Rockfon makes quick-service restaurant more sustainable

Rockfon makes quick-service restaurant more sustainable

Catering for athletes and visitors at the world’s largest sporting event involved construction of the largest quick-service restaurant in the world. Designed to be temporary, the building had to be truly sustainable, so everything from the furniture and kitchen equipment to light bulbs and switches was transferred to other new and existing outlets across the UK after the event.

This accounted for around 75% of the building, with almost everything else being recycled, including the colourful Rockfon ceiling tiles.

A re-use or recycle policy was applied to every item possible in the restaurant. When it came to the ceilings, it was felt that the tiles might be damaged after installation and subsequent removal, making it more difficult to re-use them.

Rockfon supplied their fully recyclable ceiling tiles and were able to receive them back at their Rockwool production facility to process through their own upcycling service, contributing to the sustainability targets of the project.

Around 1200m2 of Rockfon’s 1200x600mm Black ceiling tiles were specified for the restaurant to enhance the design and atmosphere of the space. The tiles also offer very high sound absorption, which is essential for busy fast-food outlets, along with excellent fire safety and resistance to humidity. 480m2 of Rockfon Color-all Beige tiles were also supplied to a smaller outlet on site.

Rockfon’s new Color all range comprises 34 colours from subtle to bold, with improved surface smoothness and a matt finish to give colours their true expression. Most importantly for the temporary outlet, all Rockfon ceiling tiles are fully recyclable.

Rockfon worked closely with the main contractor, Barlow Group, to coordinate the return of all the ceilings to the Rockwool factory in South Wales when the restaurants were decommissioned. The 24 pallets of returned materials were then crushed and combined with raw materials to create new Rockwool insulation products.

This process is more than just recycling, it’s upcycling, since the resulting products are of equal quality to those made entirely from new or
virgin materials.

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