Scarborough High School is almost finished with a project that will give the school an “honorable” distinction, said facilities manager Norm Justice.

The high school, at the end of March, will put the finishing touches on a new, environmentally friendly floor in its Plummer Gymnasium, making the school the first public high school in the country to sport the brand, Justice said.

“We’re excited about this product,” Justice said. “We hope the athletes will be able to enjoy it and notice its durability.”

The floor is a new product from Connor Sports Flooring called Green Play. It’s created from recycled materials and meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design requirements.

It has a recycled-sneaker cushioning system, recycled engineered polymer sub-floor panels and wood components. The floor is considered a state-of-the-art product, Scarborough Superintendent David Doyle said.

The floor can be used for 20 or more years and has one other green-friendly quality, said Jon Isaacs, marketing manager for Connor Sports. “Not only is the sub-floor recycled material but it also can be recycled after its life,” Isaacs said.

A sprinkler pipe in the first-floor suspended ceiling froze and burst in December. The nearly 1,000 gallons of water that leaked warped the previous floor.

The water soaked into the cushioning beneath the floor and the padding acted like a sponge, Justice said. It trapped the water just below the wood. The school used a professional cleaning crew and attempted to use fans and a heater to dry the floor, but the floor was ruined, Justice said.

“It was an unfortunate incident,” Justice said, “but hopefully we’ll have something even better than before.”

The school department received several bids from New England-based contractors and companies that specialized in gymnasium flooring, Doyle said. The school went with Connor Sports’ product after the company bid $30,000 less than the competition.

Connor also offered a five-year warranty on its product. “That was certainly very attractive,” Doyle said.

The total cost of the project is $102,500. The school department’s insurance company covered all of the costs, Doyle said.

Plummer Gymnasium has been shut down during the floor construction.

Justice said he doesn’t know how well the new floor will work, but he is confident that the school department made the right choice.

“It’s a resilient type of flooring that is something that you strive for on the gym floor,” Justice said. “That was appealing. I think the athletes who use it will be pleased.”

Colby Boppel, of New England Flooring, works on the new gymnasium floor at Scarborough High School.Colby Boppel, of New England Flooring, works on the new gymnasium floor at Scarborough High School.