A Contractor’s View on Sustainability – Hillside Contracts

The cultural landscape has moved massively in the last ten years, turning sustainability into an active conversation across sites and a key area where collaboration is required, according to Tony Mathé, director of Hillside Contracts and a former president of the CFA.

It is a leading concern for architects and surveyors, and is increasingly acknowledged by main contractors and manufacturers alike. Of course, we play our own part as a flooring contractor.

Most projects have skips and we encourage our floorlayers to fill recycling bags as provided by manufacturers, especially on small projects. Recofloor bags are a common sight, and there are a number of other takeback schemes too. Once full, these bags are easy enough to send off, making it just a step in our routine.

As a result of these changes, there is less material going to landfill and more being recycled, which is a clearly positive trend. These numbers will only continue to improve as sustainable products and practices are normalised. Main contractors are also working to facilitate more recycling, no question about it. 

On the product side, looselay floorcoverings are an emerging trend, as more and more manufacturers  and specifiers are looking at products that can be easily lifted and recycled at end-of-life. Though as a finishing trade cost remains a key challenge for specifications, since adhesive-free options reduce subfloor preparation, making flooring easy to install, they are often a cost and time saving material. We see this trend growing especially as looselay LVT is regularly specified over access floors, omitting the need for plywood. 

Looselay is not ideal for installations where heavy use areas such as corridors require a stronger fix. The same styles of floorcovering products continue to be as popular as ever. It is therefore important that sustainability isn’t just contained to a few niche products, but continues to be developed across products for any scenario.

In general, stick-down flooring is easy enough to recycle. Contaminated waste is much harder, so it would be good to see new developments and innovations that could address this problem.

It is sometimes my concern that sustainability on site is just a tick box exercise, but since everyone wants to play their part for the environment, I feel that we are getting better at taking a considered approach to sustainability across the supply chain. When you consider how much change there has been in just a decade, there is cause for optimism. Overall, I would say that sustainability progress is moving at about the right speed.

Read the CFA Guide to Sustainability 2025–2026 for more sustainability advice.

www.hillsidecontracts.co.uk