"special wood floors"

When Ainsley Gommon Architects was tasked with designing the new sixth form college in Connah’s Quay, it called upon Forbo Flooring Systems to ensure the interior design would easily accommodate changes in the curriculum, while clearly defining departments.Deeside Sixth, a joint development between Coleg Cambria, local schools and Flintshire County Council, is a £14.6 million state-of-the-art centre, which provides a learning environment to offer enhanced curriculum options to A Level students.

The Goodwin Development Trust are an organisation committed to improving the quality of life within the communities of Hull. Their Octagon Centre provides a range of services that meets the many needs of the community which includes floor space for the Goodwin Table Tennis Club (GTTC) to practice and play on. Providing a suitable playing surface for the GTTC would involve a local flooring installer supplying 300m2 of top-quality flooring from international flooring specialist Gerflor. It would prove to be an ideal project perfectly suited to Gerflor’s world-renowned Taraflex® Table Tennis Floor.

The robust qualities and unique geometrical design of Forbo Flooring Systems’ Flotex Triad planks has helped to refresh the entrance level of this busy university library in Glasgow.The Andersonian Library, located in the Curran building at the University of Strathclyde, is a public facility for thousands of students and staff across Glasgow’s universities. After years of heavy footfall, the original carpet that was fitted in the reception area and corridors of the library was fast deteriorating and imminently becoming a trip hazard.Dawn McNeil, Building Surveyor at the University of Strathclyde said: “When we saw the carpet starting to fail within the entrance level, we knew that we needed a new flooring solution which would be robust stand up to the high levels of traffic, yet also able to retain its aesthetics in years to come. What’s more, as it’s a busy library, it was important for us that the flooring was also easy to clean, as the floors are very prone to food and drink spillages."

High performance resin for mortuary flooring areasAs with many high-care environments, mortuaries and post-mortem rooms require high performance flooring to cope with extremely demanding conditions. Any floor finish must be slip-resistant, hygienic, totally impermeable and incredibly durable.Traditional mortuary flooring specificationTraditionally, mortuaries and post-mortems rooms have utilised vinyl sheet or terrazzo floor tiles. However, both have inherent problems such as failed joints, cracks and poor slip resistance making them less than ideal. The failure of these traditional finishes can allow water and other contaminants to penetrate into the substrate below, which creates significant hygiene challenges.In addition to hygiene challenges, failed floors can create health and safety issues such as trip hazards and any repairs will be time consuming and disruptive.High performance mortuary specificationDegafloor have developed an alternative, high performance flooring specification, ideal for post-mortem and mortuary flooring. The Full Broadcast and QTA systems are ultra durable, seamless and highly slip-resistant finishes that can be easily cleaned.Both offer a profiled surface finish that provides outstanding slip-resistance and durability. Despite the surface texture, Degafloor flooring systems are easy to clean and and the seamless nature of these floors results in outstanding durability, avoiding contamination issues.Degafloor high performance flooring systems can bond to a variety of substrates, and cure both chemically and physically within 2 hours of installation. This ensures that every solution we deliver can be installed extremely quickly and cost effectively, resulting in minimal disruption.Our mortuary flooring projects include; Peterborough City Hospital, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Barnsley General Hospital, Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Basingstoke & North Hampshire hospital.

Youth Zone in Greater London installed a DYNAMIK Komfort Plus sprung sports floor system finished in 2mm Sport PU. This solid synthetic surface finish is ideal for multi-use activity.

The 500sq m of Creation 55 in Sweet Cloud was the perfect solution for the new development, W2 at Wellington House in Cardiff. This LVT vinyl flooring has been specified for the offices and communal areas of this project.

When the school urgently needed to replace their existing wooden floor in their main hall due to flooding, they turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor to supply over 600m2 of their world-renowned Taraflex® Performance vinyl sports flooring.

