Vision
The SA Flooring Awards programme identifies, showcases and celebrates the remarkable achievements of the industry and what they bring to the South African construction industry in developing its infrastructure and enhancing the economy of the country.
Mission
To bring the flooring industry together in one room in recognition of its significant achievements by providing nominees with accolades recognising their passion and determination to set exceptional standards that others can aspire to for the overall upliftment of the industry.
The awards:
Best contractor for continuous contribution
This award is awarded for the best continuous contribution and service to the industry from a contractor. Entry criteria included a company profile of the contractor, services offered to industry, types of floors able to install, training programmes attended, any awards won, any special certifications and/or accreditations, years in business, customer service history with client testimonials as proof, number of successful completed projects installed over a period of 24 months and a motivation why the company uniquely qualifies to win this award.
WINNER
Top Carpets and Floors
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Peter Bates Flooring
Kevin Bates Flooring & Carpeting
JUDGED BY
Ben von Heynitz (Founder of Carpet Brokers), Dr. Donald Platt (Managing Director of FloorworX Africa and Accentuate), Frank Moffat (CEO of Belgotex Floorcoverings), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute), John Sheath (CEO of the Concrete Society of SA)
Best flooring project
This award celebrates the best flooring project that met the high design and installation standards of the 21st century. Entries were invited from manufacturers, installers, architects, designers and end users. Entry criteria included but were not limited to flooring products or systems used including total floor area installed. The flooring contractor and professional team involved were reviewed, and whether it was a new development or refurbishment was taken into consideration. Any special installation systems were asked to be mentioned as well as features of the design, and permission from the client to enter. Photographs of the outside of the building, the installation and closeup of the product installed, and a motivation of why the project deserves to win the award also had to be submitted.
WINNER
Crossley Carpets (Royal Caribbean International cruise liners (Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas)
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Seamless Flooring Systems for MultiChoice
Polyflor for Brits Hospital
JUDGED BY
Ben von Heynitz (Founder of Carpet Brokers), Dorothy van’t Riet (Owner Dorothy van’t Riet Design & Décor Consultants), Jacques Smit (Interior Architect and Cabinetry Design Specialist), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute), Lood Welgemoed (Team Leader at Boogertman+Partners architects)
Best innovation in flooring by product
This award is awarded to the product that changed or is going to change the face of flooring because of its innovation. Entries included the name of product or system, type of product or system, rationale for considering it a best innovation, when it was developed and first marketed, the estimated square metres installed to date of entry, whether it was a new or replacement ‘innovation’, what impact it had on the industry or added value it offered clients, what the unique product attributes were and a motivation as to why the product uniquely qualifies for the award.
WINNER
FloorworX for Marmoleum
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Legrand for Soluflex
Van Dyck for InstaLay
JUDGED BY
Dorothy van’t Riet (Owner Dorothy van’t Riet Design & Décor Consultants), Ian Merrington (Director at Combined Flooring), Jacques Smit (Interior Architect and Cabinetry Design Specialist), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute), Lood Welgemoed (Team Leader at Boogertman+Partners architects), Peter Simon (COO at Kevin Bates Albert Carpets Group)
Contribution to skills development
This award goes to the company that has contributed a distinctive effort towards skills development and training in the industry for the purpose of upliftment as a whole. Companies were requested to give details and results of their training and skills programmes, including dates when and where their programme started, where the training takes place, how often it operates, who conducts the programmes, how many people are trained in each session, if examinations are held and certificates given, how successful it has been with regard to the number of people given instruction; pass rate, whether the training included women, any advanced training that was provided (bursaries, learnerships), support documentation from the relevant SETA for accredited courses, a motivation and anything else to add in support of the entry.
WINNER
Belgotex Floorcoverings
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Kevin Bates Flooring & Carpeting
FloorworX
JUDGED BY
Colin Cameron (Partner at Intercarpets), Francis Lamola (Mpumalanga Provincial Coordinator of the Construction Education and Training Authority), Frans Toua (CEO of Tjeka Training Matters), Ian Merrington (Director at Combined Flooring), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute)
Most environmentally friendly flooring product
This award is made to the company that successfully showcased and substantiated the most environmentally responsible product. Requirements for this award included the product technical specifications; why it is considered eco-friendly; production energy saving properties; guaranteed lifetime; low or no use of volatile materials, recycled materials used, and further recyclability properties of the product. Entry details also included the manufacturer of the product, chemical composition/breakdown of the product, is it re-usable, the estimated lifespan of the product, can the product be adapted for other uses, does the manufacturer have a stewardship programme, environmental impacts with cleaning and maintenance of the product, details of the product, and are recycled materials used to produce the product and a motivation of why the product deserves to win this award.
