When we think about school branding, the first things that come to mind are uniforms, events, and logos. But have you ever considered how something as simple as custom flooring can significantly boost a school’s brand image? Beyond its functional role, personalised carpet tiles and mats can be a powerful tool to reinforce a school’s identity, create a welcoming atmosphere, and foster a sense of community.

In this blog, we’ll explore how custom-designed carpets, featuring school logos, colours, and unique designs can elevate a school’s aesthetic while contributing to its overall identity.

Custom carpets offer an effective and subtle way to continually reinforce the school’s brand. A school’s logo and colours represent its brand, mission, and spirit. By incorporating these elements into the carpet design, the school solidifies its identity in every area where the carpet is placed, serving as a constant reminder of what the school stands for.

For new students, staff, and visitors, the visual cues provided through custom flooring serve as an immediate introduction to the school’s identity. These elements communicate the school’s values and personality, leaving a lasting impression. This ultimately strengthens brand recognition and creates a memorable image of the school, particularly in the minds of alumni.

Custom flooring is especially impactful in high-traffic areas like entrances. Incorporating logo entrance matting in the school’s doorway will essentially create the first point of interaction between the school and its visitors, making it an important step in its visual branding strategy.

Custom flooring can transform a school’s environment, making it feel more inviting and connected to its ethos. Personalised carpets establish a sense of ownership and pride among students, helping them feel more engaged in their school.

In large schools, it’s easy for different areas to feel disconnected. However, research indicates that consistent visual elements within a school environment can significantly enhance a student’s sense of belonging. For example, ‘The Power of Unity’ concept emphasises the importance of interconnectedness in educational settings, suggesting that fostering a unified environment contributes to a compassionate and cooperative school culture. These findings highlight the value of incorporating consistent visual design to create cohesive and welcoming spaces that reassure students of their place within the school community.

Consequently, being part of a unified school community nurtures student well-being, which spreads to staff, teachers, and visitors, uplifting the entire atmosphere of the school. This fuels school spirit and motivates students in ways that extend far beyond the classroom. It creates an environment where students don’t just attend school to learn; they come to be part of a meaningful, inclusive community.

• Durability: Mats are commonly used in high foot traffic areas meaning they must be able to withstand wear and tear from heavy use without showing signs of damage quickly. At Heckmondwike, our Bespoke Logo Mat is manufactured using the durable Diamond entrance carpet. It has a prominent, heavy contract, multi-directional texture, resulting in a highly durable surface, making it a popular choice for entrance transition areas in schools.

• Health and Safety: Carpets with non-slip properties are important in reducing accidents, especially in high-traffic areas like entrances, corridors, and stairs. Heckmondwike’s Loose Lay Mats offer the perfect entrance solution for schools. With rubber edging, the mats sit firmly and securely on an entrance surface, providing a benefit of safety while maintaining an aesthetic appeal.

• Noise Reduction: Custom carpet tiles can improve acoustics by reducing reverberation. Broadrib, Supacord, and Hobnail, available in Heckmondwike’s revolutionary logo carpet tiles, Fusion, are designed with enhanced impact noise reduction properties. These features make them the optimal choice for corridors. For more insights, check out our blog to explore the benefits of acoustic flooring.

• Improved Air Quality: Custom carpet tiles, especially those with dense fibres, like Supacord, can help trap dust, dirt, and allergens reducing the amount of dust circulating in the air, making the environment healthier, especially for children with allergies or respiratory conditions like asthma.

At Heckmondwike, our high-quality custom carpet tiles and mats are easy to clean and maintain. Regular cleaning of the tiles and mats ensures that they continue to support good air quality, helping to reduce allergens in the classroom.

Creating a custom logo mat isn’t just about putting a logo on a surface, it’s about crafting a symbol of identity that will stand the test of time. At Heckmondwike, every step in the manufacturing process is carefully executed to ensure that the final product isn’t just visually appealing, but durable, functional, and aligned with your school’s vision.

Here is a short step by step detailing how each Bespoke Logo Mat is crafted:

• A digital design of the logo is created
• The fibres, polypropylene and recycled polyester, are pre-constructed into a base mat through the needle-punching method
• The logo design is transferred onto the mat and precisely cut from the mat fibres using laser cut technology
• The individual pieces of the logo are carefully positioned on the mat’s surface and glued to the mat’s fibres
• The rubber waffle backing is then applied to the reverse side of the mat to provide structural support and slip resistance
• Any excess material is trimmed, and the edges of the mat are sealed

To watch a demonstration of how Heckmondwike manufactures Bespoke Logo Mats, click here

Custom flooring goes beyond functionality; it’s an investment in fostering a strong, cohesive school culture. By seamlessly integrating a school’s identity into its very foundation, custom carpets not only enhance brand recognition but also create a positive, welcoming atmosphere for students, staff, and visitors.

In addition to branding, custom carpets offer practical benefits like durability, noise reduction, improved air quality and increased safety. These elements come together to create a cohesive space that benefits everyone.

Made from 85% polypropylene and 15% recycled polyester, with a waffle backing, Heckmondwike’s Bespoke Logo Mats are designed to add a personalised touch to any school.

Visit the product page to view full specifications and order your sample today!

Did you know that excessive noise in classrooms can cause students to miss up to 25% of information? By incorporating solutions like acoustic flooring, such as acoustic-backed carpet tiles, schools can create a  calmer and more effective learning environment. This is because acoustic flooring helps alleviate challenges posed by disruptive noise, promoting a quieter, more focused atmosphere for learning.

