Densified softwood flooring specialist NuWood Venture Ltd has been appointed flooring supplier to the Zethus construction innovation project.
The Zethus Research Centre is being jointly developed by the Palmer Partnership consultancy, the Hyde Housing Group, and the University of Greenwich. Its aim, in line with the Egan report on lean building methods, is to promote ‘sustainable construction and minimise site waste production’.
Based on the University’s campus, it will comprise a main exhibition and seminar centre, plus a ‘global village’ of eight houses built with the latest construction techniques and components. It is expected to attract 1,500-1,800 specifiers a year.
Nuwood, which competed with a number of ‘main flooring players’ to supply the project, will initially provide 240m² of its radiata pine product for the exhibition centre. But it will also be talking to the builders of the houses on the complex.
NuWood’s flooring is standard New Zealand radiata which is densified to give it hardwood properties by impregnating with a cellulose-type solution. The company set up a distribution base in Watford late last year (TTJ November 25, 2000).
‘We’re thrilled to have been selected for the project,’ said NuWood chief executive Bruce Matheson. ‘Our flooring was chosen because of its use of new processing technologies, its appearance and the sustainable nature of the timber source.’