Lindner installed the high-quality POWER hollow floor in the AMG Brand Centre showroom: thanks to its sophisticated construction, the floor easily supports the heavy luxury vehicles in the showroom without losing stability. Its ease of maintenance is also ideal for easily checking the underlying electronics and making any necessary adjustments. With its elegant surface, the POWER system floor also fits seamlessly into the upscale ambience of the AMG Brand Centre, emphasizes the exclusivity of the vehicles on display and ensures an all-round impressive brand experience.ProductsFloorCalcium sulphate platesFLOOR and more

Forbo Flooring Systems’ integrated portfolio of solutions played a vital role in helping to achieve a welcoming, stimulating and caring learning environment for the early learners of a new purpose-built nursery in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

Over 360m2 of Attraction® interlocking tiles have been installed in the main assembly hall at Mary Immaculate High School, Wales. Delivering an outcome that would be both visually stunning and practical for this extremely busy school was a challenge well-met by Cardiff-based Trefoil Interiors, who turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor. Peter Incledon, Senior Estimator at Trefoil Interiors commented,” We chose Gerflor’s Attraction flooring tiles as it can be easily overlayed on a Granwood composite floor. After speaking with our Gerflor representative we were confident in the Attraction product, as it has been successfully installed in several other locations where an existing Granwood floor required a fast-track covering solution.” Tony Thorne, Sales & Specification Manager, Gerflor commented, “I am absolutely delighted to have worked on this project alongside Trefoil Interiors. This project has been a great success for such a prestigious educational facility”. Peter Incledon also added, “we always recommend Gerflor flooring whenever we can, we trust their tried and tested solutions for all markets.” Gerflor's Attraction® range is a perfect solution for renovation, it is a fast track loose lay vinyl tile with interlocking edges which allows for rapid installation and replacement.

The Project  A new Primary School built as part of the school’s framework agreement with Milton Keynes.  Two storey portal frame build.Jestico & Whiles Architects The Challenge Produce a system suitable for use in an open space.Open plan arrangement of Cubicles and Solid Surface Vanities located directly off the corridor.Ensure safety of the user and create an anti-bulling, completely visible space. The Solution Excelsior Skyline Cubicle Range, a full height system with overhead panel. This extremely popular range is an ideal choice for school environments meeting the demands of modern education and providing complete privacy and comfort to the user.Full height cubicle systems have increased in popularity over the past few years. Skyline Range enables Schools, Colleges and the like to ensure both safety and anti-bulling objectives are met and Excelsior’s rise and fall hinge paired with the bespoke door design enables lift off access in the event of an emergency.Skyline range is an extremely durable system and comes as standard with a ‘P’ section headrail, ‘U’ channel base rail and over-panel providing maximum stability. Optional bolt through fixings are available and recommended.The successful open plan arrangement of cubicles and solid surface vanities in Orange and Pomme Verte is in keeping with the modern vibrant atmosphere of the school.

When Bodmin Community Fire Station in Cornwall needed a hardwearing, hygienic, and safe flooring solution for their fitness room and gym, they turned to international flooring specialists Gerflor. Its’ Taraflex® sports flooring was supplied and would deliver to the highest standards required by the site users. In acknowledgement of the brave and hard work of Cornwall Fire Service crews, Gerflor donated 60m2 of this world-renowned sports flooring in the colour ‘Red’.

Lifestyle Fitness in Manchester faced noise disturbances caused by everyday impacts within their gym. iKoustic came to the rescue with our MuteMat® Gym 70 soundproof flooring tiles, effectively resolving their noise problem.

Koster flooring products were chosen to protect the floor for this change of use garage from vehicle storage to a workshop. The garage has a single skin wall with no insulation and an uneven floor. The floor area was primed then leveled using Koster SL Premium followed by two coats of Koster EM-VS. Kiln Dried Silica Sand was spread between the coats to provide a non-slip surface. Insulation, stud walls and work areas were then completed with materials and equipment being moved or dragged across the coated floor. Koster EM-VS is scratch resistant and therefore prevented any damage from occurring.

