Bona: Swedish pioneer in sustainable floor care

Since 1919, Bona, founded in Malmö, Sweden, has been known for its passion for durable floors. What began as a modest family business has grown into a world leader in floor care and renovation. Bona's core values are innovation, quality and sustainability. The company offers a wide range of products and systems for premium floors and strives for both beauty and environmental friendliness. Today, Bona operates in 90 countries.

In healthcare facilities, heavily used floors present a major challenge. With wear and tear, these floors not only become visually unattractive, but also more difficult to clean, often leading to replacement. Bona now offers an innovation in floor maintenance that makes these replacements unnecessary: the Bona Resilient system. Originally used for wooden floors, this system is now also applicable to resilient floors such as linoleum, rubber and PVC.

The renovation procedure involves sanding and treating the floor with a water-based 2K polyurethane coating. This significantly extends the life of the floors.

Research by the Swedish Environmental Institute IVL has shown that renovation over floor replacement offers significant environmental benefits: an energy saving and CO2 reduction of 90%. In addition, time and energy are saved by eliminating the need to remove, dump and burn the old floor. For a 500 m² floor, this amounts to a saving of about five tons of CO2.

Floor renovation is economically attractive, with at least 50% savings over replacement. In addition, a renovation saves a lot of valuable time allowing care to remain operational. Replacing a floor in an operating room can take up to a week, while a renovation can be done within two days. In addition, costs for periodic maintenance such as stripping and polymers disappear. These savings have a significant impact on the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCC).

In addition to functional benefits, renovation offers visual renewal. Colors can be changed, logos or signage added. As a result, spaces can not only be refurbished, but completely transformed without the added expense of new flooring.

Periodic maintenance is drastically reduced through renovation. In European healthcare facilities, 80% of floors are treated annually with polymers that must be removed and reapplied regularly. With renovation, this procedure can be repeated once every 5 to 7 years, resulting in average cost savings of 60% over ten years. This also reduces disruption to operations. In addition, two gallons of water are saved per sq. ft. because the floor no longer needs to be stripped, contributing to sustainability.

A striking example of the benefits of floor renovation is the Alpentherme Gastein Gesundheitszentrum in Bad Hofgastein. Over time, the floor of the spa and health center was showing serious wear and tear and needed a thorough makeover. Closing the facility, however, was not an option. With more than 1,000 m² of floor space, cost efficiency was crucial. Floor renovation proved to be the perfect solution.

Klaus Lemmerer, general manager at Alpentherme Gastein, said, "Renovating the floor was seamless and efficient, allowing us to keep the facility operational. The project was completed in just a few days, without weeks of closure. The Bona Resilient system used 90% less material and provided significant cost savings. Visually, the possibilities were virtually limitless. Our spaces are now brightened by a soothing light gray color, and our logo on the floor reinforces the branding. The updated floor is not only more durable and reduces the risk of slipping through wet feet, but also makes our cleaning crew happy because the floor is now much easier to clean and does not need constant stripping and polishing," concludes Klaus Lemmerer.