Commercial flooring brands
Commercial floor coverings come from a field of around twenty manufacturers, most of which compete in more than one category at once. This page sets out who makes what, which names are worth knowing in each category and how a specification decision gets made between them. Surface Specialists works across every major manufacturer and is tied to none of them. Listing a manufacturer here does not imply a partnership, approval or accreditation.
For poured resin, epoxy and polyurethane systems, see the resin flooring brands instead. For the split between the two, start at flooring brands and manufacturers.
The field at a glance
Every manufacturer that turns up regularly on UK commercial projects and the category it is known for. The ones carrying a link have a page of their own.
| Manufacturer | Known for | Where it turns up |
|---|---|---|
| Altro | Safety flooring, hygienic wall cladding | Kitchens, wet rooms, healthcare, food production |
| Polyflor | Safety flooring, sheet vinyl, LVT | Healthcare, education, retail, housing |
| Forbo | Linoleum, sheet vinyl, entrance matting, textile | Schools, hospitals, offices, entrances |
| Interface | Carpet tile, rubber flooring | Offices, education, projects with carbon targets |
| Burmatex | Contract carpet tile, fibre bonded, entrance matting | Offices, education, public sector |
| Tarkett | Vinyl, LVT, linoleum, carpet | Healthcare, education, workplace |
| Gerflor | Vinyl, safety flooring, sports surfaces | Healthcare, education, sports halls |
| Ulster Carpets | Woven contract carpet | Hotels, casinos, cruise, hospitality |
| Brintons | Woven axminster carpet | Hotels, leisure, heritage interiors |
| Milliken | Carpet tile | Offices, hospitality, education |
| Desso | Carpet tile | Offices, education, sports |
| Paragon | Carpet tile | Education, public sector, offices |
| Heckmondwike | Fibre bonded carpet, carpet tile | Schools, heavy traffic public buildings |
| JHS | Contract carpet, carpet tile | Offices, education, public sector |
| Gradus | Carpet tile, stair edgings, barrier matting | Stairs, entrances, commercial interiors |
| Bolon | Woven vinyl flooring | Design-led offices, retail, hospitality |
| Nora | Rubber flooring, now part of Interface | Healthcare, laboratories, education |
| Amtico | LVT | Retail, hospitality, residential |
| Karndean | LVT | Retail, hospitality, residential |
Specialists and generalists
The field divides into two kinds of manufacturer and knowing which you are dealing with changes how you compare quotations.
Generalists cover several categories from one supplier. Polyflor, Forbo and Tarkett all make safety flooring, sheet vinyl and LVT, so a mixed building can be floored throughout from a single range with consistent colours, matching trims and one point of technical support. On a school or a hospital with twenty different room types, that consistency is worth real money in coordination alone.
Specialists do one thing and go deeper into it. Burmatex makes carpet, nothing else. Bolon makes woven vinyl. Ulster Carpets and Brintons weave. Nora makes rubber. When a single area carries an unusual demand, a specialist will usually have a better answer than a generalist’s version of the same product.
Most projects end up using both. The generalist covers the bulk of the building; the specialist gets brought in for the entrance, the theatre, the laboratory or the wet room where the general-purpose product is not good enough.
Safety flooring and commercial vinyl
This is the most contested category in commercial flooring and the one where the brand name genuinely carries information. Altro, Polyflor, Forbo, Tarkett and Gerflor all make slip-resistant safety vinyl, welded and coved at the perimeter to give a sealed floor that water cannot get under.
The distinction that matters is how long the slip resistance lasts. Cheap safety vinyl relies on a surface treatment that wears off under cleaning; the serious manufacturers build aggregate through the full thickness so the rating holds for the life of the floor. Altro and Polyflor both make that guarantee explicitly.
See safety flooring for how the ratings work, or commercial vinyl flooring for the non-safety side.
Carpet tile and contract carpet
Carpet splits by construction rather than by brand. Tile is the default for offices and education because a worn or stained tile gets swapped rather than the whole floor being lifted. Interface, Burmatex, Milliken, Desso, Paragon, Gradus and JHS all compete here. Interface leads on recycled content and carbon disclosure, Burmatex on British contract manufacturing.