When the Tunstall Trade Park complex near Stoke-on-Trent had a requirement for over 700m2 of flooring they turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor to supply a mixture of Creation 55 Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) and Gradus Lafite Connect Space carpet tiles to provide a stunning finish for the project.For permanent installations Creation 55 Dryback provides the perfect solution on prepared subfloors and is ideal for new projects. When an installation needs to be removable, then Creation 55 Looselay with its exclusive construction is the answer.Gradus Lafite Connect Space features a linear design and is available in both tile and plank format offering variety and the opportunity to produce unique floor schemes.

When Dundee-based architects Jon Frullani wanted to refurbish their own Grade B listed office they turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor to supply 250m2 of their Creation 70 LVT Dryback vinyl flooring in ‘Deep Forest’.Creation 70 LVT is a synthetic, decorative, flexible, antistatic abrasion group T floorcovering available in tile or plank, with bevelled edges. It consists in a 0.70 mm thick transparent wear layer, a design film, and a Resilient Comfort Core to provide softness and comfort surface.The LVT flooring has been used throughout the practice including the offices, communal areas including corridors, staff break-out areas, recreation space and the kitchen.Jon Frullani, Architect, and Company owner commented, “We specified Creation 70 LVT from Gerflor as it was the most suited product for our bespoke requirements. In fact, there is not one level floor in the entire building and the Creation 70 LVT has coped very well in this challenging situation.”

When a high-end development of a new residential student accommodation building in Gloucester city centre required over 3800m2 of high-quality flooring, they turned to Gerflor for a complete solution. The world class flooring installed would include Gerflor’s Tarasafe Impression and Tarasafe Standard vinyl safety flooring, Taralay Impression Comfort heterogenous flooring, together with their stunning Creation 55 LVT and Gradus Boulevard 5000 high performance Secondary Barrier Matting Tiles.Cityheart Living’s accommodation in Cityheart’s Blackfriars Residence is brand new and offers high specification and secure student accommodation to the University of Gloucestershire.Midas Group, a multimillion-pound construction group with seven offices around the southwest and Wales, had been appointed by the developers Cityheart Living as main contractors but went into administration in 2022. Vitruvius who are a team of project and construction management consultants swiftly proposed a Construction Management approach to restart the project and were appointed to take over the project.

A selection of floor coverings from Forbo Flooring Systems, combining aesthetics, functionality and exceptional performance, has helped Maze Workplace to create a dynamic and flexible Next Generation Workspace for Insight Direct's new office in Manchester.Global IT solutions company, Insight Direct has relocated from an existing office in Salford, to a smaller, but more central 9,000 sq ft premises in Manchester. The new office space offers employees a contemporary mix of alternative co-working environments and includes open plan hotdesking for 44 people, arranged in smaller ‘neighbourhoods’, two hot offices, five meeting rooms, two open/soft meeting areas as well as a well-being room and a large games area.The office’s urban location is represented throughout by Maze Workplace’s clever and creative choice of products. This is clear as soon as you enter the office, particularly in the reception area. Here Forbo’s Allura Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) have been used to visually connect the outside pavement area with the interior of the building, by using a concrete aesthetic. Kate explained: “We used Forbo’s Allura in the warm concrete dots colourway in the reception area, which added a nod to the urban location and offered something different from the standard ‘concrete’ look.” Warm underfoot and easy to maintain, Allura LVT provides exceptional dimensional stability, strength and performance, making it the perfect solution for the high traffic reception are

Sunderland Royal Hospital’s Emergency Department has undergone a large refurbishment with a three-storey extension and a new colourful paediatric department featuring Forbo Flooring System’s Marmoleum Marbled floor covering. Designed by P+HS Architects, the new development provides a vastly improved environment for patients and staff, and has been shortlisted for best refurbishment at the 2017 Healthcare Estates Awards. The scheme is also entered into this year’s Building Better Healthcare Awards.The existing Emergency Department building previously housed both the adult and paediatric services, however to make the environment more welcoming for children, the refurbishment has seen the creation of two separate entrances. The children’s paediatric ward has been clearly defined by the use of six bright colours from the Marmoleum Marbled collection.