WINNER
Desso for DESSO AirMaster®
HIGHLY COMMENDED
FloorworX for Marmoleum
(tie)
Polyflor SA for Pearlazzo PUR
Van Dyck for Eco-Lay & InstaLay
JUDGED BY
Eric Noir (Founding Director of the Green Building Council of SA), Jarrod Lewin (Stakeholder Manager for the Green Building Council of SA), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute), Marlene E van Rooyen (Editor & Business Unit Manager at WALLS&ROOFS in Africa magazine)
Individual lifetime achievement
This award goes to the person that has gone above and beyond professional duty and industry norms, benefiting the flooring industry with personal and/or professional leadership in the area of flooring expertise. This award is given for years of service, experience gained, and what this person’s claim to fame is. The award also looks at current and previous designations and the achievement requirements within the role. A short CV had to be supplied along with details of what the person had done for the image of the flooring industry, whether the person is considered an expert in his/her field, achievements accomplished by/awarded to the individual and a motivation as to why this person deserves to win an award.
WINNER
Stephan Colle
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Denver Coleman
Luci Nouwens
Peter Geyer
JUDGED BY
Brian Hoyle (Commercial Director at Top Carpets and Floors), Colin Cameron (Partner at Intercarpets), Crystelle Steyn (Associate Director at PWC), Fanie Venter (Chairman of Media in Africa and CEO of Business Print), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute), Martin Herbst (Senior Financial Adviser at Sanlam), Peter Simon (COO at Kevin Bates Albert Carpets Group)
Entries and bookings open January 2016
Longest lifespan installation
This is an award for the locally installed product in South Africa with the proven longest lifespan installation still in service today, regardless of the type of product. Entries were to provide proof of claimed longevity, including comment from existing user, where and when the product was installed, installation method used at the time, square metres installed, details of the client, architect and flooring contractor, and photographs of the installation. Aesthetic appeal of the installation was rated as well as a motivation of why the installation deserves to win the award.
WINNER
Polyflor SA for George Civic Centre
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Nouwens Carpets for St Augustine’s Anglican Church, Bethlehem
Contract Flooring Distributors for Woolworths Eastgate Shopping Centre
JUDGED BY
Brian Hoyle (Commercial Director at Top Carpets and Floors), Ian Merrington (Director at Combined Flooring), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute), Nirvani Singh (Principal Consultant at Team FM), Peter Simon (COO at Kevin Bates Albert Carpets Group)
360 Degrees excellence in flooring
This award goes to the company who proved to exercise 360° of excellence in flooring across all key function areas in business. Award criteria included product offering, marketing campaigns over the last 24 months, effectiveness of the management team, the way in which operations are run, relevant certifications, BEE status, community involvement, awards won, if any, and a motivation why the company uniquely qualifies to win this award.
WINNER
Belgotex Floorcoverings
HIGHLY COMMENDED
FloorworX
Kirk Marketing
JUDGED BY
Ben von Heynitz (Founder of Carpet Brokers), Colin Cameron (Partner at Intercarpets), Crystelle Steyn (Associate Director at PWC), Fanie Venter (Chairman of Media in Africa and CEO of Business Print), Jim Gould (President & Founder of the Floor Covering Institute), Martin Herbst (Senior Financial Adviser at Sanlam)
Longest-standing advertiser
Awards are given to companies that have advertised as support to the initial SA Floor Covering Journal, now known as FLOORS in Africa magazine, since its inception 30 years ago in 1983. The first year’s magazine issues were retrieved from Media in Africa’s archives and reviewed to determine the winners. No entries were required for this award.
AWARD WINNERS
- Carpet Brokers
- FloorworX (Marley)
- Nouwens Carpets
- Selborne Carpet Wholesalers
- Smoothedge
- Transit Floor Tiles
- Van Dyck
- Wonder Flooring
Judging Process
Each award category had a set of questions to answer and each question was weighted by a group decision of the judges on (1) Of Importance, (2) Very Important and (3) Essential as winning criteria.
Thereafter judges individually scored each question on point values being: Not evident – (0) unclear/not evident/ unconvincing; Fair – (1) clear/some attempt to justify; Good – (2) clear/convincing but nothing distinctive; Excellent – (3) clear/convincing/identifies/justifies.