Research highlights the detrimental effects of noise pollution in classrooms, which can disrupt students learning, attention span, memory, and motivation. Beyond cognitive struggles, constant noise exposure can lead to higher stress hormone levels and increased blood pressure in children. This issue is even more pronounced for children with ADHD, as they are particularly sensitive to distractions, resulting in heightened hyperactivity and a decline in academic performance, according to findings from the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Therefore, addressing excessive noise levels in the classroom benefits all students, even those with special needs.

Acoustic backing refers to a specialised layer added to carpets that is specifically designed to improve sound insulation and reduce noise transmission.

Sound travels in waves, and when these waves hit a soft, dense, or porous material, part of the sound energy is absorbed and converted into heat, reducing the amount of sound that passes through. By absorbing sound waves, acoustic flooring helps minimise noise.

At Heckmondwike, acoustic backing is made from felt, which boasts a dense structure that helps absorb sound waves and reduce noise transmission in a room. This makes acoustic tiles particularly beneficial in environments like lecture theatres in schools, where sound control is essential.

Beyond its acoustic benefits, felt offers several additional advantages. Its soft, cushioned feel underfoot enhances comfort and contributes to thermal insulation, making the space slightly warmer compared to other backing materials. The dense fibre structure also makes the felt highly resilient, preventing matting and compression and ultimately increasing the carpet’s lifespan.

Moreover, since the felt is made from synthetic fibres, it is more moisture-resistant than other materials, helping to prevent the growth of bacteria and mould under the carpet. This is especially important in schools, where maintaining hygiene is a priority. In the long run, these qualities not only support the upkeep of the carpet but also save schools money by reducing the need for frequent replacements.

• Noise Reduction: Acoustic tiles help reduce ambient noise in educational spaces. This limits distractions, especially in open-plan classrooms, as the acoustic tiles prevent the noise from travelling between areas, allowing students to focus better.

• Enhanced communication: In large classrooms, understanding instructions and engaging in discussions can be challenging without good acoustics. Also, for environments using microphones, acoustic-backed carpet tiles improve sound quality, making it easier for students to hear audio without distortion. Consequently, acoustic tiles can reduce airborne noise.

• Improved focused and learning: A study revealed that participants studying in low-noise environments showed better academic performance than those in high-noise environments, reinforcing the notion that excessive noise can negatively affect concentration and information processing. Therefore, acoustic-backed carpet tiles are a beneficial investment in students’ learning outcomes.

• Support for special needs: For students with sensory processing disorders, the noise-reducing qualities of acoustic tiles can help create a more calming environment. This makes it easier for these students to focus and participate in classroom activities without being overstimulated.

In addition to noise reduction and improved focus, acoustic tiles provide other features:

• Comfort: Acoustic-backed carpet tiles provide a soft surface, making classrooms more comfortable, especially for children who may be sitting on the floor for extended periods.

• Durability and Easy Maintenance; Acoustic-backed carpet tiles are specifically engineered to endure high traffic and regular use. They’re also low-maintenance and resistant to stains, making them an excellent choice for active classrooms.

• Safety: Hypoallergenic carpet tiles can help create a healthier and safer environment by reducing the risk of allergic reactions, respiratory issues, and other health concerns. If you would like to learn more about creating a cleaner, allergen-free environment in the classroom, look at this article on how to reduce allergens in the classroom.

Impact noise is the sound generated by physical impacts, like footsteps, dropped objects, or moving furniture.  This kind of noise can be particularly disruptive in educational environments, especially in multi-story buildings where noise from the floor above can be heard below.

Supacord and Broadrib acoustic-backed carpet tiles are popular choices in schools for reducing impact noise because they have a felt backing that is designed to absorb and reduce vibrations caused by impact noises. This helps prevent the noise from traveling through the floor structure and into other rooms or areas.

• Supacord, often specified for its superior ability to reduce impact noise, makes it an ideal solution for noisy educational environments. For example, Supacord’s tiles can achieve a 23dB impact. This means that the tiles can reduce the intensity of impact noise by 23 dB, resulting in a noticeable reduction in the volume of footsteps, dropped objects, and other physical impacts.

Heckmondwike’s Supacord carpet tiles in Kingston Grey and Blue Moon were used as part of the new build development for Lord Williams’s School. The high-performance tiles are designed to reduce noise levels, helping to minimise distractions in busy school corridors. The combination of stylish colours and noise-reducing benefits create an ideal balance of functionality and design in the school’s interior.

• Broadrib, celebrated for its market-leading acoustic properties and wider rib structure, offers exceptional noise reduction, achieving an impressive 25dB impact. Consequently, Broadrib is ideal for high-traffic communal spaces such as receptions, corridors, and break out areas.

Broadrib tiles were installed in St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School’s corridors and communal areas. The school required a new flooring solution that was not only hard-wearing but also capable of enhancing acoustics and reducing disruption in heavy footfall areas. The combination of excellent acoustic performance and long-lasting durability made Broadrib the perfect choice for the school’s busy spaces.

With a BREEAM A* rating, both Supacord and Broadrib contribute to schools’ sustainability efforts by supporting low-carbon, energy-efficient designs. These high-performance commercial carpet tiles not only enhance environmental credentials but also deliver exceptional durability and functionality, making them an ideal choice for schools seeking both performance and sustainability.

Designed to enhance focus, improve acoustics, and create a safer, more productive learning environment, our acoustic-backed carpet tiles are the perfect solution for fostering a better educational space for your students.

Contact us today to discover how we can help transform your school with our high-quality acoustic-backed carpet tiles.