In the refined finishes and the elegance of the accessories, the design of the Luxury Design apartments located in the historic centre of Verona finds an informal dimension. Between the wooden elements and the natural stone details, the identity of the city's architecture comes to life. The choice of flooring respects these elements. The beautiful herringbone floor with Allura Hungarian point planks in different colours creates both an authentic as well as luxurious atmosphere.

The new flagship Pencoed Primary School near Bridgend in Wales needed the ideal flooring for the project across a range of environments within the school. They specified a range of Gerflor products included their award-winning Taralay Impression Control and Taralay Impression Comfort, their Tarasafe Ultra and Ultra H20 together with Mural Calypso shower wall and 300m2 of Taraflex Multi Use sports flooring.

The designers for this project, SKS would be at the top of their game to deliver an interior that could meet a raft of challenges. Stepping up to this challenging remit from SKS, International flooring specialist Gerflor would be supplying two of their most iconic and stunning flooring products. Gerflor’s LVT Creation and smart-looking GTI would be the designer’s choice to grace this newly re-furbished office.

The ProjectLoughborough College provides a range of courses in further education, along with apprenticeships and professional qualifications. It is based on one of the largest student campuses in Europe, sharing the area with Loughborough University. Over 2000 students attend the college, with some living in adjacent halls of residence.The college staircases needed to be refurbished. The flooring was previously terrazzo, and this was to be changed to a rubber flooring. This was suitable in terms of durability and slip resistance for the large amount of people on the campus. To complement the flooring, the stair nosings had to be equally hard-wearing and safe.The stair nosings needed to adhere to all Building Regulations guidelines, along with BS8300:2-2018 and the Equality Act. This meant that they needed to have great slip resistant properties, and stand out from the black flooring to create a ladder effect on the staircases. This would help people to navigate the stairways, especially those with visual impairments.There was a special request from the college which would help to attain this noticeable difference between the stair nosings and the steps: “Hot Rod Pink” tread material, to match Loughborough College colours.The ApproachMidlands Flooring was hired as the flooring contractor for the refurb. As Hot Rod Pink is not a standard stair nosing colour, Dave Wilson from Midlands Flooring got in touch with a number of manufacturers to see if anyone could rise to the challenge.Within 24 hours, Quantum Flooring returned its proposal for manufacturing bespoke Hot Rod Pink tread material specifically for Loughborough College. The unique stair nosing tread would be made from the same material as Quantum’s normal tread, meaning it would be slip resistant and suitable for the frequent foot traffic.Quantum’s SR125R stair nosings were chosen to fit the tread material into. These profiles have a ramped back, to ensure that there would be no trip hazard on the staircases. They are raked back on the riser, to ensure a perfect fit on the steps. Plus, Quantum’s UTA aluminium stair edging trims were fitted, providing a safe and aesthetically pleasing finish to the side of the steps on the open string stairs.The OutcomeQuantum ensured a fast turnaround on the stair nosings, using the QSMS free measuring service. A Quantum representative electronically measured all of the steps to their precise lengths, and sent the results to the distributor Carpet & Flooring in Birmingham for the stair nosings to be cut and drilled.Midlands Flooring fixed the stair nosings with Q-Fix contact adhesive, ensuring a strong bond to the steps. Secret-fix was used to drill the profiles, meaning the tread material could be fitted on site, and there was no need for unsightly plugs to hide the screws in the tread. Quantum’s SR125R stair nosings with Hot Rod Pink tread material look fantastic in Loughborough College. The college was delighted with the results.Loughborough College has a unique, on-brand stair nosing tread for its refurbished stairways. Midlands Flooring did a fantastic job on the project, and Quantum backed them up with innovation and expedience.

