College students sit in wooden chairs in front of a male lecturer with gray hair and glasses. College students sit in wooden chairs in front of a male lecturer with gray hair and glasses.

Higher Education Flooring Solutions

Healthy and High Performance Learning and Living Environments

We start our everyday strategy by understanding the complex problems in higher education. The only way to do that is to bring the leaders together to help each stakeholder share how they see the problem so it can be solved with an interdisciplinary approach. That is exactly the approach we took when we hosted our last Healthy Building Summit in Education.

Healthy Building Summit from Tarkett Contract on Vimeo.

Graph showing the 9 foundations of healthy building

Productive Smart Building Alignment

Tarkett has been a partner on the APPA Productive Smart Building Task Force, which has facilitated a benchmark within higher education facilities, focusing on human performance within living, learning and athletic spaces.  Facilities professionals have focused consistently on reducing their operational and energy costs. Tarkett aligns with the APPA 10 productive smart building foundations in which flooring can be a positive contributor.

Please contact your Tarkett Account Executive for more information on how we can help you align flooring with your productive, smart, building initiatives. Find your sales rep. 


Healthy Spaces for All

Every instructor needs and deserves healthy spaces to be at their highest performance levels.  Healthy buildings provide for thriving futures. These are where flooring can contribute to a healthy and high-performance learning environment.

Giant stair seating area full of children Giant stair seating area full of children

Acoustics

Acoustics has proven to be instrumental in a student's learning, engagement, behavior and overall cognitive performance. Speech recognition, reading and spelling, paying attention, and concentration are all identified by researchers that can impact test scores. In 2022 The Burkhart Center for Autism Education & Research identified 10 areas of development and transition zones for education environments in which number one was acoustics.
School library with tall ceilings and several seating areas with teenagers sitting together School library with tall ceilings and several seating areas with teenagers sitting together

Indoor Air Quality

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air quality is “air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of buildings occupants.” Research shows that school buildings impact student health, thinking, and academic performance. Children’s lungs are developing until the age of 18, making them more susceptible to IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) pollutants. Asthma is one of the biggest indicators of poor IAQ. Per the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 6.1 million children (about twice the population of Nevada) under the age of 18 have asthma, resulting in over 14 million school days missed annually.  
Seating area in a school with children sitting in clusters on gray chairs Seating area in a school with children sitting in clusters on gray chairs

Spaces of Connection

According to the CDC, connectedness within a community is an important way to support mental health and positive behaviors. Students who feel connected to their school are less likely to engage in negative, high-risk behaviors and more likely to experience academic achievement. Careful flooring selections can help a space feel warm, comfortable and quiet, contributing to positive student experiences and engagement.

Hero Products

Tarkett’s product category recommendations are designed at the core with high performance and health in mind. They are created to work together fostering creative and flexible spaces for all learners. We want to make the right recommendation for the best possible outcome in each space, for each user. The Tarkett Solution SPECtrum offers a comprehensive portfolio of Resilient, Carpet Tile, Powerbond and Accessories, all designed to coordinate for a complete and cohesive project.

Five Students sitting in hallways and atrium of a school in different groups

High Performance Flooring with Low Life Cycle Cost Analysis Tool

Both hard and soft surfaces have significantly driven up the cost of custodial and maintenance costs. Skilled labor, employee shortages and budget shortfalls have all impacted these outcomes. The education facilities industry has sought-after high-performance flooring solutions to enhance high performance buildings for decades.

Tarkett has created a third-party assessed comparison tool that includes both resilient and soft surfaces. The tool includes a floor’s installed cost as well as maintenance costs.


Purchasing Solutions

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