Office interior elements

It often happens that the interior of office buildings is renovated after only 10 years, for example when a new tenant moves into the building. During these works, large quantities of reusable elements are removed, such as modular partitions, suspended ceilings, raised floor tiles, carpet tiles (and also sanitary equipment, see the relevant material category). However, all these materials are produced for a lifetime that is many times longer.

Reuse of these elements is not very common yet, but in recent years we see some of these products gradually appearing on the reclamation market, with some traders building up a stock, and others focusing mainly on sales from the dismantling site. 

Documentation

Carpet tiles

The lifetime of carpet tiles is typically shorter than that of the other elements, so their presence on the reuse market is limited, but there are some companies with a very extensive stock. Typically they sell recent and reclaimed carpet tiles next to overstocks, B-choice tiles, etc. 

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Raised floors

Raised floor tiles are a salvageable and modular product par excellence, and on top of that often of high quality, with a long life span. It can be found on a small scale through local demolition contractors, and on a very large scale through some specialised companies (currently mainly around Paris, but with a radius of action over large parts of Western Europe). Their modularity, and the fact that they have no aesthetic impact on a space makes their reuse very easy. 

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Partition walls

Partitions are also a highly salvageable, modular material, whose potential technical lifetime far exceeds its actual lifetime. In order to integrate reclaimed partition walls into an existing space, the designers must provide an appropriate finishing detail to make the connections between these reclaimed walls and the existing structure of the new project. 

Suspended ceilings

Different types of suspended ceilings (also known as false or dropped ceilings) can be found on the reuse market. Typically, only high-quality elements, with specific technical or decorative properties (elements in steel, aluminium or wood) are taken in stock by dealers. But other, more neutral systems such as tiles made out of compressed rock wool are sometimes available as well. Suspended ceilings are largely removed during renovation works, it is mainly their low new sales price that prevents large-scale reuse.