ECORE International, a company where recycling meets original thinking, recently received an honorable mention for its ECOsurfaces product at the 12th annual Starnet Design Awards, held at the El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico.

Starnet presented seven category winners, two honorable mentions, and one grand prize winner from a record 118 entries, representing 52 Starnet member companies. ECOsurfaces received the award in the Hospitality and Public Space category for the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel and Spa expansion project in Whorley, ID.

Lancaster, PA - ECOsurfaces Commercial Flooring is pleased to announce its donation and partnership with the non-profit organization, Greenspace. Greenspace, NCR, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering green real estate and economic development in the nation's capital region, developing and implementing green policies, and providing stewardship of growing green communities.

ECOsurfaces has donated $2,500 worth of ECOrocks' in Big Boulder for Greenspace's Learning and Resource Center, a 12,000 square foot space at the Nationals' Ballpark in Washington, D.C. The learning center is designed to meet LEED platinum standards and will be the region's place to showcase ideas and resources. It is projected to serve a market of at least 200,000 development professionals by building the skills and relationships necessary to create our green neighborhoods.

ECOsurfaces Commercial Flooring has launched a custom color application on the ECOsurfaces website called "Pattern Play." The application allows a designer or potential customer to develop a custom color pattern using the standard ColorMill EPDM colors that are offered by ECOsurfaces.

"This application is something that has been a long time coming for ECOsurfaces. It will be a great tool for designers and customers to create a totally unique recycled rubber floor using ECOsurfaces' custom capabilities," explains Andrew Dodge, managing director of ECOsurfaces.

ECOsurfaces Commercial Flooring is pleased to offer the Next Generation Recycled Rubber Flooring Continuing Education Unit (CEU) through McGraw-Hill Construction's Continuing Education Center. Designed to teach how new technology has advanced recycled rubber flooring in sustainability and performance, the course also details what to look for to get the most sustainable, highest performing flooring option.

Managing Director of ECOsurfaces, Andrew Dodge, states, "Our new CEU course is a great tool for the sales force to help educate designers and architects on recycled rubber flooring while qualifying for the sustainable design (SD) credit through AIA."

ECOsurfaces Commercial Flooring, manufactured by ECORE International and exclusively distributed by Gerbert Limited, announces the introduction of its premier laminated flooring product, ECOrx. ECOrx features a proprietary new factory-bonded composition that includes any standard ECOsurfaces pattern and a recycled SBR rubber underlayment, all manufactured in the United States at ECORE's Lancaster, PA production facility.

The ECOrx system features patented technology that bonds ECOsurfaces' wear layer and underlayment materials together enabling installation that previously included multiple steps to be completed in one swift process. The bonding of these resilient layers delivers superior surfacing support and durability for significantly low overall life-cycle costs.

ECOsurfaces Commercial Flooring has announced the introduction of its revolutionary new coating: ECOguard. ECOguard is a maintenance coating designed to preserve the beauty of ECOsurfaces Commercial Flooring. It is applied at the ECORE International factory, manufacturer of ECOsurfaces, providing a superior protective finish right from the factory. "ECOguard brings long-term surfacing quality to a whole new tier," states Kathryn Ross, director of marketing and internal sales, ECORE International. "An entire step of the installation process is averted and floors retain their beauty for years with minimal maintenance, which will help to lower overall cleaning costs."

Before LEED became the hottest acronym in architecture and when green was just another pretty color, ECOsurfaces recycled rubber flooring was helping to pave the way for a movement that would change the building materials industry forever.

Introduced in 1998, ECOsurfaces products provide long wearing recycled rubber flooring to the educational, healthcare, retail, hospitality, institutional and fitness markets, among others. For more than a decade, the line has earned a reputation for durable surfacing that is as comfortable to walk on as it is fashionable, thanks to a selection of patterns and colors that make a unique design statement.

LaGrange, GA - The U.S. Green Building Council has cited FloorScore certified flooring products as eligible for credits under the new LEED 2009 Version 3 guidelines. Reflecting the inclusion of FloorScore, the new LEED IEQ Credit 4.3 for Low-Emitting Materials has been expanded from "Carpet Systems" to "Flooring Systems" to include hard surface flooring.

FloorScore, developed by Scientific Certification Systems in collaboration with the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI), is a voluntary, independent certification program that tests vinyl,linoleum, laminate, wood, ceramic and rubber flooring and certifies that they meet the requirements of California Section 01350.

ECOsurfaces Commercial Flooring has been certified by an independent laboratory to meet the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) criterial (Section 01350) for indoor air quality in classrooms as described in the State of California's Department of Health Services Standard Practice.

CHPS is the nation's first school building rating program created to facilitate the design of high performance schools. Any California school that specifies and installs ECOsurfaces recycled rubber flooring can qualify for points under Indoor Environmental Quality Credit EQ2.2.

ECOsurfaces announced this week that it has been selected as a recipient of the 2009 ADEX award. The ADEX Award is presented to honor the quality and design of furnishing and building materials and is one of the largest and most prestigious awards given for product design of fixtures, finishes, and furniture in the design trade. The ADEX award is sponsored by Design Journal and presented at platinum, gold, and silver levels based upon a judged scoring system. The ECOshapes collection from ECOsurfaces was selected as a silver level ADEX award winner for 2009.