GROHE, a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, has announced its new partnership with the Wates Innovation Network (WIN Portal).

The Wates Group is one of the UK’s leading housing developers, operating across London and the South of England. The organisation works with local authorities and housing association partners to set standards for higher-quality homes, by looking beyond bricks and mortar of a build and focusing on supporting the long-term development of sustainable communities.

Through a stringent series of assessments and presentations, GROHE’s ESG credentials and Cradle to Cradle Certified® collection were proven to meet the highest sustainable criteria. GROHE was one of just nine suppliers who made it through from 180 applicants.

The Wates Innovation Network (WIN portal) is a leading marketplace for sustainable innovative suppliers. The WIN portal allows for those working on sustainably minded projects to easily find fittings, materials and solutions in one place along with the required sustainable credentials.

The Cradle to Cradle Certified® Gold Level collection is part of the 600-strong product lines GROHE has recently announced Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for. With the launch of EPDs for a wide range of its portfolio, GROHE offers specifiers easy and transparent comparisons with regard to the life cycle assessment of its products. On this basis, they can make informed statements about the environmental impact of buildings, which is often a cornerstone for sustainability certifications such as DGNB, LEED or BREEAM. With increasing pressure on the construction industry to make buildings ever more sustainable, information of this kind will be a selection norm for products in the future, on level with price, design, and quality.

“At GROHE, we’re continually working towards building a sustainable and positive future when it comes to the building and construction industry and are delighted to be able to partner with like-minded organisations. Currently, carbon emissions from buildings and construction constitute almost 40% of global carbon emissions, so we need to look at the bigger picture” says Karl Lennon, leader, projects, GROHE UK.

“The Wates Innovation Network will provide us with yet another avenue and platform to support the specifications of greener products on even more projects.”

Cradle-to-Cradle Certified®

GROHE is proud that four of its bestselling products are Cradle-to-Cradle Certified® at the Gold Level. The products were assessed towards this global leading standard for safe, circular, and equitable products, across the performance categories of Material Health, Material Reutilization, Renewable Energy & Carbon Management, Water Stewardship, and Social Fairness. This certification confirms that GROHE has manufactured these products with the potential to be re-used endlessly, offering a whole new take on the concept of recycling. The Cradle to Cradle Certified® approach to product design enables GROHE to drastically reduce the use of new resources, as a product is designed and manufactured with the intent of using its components in its end-of-life-phase for the creation of new products, resulting in the ultimate sustainable solution.