops, produces, and markets high quality, flexible floor
coverings and footwear constituents under the brand nora®. With its head
office in Weinheim, the company was formed in 2007 from Freudenberg
Bausystems KG. A leader on the world market, it has been shaping the
development of rubber floor coverings for many years. With over 1100
employees, the company achieved a turnover of €196.7m in 2011.
nora systems is a founder member of the German Sustainable Building
Council DGNB and supports the work of the study groups for education,
health, and comfort. In 1996, the company was the first manufacturer of
flexible floor coverings to run a certificated environmental management
system (EEC 761/2001) and to be entered on the EMAS Register. Further
certifications include ISO 14001, AgBB, BRE “A”, and Greenguard Indoor Air
Quality and regular inspection reports by independent experts, e.g. the
Institut Fresenius. Sustainability was taken up in the brand values after their
revision in 2008.
Contact
nora systems GmbH
Höhnerweg 2–4
9469 Weinheim
Tel.: 06201 80-6040
Email: info-de@nora.com
Internet: www.nora.com/de
Press contact
Martin Koch
Head of Communication
Tel.: 06201 80-5629
Fax: 06201 88-5629
Email: presse@nora.com