Burmatex contract carpet tiles
Burmatex is a British manufacturer of contract carpet tiles, planks, sheet, fibre bonded tiles and entrance matting. It has no consumer range at all, which tells you who it is built for: offices, schools, healthcare buildings, retail and public interiors where a floor takes years of traffic and still has to look deliberate. Surface Specialists works across every major manufacturer and is tied to none of them. Where a Burmatex product is the right answer, it is specified and installed by an experienced specialist contractor from our network. Listing Burmatex here does not imply a partnership, approval or accreditation.
Why specifiers reach for Burmatex
Burmatex is a UK manufacturer headquartered at Victoria Mills in Ossett, West Yorkshire. It describes itself as one of the UK’s leading designers and manufacturers. The buying case is simple: UK manufacture, contract grade performance and real recycled content at a sensible price point.
The heritage is not decorative. The company was established in 1912 as J&F Burrows, recycling wool and cotton textile waste. The Burmatex brand itself was created in 1967. A business that began by reclaiming textile waste and now builds most of its range on recycled yarn has an unusually straight line through its history.
The credentials are the kind a specification needs in writing. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Only 100 per cent renewable energy is used in Burmatex manufacturing. The full product range holds an A+ VOC rating. Burmatex adheres to SKA standards, qualifies for LEED v4 credits and contributes to the WELL Building Standard. An EPD programme publishes global warming potential figures product by product. A recovery take back service handles end of life, routing usable material to community organisations and the rest to energy recovery. Across the tile range Burmatex claims class 33 heavy commercial performance backed by a 15-year warranty.
The range is grouped by construction, not by price tier
Most carpet tile manufacturers sell a ladder: good, better, best, priced accordingly. Burmatex does not. The tile range is grouped by how the carpet is built – multilevel loop, loop pile, cut pile and performance barrier – and each group answers a different question about where the floor is going.
Multilevel loop varies the height of the loops so the surface carries texture and shadow. It is the most forgiving group in daily use, because tonal variation disguises soiling and traffic lanes between cleans. The default for open plan offices and school corridors.
Loop pile keeps the loops at one level for an even, dense, hard wearing surface. It reads calmer than multilevel loop and holds a colour cleanly, which suits schemes where the floor is meant to sit back.
Cut pile shears the loops open for a softer handle and a more premium appearance. It belongs in reception areas, boardrooms and hospitality spaces rather than on the busiest circulation routes.
Performance barrier is a different animal. It is built for the first few metres inside a door, where grit and moisture arrive on every shoe and every wheel.
| Construction group | Burmatex ranges | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Multilevel loop | surface story, surface trace, rocklines, standing stones, snowfall, arctic, osaka, balance grid, balance ratio, balance scale, alaska, threads | Texture that hides soiling. Open plan offices, education, general circulation |
| Loop pile | tivoli, tivoli multiline, tivoli mist, go to, infinity | Even, dense, hard wearing. The workhorse contract specification |
| Cut pile | origin | Softer, more premium look. Reception, boardroom, hospitality |
| Performance barrier | armour | Entrances taking grit and moisture off the street |
| Fibre bonded tiles and sheet | eco-cordiale, academy, velour excel | Dense, low profile, budget led and high traffic schemes |
| Entrance matting | grimebuster 50, chevrolay 50, 7700 grimebuster, 7800 chevrolay | Heavy contract barrier matting at the door |
Burmatex writes its range names in lower case. That is house style rather than a typo and it is worth reproducing so a specification matches the manufacturer’s own documentation. More on the format itself on our carpet tiles page.
The yarn is the real differentiator
Recycled content is where Burmatex separates itself from the mid market. Universal Fibers Thrive matter, described as the world’s first carbon negative recycled yarn, runs across most of the multilevel loop range. alaska uses Econyl regenerated nylon and threads uses bio-genic yarn. In the loop pile group, go to uses EqoCycle 75 recycled solution dyed nylon and tivoli uses 100 per cent recycled bio-genic yarn. The single cut pile range, origin, is 100 per cent Econyl regenerated solution dyed nylon. armour uses 100 per cent regenerated recyclable yarns. BioBase recycled backing sits under most of the range.
The commercial argument follows from that list. On most manufacturers’ offers, high recycled content is a premium tier you pay to reach. Here it is the default construction, so a specifier chasing recycled content on a cost constrained scheme does not have to trade one against the other.
Carbon claims need reading precisely, because they are range specific. Carbon neutral is claimed for eco-cordiale only. Low carbon is claimed for tivoli, go to, origin and academy. What applies to everything is the renewable energy in manufacturing and the A+ VOC rating. The EPDs give the hard numbers: tivoli planks are published at 3.10 kg CO2 eq with 74.0 per cent recycled content, grimebuster 50 and chevrolay 50 at 4.98 kg CO2 eq with 50.8 per cent recycled content.
tivoli, the range that carries the most weight
tivoli is the flagship. It runs to a 40 colour palette, holds Class 33 heavy commercial classification and is built from 100 per cent recycled bio-genic yarn on BioBase backing. It is one of the low carbon ranges. The family comprises tivoli itself and tivoli multiline, alongside tivoli mist, a 10 colour companion.
