Clerkenwell Design Week 2025: Flooring Takeaways for the Contracting Community

At Clerkenwell Design Week 2025, flooring was shown to be more than just a practical surface—it’s becoming a key part of sensory design, mental wellbeing, and spatial zoning. As commercial spaces evolve, flooring is now expected to influence how people feel and function within an environment.

With the continuation of hybrid working and the need for adaptable, inclusive interiors, designers are using flooring to define zones, guide movement, and support both focus and collaboration needs. Showrooms showcased soft textures, nature-inspired tones, and acoustic features that foster comfort, calm, and clarity. There were nods to tradition and the human need for texture.

Biophilic design cues like woodgrain finishes and earthy colours were widely used to add warmth and a sense of connection to nature. These choices enhance aesthetics while also supporting mental wellbeing—an increasing priority in offices, hospitality, and education settings. For contractors, this means specifying flooring that goes beyond performance. Materials now need to support both durability and emotional impact, aligning with broader design goals focused on user experience and wellbeing.

Sustainability remains a major talking point in flooring and now extends well beyond carbon footprint, focusing on material transparency, circularity, and end-of-life planning. At Clerkenwell Design Week 2025, many brands showcased products with specific reference to their strong environmental credentials, recyclable systems employed, and health related low-VOC content —reflecting the growing pressure to meet both environmental standards and client expectations.

For flooring contractors, this trajectory means being involved earlier in project discussions, offering insight into practical, sustainable solutions that align with specification goals. Understanding EPDs, product take-back schemes, and how products impact wellbeing is becoming increasingly important in both commercial and public sector projects.

However, the transition isn’t without its challenges. The storage, transport, and handling of reclaimed or reusable materials can complicate on-site logistics. These realities underline the need for stronger collaboration between designers, specifiers, and installers to make sustainable flooring choices both viable and efficient. Sustainability is no longer a bonus—it’s a baseline expectation. And with the right planning and partnerships, it’s one that contractors are well placed to help deliver.

The need for hybrid working continued to confirm the need for resimmercial flooring—a blend of residential-style aesthetics with commercial-grade performance. As workspaces evolve, this approach is helping create more welcoming, human-centric environments.

Warm palettes, soft textures, and handcrafted finishes were common, offering a balance between comfort and durability. Products like LVTs, modular carpet tiles, and hybrid surfaces were featured for their adaptability across multiple zones—supporting everything from collaboration to quiet focus in offices, hospitality, and education.

Flexibility in product application was a recurring focus, with ranges on display that could be adapted for multiple zones, offering practical options across office, hospitality and education projects. For contractors, it presents an opportunity to advise on materials that combine performance, flexibility, and design appeal—meeting the needs of both specifiers and end users.