This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: 2030 Commitment and Committee on the Environment .
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Greetings:
I completed your survey form.
We have found flooring to be a fascinating topic for a number of reasons, including its short life relative to other building components, and the fashion element. As you have asked about flooring in hospitality uses, the fashion element is very important - and means that flooring can be replaced well before it is worn out. The life expectancy of such building elements is therefore highly uncertain, and that affects any analysis of sustainability.
We encountered this in a corporate conference center, where in the process of refurbishment we found some very strange decisions being made by very experienced managers and architects. Investigation into them led us into over ten years (and still ongoing) of funded research into the factors that were behind their decisions (they were reacting - appropriately - to uncertainty).
This should add an interesting aspect to questions about what is sustainable, and leads into a number of fascinating fields (and questions). Looking at these would enhance your research efforts.
Some of the results were published,... you look at one or both (they may be in your university library):
Ellingham, Ian & Fawcett, William (2006) New Generation Whole Life Costing, London: Taylor & Francis.
Ellingham, Ian & Fawcett, William (2013) Whole Life Sustainability, London: RIBA Publishing.
Good luck with your research.
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Ian Ellingham, PhD, FRAIC
Cambridge Architectural Research Limited
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