In a recent refurbishment of the Sea Life centre in Brighton, international flooring specialist Gerflor supplied 670m2 of vinyl flooring. The project included a fusion of their GTI Max Technical Tiles and Tarasafe Ultra Safety flooring collections.Neil Harris, General Manager, Sea Life Brighton commented, “We chose Gerflor’s GTI Max and Tarasafe Ultra products because we needed a fast-track solution for a unique and challenging environment, which sits within a 150-year-old grade two listed building. Gerflor specialists were on hand, having visited the site, they offered the best solution for our unique building and considered all the various environmental factors that we manage.”Neil Harris further added, “We would absolutely specify Gerflor flooring again. In fact, some of our on-site partners immediately reached out to Gerflor to highlight their interest in having similar work carried out in other parts of the building. Gerflors’ customer service was also brilliant, with incredibly open and honest communication, with a desire to achieve our needs as a customer at all times.”

Inspired by the mountainous views to the west and seaside views to the east, McCarthy O'Hora (MCOH) architects reflected the colours of the natural world that surrounds Temple Carrig School by specifying an array of vibrant shades from Forbo Flooring Systems' Marmoleum range.

The Reflex GameChanger flooring system was installed at this leisure centre.

When the Coleg y Cymoedd (translated meaning is the College of the valleys) in Wales needed to totally refurbish the flooring element of their campus in Ystrad Mynach (near the town of Caerphilly), they turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor to supply over 1000m2 of flooring for numerous areas and spaces throughout the campus. It was a project that provided Gerflor with the perfect platform to showcase a raft of high-quality flooring solutions ideal for the concerned demanding education environment.Tony Thorne, Gerflor Sales and Specification Manager - South Wales commented, “This project started at the specification stage with the Architects Austin-Smith: Lord. Over several meetings, we looked at a number of products to be used in various areas of the building scheme. The installation at the Ystrad Mynach campus is an outstanding example of how a mix of Gerflor innovations can achieve world class results. Mixing gym tiles with sheet vinyl, safety flooring and LVT, yielded incredible results for this college refurbishment project.”Kate Thomas, Director Austin-Smith: Lord commented, “The refurbishment project, part-funded by the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools and Colleges Programme, formed part of the college’s plans to continually invest in new facilities and equipment that will allow learners across its catchment area to have access to the latest training opportunities and career paths.”Mark Bond, Estimator and H&S Manager at Floor Furnishings commented, “The client is extremely impressed with the end results. We regularly work with Gerflor products and recommend Gerflor where suitable, in line with our client’s requirements and expectations. Gerflor’s staff are particularly skilled in being able to work in collaboration and alongside both the end user clients, as well as contractors in achieving an excellent final result that is pleasing to the client and meets the complicated design brief.”

When the idyllic village of Tormarton nestled in the Cotswolds wanted to transform the main room in their village hall, the committee responsible for organising and specifying a replacement floor would choose Taraflex® Multi-Use from international flooring specialist Gerflor.Tormarton has a population of about 350 people from a wide variety of backgrounds. At the centre of village life is the parish hall which provides a blank canvass for a raft of local community activities.Stewart Waters, Chair of the Tormarton Parish Council commented, “We specified Gerflor Taraflex® Multi-Use indoor sports surface as it would cater for a variety of needs. The new Taraflex® sports vinyl floor is much easier to maintain and clean and so much brighter than the old, dated tiles.”Commenting on the project Chris Pursey, Gerflor Area Sales Specification Manager, Southwest & Channel Islands said,” The existing subfloor consisted of old vinyl tiles, which although were well bonded to the substrate, presented a health and safety risk if removed due to possible presence of asbestos.” Chris Pursey added, “For this reason, we specified that the installation should ideally be over an Isolsport membrane, which left the tiles undisturbed and also enabled the installation to be done quickly with minimal floor preparation.”Stewart Waters ended by saying, “We have had lots of positive comments and all parties are really pleased with the refurbishment. We would definitely choose Gerflor flooring again.”Taraflex® sports flooring has been fitted at every Olympic Games since 1976. Approved by many National and International governing bodies as a world class sports surface, it is also widely installed within the education, community, leisure, health, and fitness sectors.