Forty shades lets a designer zone a large floor by colour rather than by a change of material, which keeps the specification inside one family. tivoli is also one of only three Burmatex ranges available as planks. The other two are arctic and tivoli mist. tivoli planks come in 21 colours, again at Class 33, so if a linear laying pattern is part of the design intent the shortlist narrows immediately.
Fibre bonded sheet and entrance matting
The fibre bonded side gets overlooked and it should not. eco-cordiale, academy and velour excel come as both fibre bonded tiles and carpet sheet. They are dense, low profile and built for heavy footfall, which makes them right for circulation spaces, halls and budget led refurbishments where a tufted tile would be over specified. eco-cordiale carries the carbon neutral claim. academy is one of the low carbon ranges.
Entrance matting is the other half. grimebuster 50 uses a deep diagonal rib and chevrolay 50 a deep chevron, both fibre bonded for heavy contract use. Both are also available in sheet as 7700 grimebuster and 7800 chevrolay. Barrier matting protects every square metre of floor behind it, which is exactly why it is the first thing value engineered out when a budget tightens. Cutting it does not save money over the life of the building, it moves the cost to the carpet that then wears out early.
Burmatex or Interface
These two sit at opposite ends of the same market and both of them win tenders, just different ones. Interface is the global, sustainability led choice: an American company founded in 1973 that has built its identity on a carbon negative by 2040 commitment and a catalogue organised into design collections.
Burmatex is the pragmatic British one. UK headquartered, contract graded, treating recycled content as the standard construction rather than a premium tier. On a public sector or education tender where UK manufacture, an A+ VOC rating and a per product EPD have to be evidenced on a form, Burmatex answers cleanly. On a corporate fit out where the sustainability narrative is part of the client’s own brand story, Interface tends to take it. Compare the other end of the market on our Interface carpet tile page, or see how both fit the category on our commercial carpet page. Every manufacturer covered on this site is listed on the commercial flooring brands hub.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Burmatex made?
Burmatex is a UK manufacturer headquartered at Victoria Mills in Ossett, West Yorkshire. It describes itself as one of the UK’s leading designers and manufacturers and states that only 100 per cent renewable energy is used in Burmatex manufacturing. That address is published as a head office rather than as a plant, so the accurate statement on a tender is a UK manufacturer headquartered in West Yorkshire.
Is Burmatex carpet carbon neutral?
Only eco-cordiale carries a carbon neutral claim. tivoli, go to, origin and academy are described as low carbon. What applies across the whole range is different: only 100 per cent renewable energy is used in Burmatex manufacturing and the full product range holds an A+ VOC rating. The carbon claims are range specific rather than brand wide.
Does Burmatex make LVT or vinyl flooring?
No. Burmatex is carpet only: tiles, planks, sheet, fibre bonded tiles and entrance matting. There is no LVT, no vinyl, no resin and no wood anywhere in the range. A scheme that needs carpet in the offices and a hard floor in the wet areas takes a second manufacturer alongside it.
Which Burmatex ranges are available as planks?
Three of them: arctic, tivoli and tivoli mist. Everything else in the tile range is supplied as tiles. tivoli planks come in 21 colours at Class 33, the heavy commercial classification. If a linear laying pattern is part of the design intent, that narrows the shortlist immediately.
Does Surface Specialists only work with Burmatex?
No. Surface Specialists works across every major manufacturer and is tied to none of them. Burmatex suits a large share of contract carpet schemes, but the right product depends on the traffic, the sector and the look. A specialist contractor from our network assesses the space and specifies the product that fits it.
Who provides the quotation for a Burmatex floor?
The specialist contractor does, after the survey. Surface Specialists arranges the survey and matches you to the right contractor, but the written quotation and the contract for the work sit with the contractor who carries it out.
Key takeaways
- Burmatex is a UK manufacturer headquartered in Ossett, West Yorkshire, established in 1912 as a textile waste recycler and trading under the Burmatex name since 1967.
- The range is grouped by construction rather than by price: multilevel loop, loop pile, cut pile and performance barrier.
- Recycled yarn runs through almost the whole offer, including Universal Fibers Thrive matter, Econyl, EqoCycle 75, bio-genic yarn and BioBase recycled backing.
- tivoli is the flagship: 40 colours, Class 33, recycled bio-genic yarn on BioBase backing, available as tiles or as planks.
- Carbon claims are range specific. eco-cordiale is the carbon neutral range. tivoli, go to, origin and academy are the low carbon ones.
- Burmatex is carpet only, so any scheme needing a hard floor alongside it needs a second manufacturer.
Talk to us about a Burmatex specification
Surface Specialists matches commercial flooring enquiries to vetted specialist contractors across the UK. Tell us the building, the traffic it takes and the timescale. We arrange a free site survey and match you with a contractor who knows the contract carpet market.