Woven carpet is a different market. Ulster Carpets and Brintons weave rather than tuft, which allows pattern definition and a density that suits hotels, casinos and heritage interiors where the floor is part of the design rather than a background. Heckmondwike makes fibre bonded carpet, which is closer to a hard-wearing felt than a pile carpet, for corridors and school halls that take punishment.
See carpet tiles or commercial carpet for how the constructions compare.
LVT and the consumer crossover
Luxury vinyl tile is the one category where commercial and residential brands share shelf space. Amtico and Karndean are the names most people recognise, largely from domestic marketing, while Polyflor, Forbo and Tarkett bring commercial-grade LVT with heavier wear layers into the same conversation.
The wear layer thickness is what separates them. A domestic-grade tile in a busy reception will show traffic patterns within a year, so the specification question is the commercial rating rather than the pattern. See LVT flooring for how the grades work.
How the brand decision actually gets made
On most commercial projects the manufacturer is chosen last, not first. The sequence runs the other way: the environment sets the performance requirement, the requirement narrows the construction, the construction narrows the field to three or four manufacturers who all make something suitable. Availability, lead time, colour and price then decide between them.
That is why a specifier who starts by asking for a brand often ends up with the wrong floor. A manufacturer with an excellent reputation in carpet tile is not automatically the right answer for a wet room. The floor that fails is almost never the one where the wrong brand was chosen; it is the one where the right brand’s wrong product was chosen, or where the subfloor underneath it was never prepared properly.
See subfloor preparation for the half of the job that decides how long the finish lasts.
Frequently asked questions
Which commercial flooring brand is best?
There is no overall winner. Each manufacturer is strongest in particular constructions and environments, so the useful comparison is between products rather than between companies. Altro and Polyflor lead on safety flooring, Forbo on linoleum, Interface and Burmatex on carpet tile, Ulster Carpets and Brintons on woven carpet.
Which brands make commercial carpet tiles?
Interface, Burmatex, Milliken, Desso, Paragon, Gradus and JHS are the main names in UK commercial carpet tile. Interface and Burmatex both publish recycled content and carbon figures per product, which matters where a project has to evidence environmental performance.
Does the brand of safety flooring matter?
It matters less than the specification but more than in other categories. All the major manufacturers make compliant safety vinyl, so the deciding factor is whether the slip resistance is built through the full thickness rather than applied to the surface and whether the range chosen matches the actual contaminant in the room. Water, oil and food debris behave differently underfoot.
Can one manufacturer supply a whole building?
Often yes. Polyflor, Forbo and Tarkett each cover safety flooring, sheet vinyl and LVT, which lets a mixed building run on one supplier with matching trims and coordinated colours. Specialist areas still tend to pull in a second manufacturer, so a large project usually ends up with two or three.
Are cheaper flooring brands worth considering?
Sometimes, but the saving is usually smaller than it appears. Material is a minority of the installed cost on a commercial floor, so specifying down saves less than expected while shortening the replacement cycle. The bigger cost risk sits in the preparation below the floor rather than the product on top of it.
Who provides the quotation for a commercial 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
- Around twenty manufacturers cover UK commercial flooring and most of them compete in several categories at once rather than one.
- Generalists such as Polyflor, Forbo and Tarkett floor a whole building from one range. Specialists such as Burmatex, Bolon and Ulster Carpets go deeper into one construction.
- In safety flooring the question is whether slip resistance runs through the full thickness or sits on the surface, because a surface treatment wears off under cleaning.
- Carpet divides by construction before it divides by brand: tile for offices and education, woven for hospitality, fibre bonded for heavy traffic.
- The manufacturer is normally the last decision on a project, not the first. Environment sets the requirement, the requirement narrows the field.
Get the right floor specified
Narrowing the field is easier once someone has looked at the building. We arrange a free site survey with a specialist contractor from our network, who assesses the substrate and the environment, specifies the right system and provides a written quotation with no obligation. Contact us to arrange one.