The only BBA accredited commercial gutter lining product available in the UK. Specialist roofing company APS Safety Systems chose Sharman's Plygene Gutterline system as the permanent solution for the complex gutter lining work at Headlam Flooring’s offices in Scotland.

In constructing the new STAR Hub facility, the specification of the flooring choice would be at the very top of the agenda to enable only the very best products to be used. The ultimate decision would fall onto specifying some 320 sq m of Taraflex® vinyl sports flooring from international flooring and interiors specialist Gerflor.

Taraflex Sport M Comfort from Gerflor was specified and their sports hall would need a total of some 600 sq m of this remarkable product. The existing old 2mm vinyl and lino floor that had been on the sports hall for some twenty years. Gerflor’s Taraflex Sport M Comfort went down over the old floor bringing it up immediately to the new European standards for shock absorption.

In 2015, Quinn London Ltd started the refurbishment of The Market Building, in Brentford which involved the conversion of Offices to residential dwellings as a ‘Material Change of Use’ project. Soundis provided acoustic solution options for this project, in order to ensure a cost effective Value Engineering Exercise, on behalf of the Main Contractor.As the 1st floor required a deep void system due to new soil pipes and waste pipes having to be installed along the corridor within the building for kitchens and bathrooms, it was agreed to utilise Soundis Cradle & Batten System. This provided a service void for the pipes of 300mm whilst the other areas of the floor were treated with the system at 80mm FFH. The Soundis cradle & batten acoustic floor was then overlaid with a Soundis a high quality, interlocking dry screed system gypsum fibreboard.The Soundis cradle & batten floor system has been installed on the existing concrete and existing timber structural floors to provide a level floor over the un-even sub-deck. The service void provided by Soundis cradle & batten system can be used for other flooring applications, such as underfloor heating.Our Cradle and Risers are manufactured from 100% recycled materials assisting to the sustainability targets of projects.

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here to view onlinePRESS RELEASE:Towering triumph for Gerflor’s Taraflex® at Beaconsfield High SchoolBeaconsfield High School, in Buckinghamshire have been delivering a highly successful academic culture for more than over 50 years. Creativity and physical activity are just some of the additional life skills and behaviours that are taught to pupils. When the school wanted to refurbish their main sports hall, the natural choice was to turn to international flooring specialist Gerflor to supply 635m2 of their world class Taraflex® Performance vinyl sports flooring, in Light Blue, to successfully complete the project.Taraflex® Performance is a synthetic indoor sports flooring that can be specified for a wide range of sports applications, in a variety of sectors and is available in an extensive choice of vibrant designs, making it the ideal choice for a host of locations. With a complete range of outstanding sports surfaces that can meet specification requirements for compliance with P1/P2/P3 shock absorption Taraflex® sports floorings are perfect for delivering optimal safety and protection for users, regardless of their age and sporting ability.

Cavendish School in Hemel Hempstead, a Specialist Sports school, were having a new purpose built Sports Hall constructed during their summer break. Gerflor’s Taraflex Sport M Plus flooring was their preferred option as it provides their users with a safe, technically advanced sports floo

Situated in Portsmouth Historical Dockyard, the Boathouse was a development that required an acoustic raised batten system for hardwood decking, Oak plank flooring and a plywood substrate for the 1st floor. New Era Cradles were specified to provide a finished floor height range from 74-190mm and was fitted at 400mm centres. This proved a versatile and cost effective way to overcome all the different levels

This prestigious residential development in Knightsbridge demanded the highest specification for all trades. New Era Acoustic cradle system was specified to conform to Document E regulation. The floor height was 125-165mm using a 46mm batten at 400mm centres with a 22mm T&G plywood glued and screwed to the battens. This gave a perfectly acoustically isolated sub-floor for the carpets and oak flooring to be fitted on