Surface Design Awards – Complete

• INTERIOR SURFACE OF THE YEAR - NEW
  This is a new category that recognises wall, floor, ceiling and surface design products, including decorative, creative and inventive surfaces for the interior of buildings including both commercial and residential properties.

Principle, from Parkside Architectural Tiles and Alusid®, represents a huge step forward for the ceramic tile industry as a mass produced 91% recycled content wall tile made using standard ceramic tile production processes. Every square metre of Principle diverts 8kg of waste from landfill.

As a high recycled content wall tile that’s mass produced in conventional ceramic tile processes, Principle is a commercially viable direct sustainable material choice for commercial interiors. Unlike other sustainable tiles which may require specialist installation and maintenance, and that often come with a high cost, Principle can be treated in the same way as standard ceramic wall tiles. Carrying a similar like-for-like cost as other twice-fired tiles, Principle can be specified in a wide range of interiors.

Principle is manufactured in Spain with a daily production level of up to 1,000m2 and is held in UK stock by Parkside, so is readily available for quick delivery to projects. It conforms to CE and UKCA tests and can be cut and installed using standard ceramic tile equipment and adhesives, meaning a path of least resistance to its use.

• World’s first 91% recycled content wall tile using standard ceramic tile production
• 95% post-consumer recycled glass and post-industrial ceramic tile body
• Tile body entirely made from recycled materials
• One square metre diverts 8kg of waste from landfill
• 23% less energy to manufacture than like-for-like ceramic wall tiles
• Working to reducing three million tonnes of industry waste per year
• Cut and installed using standard ceramic tile equipment and adhesives
• Comparable like-for-like cost as other twice-fired tiles
• In UK stock for commercial projects from Parkside

Principle has been created by Alusid®, a creator of eco-friendly surfaces. Alusid started its life as a research project at the University of Central Lancashire by Dr Alasdair Bremner and Professor David Binns that aimed to explore the ways waste and low value materials could be reused rather than ending up as landfill. It was also important that the process used to manufacture would use less energy and added chemicals than conventional tile manufacturing.

In 2019, Alusid and Parkside launched Sequel Vibe, a wall tile created using 98% recycled materials from post-consumer glass and pre-consumer vitrified ceramic carefully bound during a low-impact, hand-made manufacturing process. Because of the hand-made nature of Sequel Vibe, production rates were limited to approximately 50m2 per week and difficult to scale to mass production.

Principle takes the original materials and principles of Sequel Vibe and uses a patented process to adapt them, so they are suitable for use in standard machine-operated ceramic tile production processes. For the first time, it is now possible to mass produce a high recycled content tile using standard manufacturing. The production of Principle also stays true to Alusid’s original aim to use less energy, with its lower firing temperature seeing 23% less greenhouse gas emissions.

With the EU estimating that the ceramic tile industry generates up to three million tonnes of waste per year, there is a need to find alternative materials that provide the same long-life and low maintenance surface. With Principle, Parkside and Alusid® have achieved exactly this: a high recycled content wall tile that has a long-life and a low maintenance surface, which can be produced using standard tile manufacturing processes. For every square metre of Principle, 8kg of waste is diverted from landfill.

With a tile body made entirely from by-products of other manufacturing processes – tile dust and tableware production sludge – and recycled glass and ceramic, Principle is based on technology that has taken a bold leap from a small batch production to a fully scalable process. Made by adapting the materials with a patented process to work in standard ceramic production facilities, Principle achieves a similar like-to-like cost as some other twice-fired tiles.

Principle has a total recycled content of 91.3% (95% recycled tile body and 5% glaze) and the materials used for its production are locally sourced to its manufacturing site in Spain. The tile also has a 50oC lower firing temperature than like-for-like conventional ceramic tiles, saving around 23% on greenhouse gas emissions.