Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester

Newhey created over 740 square metres of bespoke sustainable wool-rich carpeting for the public areas of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Government-funded and installed ready to welcome students, the result is music to students’ ears.

The award-winning Royal Northern College of Music, based on Oxford Road in Manchester, is recognised as one of the world’s most forward-thinking conservatoires. It is also one of the UK’s busiest and most diverse public performance venues. Founded in 1973, it is home to over 900 students from more than 60 countries.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority was awarded £78m from a round of the Government’s £1bn Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, a grant programme designed to help local authorities decarbonise their estates. The Royal Northern College of Music is one of 150 public buildings in Manchester to receive funding for upgrades that will help to cut carbon emissions and create jobs.

Ian Palmer Architects were tasked with, amongst many things, specifying sustainable carpeting for public areas which included a mezzanine deck, lower concourse, upper concourse and top landing. The carpets required would need to be of a bespoke design and be capable of withstanding high footfall.

Our design team worked closely with Ian Palmer who personally visited our factory in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Not only did Ian want to share his vision with our designers, he wanted to see for himself how our secondary carpet backing was applied and find out more about its sustainability credentials.

All our carpets are backed with “evobac” which is made from 100% recycled PET post-consumer plastic. Just one square metre prevents at least eight from going to landfill or entering our oceans. So, Ian was impressed when he calculated that by specifying our carpet, his decision would rescue almost 6,000 plastic bottles from landfill and our oceans and help to tackle climate change.

Evobac is applied using the world’s first hot melt carpet backing line which uses a high strength thermoplastic bonding agent which is stronger than traditional latex backing. It’s what backs all Newhey carpets.

Ian commissioned Newhey Carpets to manufacture 748 square metres of 4 metre wide heavy contract quality carpet manufactured using Colortech technology. Choosing our carpets also supported the local economy by using experienced local wool spinners and dyers within a 50 mile radius of our factory.

Manchester-based Newards Limited, one of the country’s leading and most experienced flooring contractors, performed an excellent installation of the 4 metre wide bespoke carpet.

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