"beech"

Beech Hill View is a residential development which can be found 10 minutes from Derry/Londonderry’s City Centre on the Glenshane Road.This high-quality development sought to create a top-class range of modern, sustainable and aesthetically pleasing semi-detached and detached houses situated on a thoughtfully landscaped site. Over 170 houses and more than 150,000 facing bricks supplied, Woodward surpasses the industry standard by adding a unique aesthetic as well as improved buildability and stability.The striking colour of Woodward’s Oldtown Multi Antique chosen by ADP Architects Ltd ensures a classical touch matched with modern style.

The owners of Beech Cottage, a private residence located in Maidenhead commissioned us to install a composite deck spanning the back of their newly refurbished family home. The project involved the removal of the old deck and frame. Our in-house team designed a brand new 100sqm deck area including steps and facias to the rear and side. The new Durapine posts and joists were installed to create a solid raised frame to prevent rotting. High quality Composite deck boards were chosen for their durability plus they require minimal maintenance which was important to the client.

Wienerberger’s Hathaway Brindled brick was used to harmonise this grand home's exterior.

A first-time self-builder from Twickenham used his time on furlough to build a two-bedroom home in his back garden with weberwall brick.

Aluminium glazing channels in a natural anodised finish are used for the glass partitioning in a basement leisure space conversion.These versatile profiles include shuffle-less glazing channels and door pivot kits, offering seamless transitions from partitioning to doors.

As part of a new refurbishment they would specify Gerflor’s Creation 55 LVT in three different colours for three clearly defined areas.

The historic Aberdeen Music Hall has been restored and redeveloped by Architects BDP. The Category A listed concert hall has been completely refurbished and now includes a performance studio, creative learning space and a café/bar. Nearly 1,500m2 of Junckers solid Nordic Beech Classic flooring has been fitted as part of the transformation, including in the impressive 1,300 seat auditorium, which now has step-free access to all levels. Nordic Beech with its white pigmented finish offers a light and bright backdrop to the interior and makes the most of the architects’ new architectural lighting by reflecting an abundance of light. By specifying the same floor for much of the building, the various spaces are seamlessly connected by a unifying element. At 140mm wide, Junckers’ signature wide board, long-length floor boards really come into their own in the open spaces and circulation routes, offering a clean and elegant look. Solid beech is amongst the most hard-wearing timbers used for flooring and Junckers’ pre-finished floors are well-known for their durability. The flooring contractor was West End Flooring. 

Nike has transformed The Regal basketball court at the Black Prince Community Hub in South London, using Junckers Beech SylvaSport floor pre-finished with black oil over a New Era fully sprung sub-floor system.

With the aim to encourage more participation in sport, Hackney Council has opened a new community facility, Britannia Leisure Centre. As part of a wider, mixed-use development in an inner-city environment, the different activity spaces were stacked vertically in a spatially efficient design. As part of the state-of-the-art facilities a six-court sports hall has been installed with Junckers solid hardwood area elastic sports flooring. The Beech SylvaKet floor with a Nordic finish was installed over Junckers’ UnoBat 45 undercarriage system to provide a high level of performance as well as a safe and responsive surface ideal for a multitude of sports. The pre-finished floor is easy to maintain, durable and resilient – perfect for a busy sports centre. Further facilities available to the local community include four squash courts, fitted with Junckers’ specialist SylvaSqaush Beech flooring. Britannia Leisure Centre by FaulknerBrowns, constructed by Morgan Sindall has won several awards including AJ100 Community Impact of the Year (2022) and the Delivering Social Value Award at the Building Awards (2021). 

Bona Craft Oil 2K was specified for the restoration of the Beech floor in the world’s largest purpose-built recording studio. In constant use by orchestras and choruses, it was essential to choose a highly durable, quick drying finish to minimise downtime. Bona said “It was unusual for us to have to consider the acoustic properties of one of our finishes before creating this specification, but understandably this was of paramount importance for the studio team. Another beneficial property of a ‘traditional’ oil finish, is the ease with which local repairs can be made, usually without sanding.

Bona Craft Oil 2K was specified for the restoration of the Beech floor in the world’s largest purpose-built recording studio. In constant use by orchestras and choruses, it was essential to choose a highly durable, quick drying finish to minimise downtime. Bona said “It was unusual for us to have to consider the acoustic properties of one of our finishes before creating this specification, but understandably this was of paramount importance for the studio team. Another beneficial property of a ‘traditional’ oil finish, is the ease with which local repairs can be made, usually without sanding.

When Hoskins Architects were commissioned to design new headquarters for the National Theatre of Scotland in Glasgow, an ingenious bit of reusing, repurposing and recycling took place. The new office space and social areas were fitted with a previously used Junckers sports floor, complete with the old line marking paint. Named Rockvilla, the new facility brings together departments previously spread across several sites - rehearsal rooms, a learning and community suite, wardrobe department, production workshop, technical store as well as office space and social areas. The building, housed in a redevelopment of a disused warehouse, retains an industrial aesthetic in a nod to the history of the site. The interior features a limited use of materials, of which the reclaimed Beech sports flooring becomes a focal point. For this project, Junckers SylvaSport Beech salvaged was installed. The worn look of the reused floor with its randomly placed line markings in various colours worked perfectly with the rest of the interior and the client decided to leave it as it was. As it’s made in solid hardwood, an old Junckers sports floor can also be sanded and refinished up to ten times without losing its good looks and performance. Reclaimed Junckers sports floors are not for sale through Junckers but can be sourced through our network of specialist Approved Contractors. Please contact us for further information. Photography: Gillian Hayes, Dapple Photography

Brookland House is the latest refurbishment project by Beech Holdings, who are known for taking unloved buildings and transforming them into sustainable homes.Formerly a neglected office block, Brookland House now provides 25 contemporary eco-friendly apartments for both students and professionals. Built with sustainability in mind, the apartments benefit from an energy efficient glazing package from Senior Architectural Systems. This includes double glazed SPW600e windows, elegant and thermally efficient SF52 Curtain Walling with slim sightlines and arched frames at the head, plus robust SPW501 commercial doors, which are certified to PAS24 and Secured by Design standards.

Scene 44 is a state of the art dance and performance studio in Marseille, devised and run by N+N Corsino, who are artists, choreographers and researchers. Nicole and Norbert Corsino are innovators in their filed, fusing choreography with the latest digital technology to create dance performances which are transposed to the virtual realm as interactive choreographic movements.Studio 44 is their specially designed stage dedicated to exploring the relationship between artistic creation, research and digital innovation. Our specialist floor and subfloor system were specified because of their quality and performance as well as the flexible construction height. 300m² Black Oak and 150m² Nordic Beech installed over UnoBat 62+.

When Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace planned a London venue for its roller-skating experience, it needed a durable, sprung hardwood floor that could withstand the heavy traffic of a busy roller-skating rink. The choice fell on Junckers SylvaSport beech flooring, a trusted floor system suitable for a multitude of activities. Working closely with the designers 93ft, the experienced team at Junckers’ approved flooring contractor Hutchison Flooring devised the optimal layout and choice of flooring system for the best roller-skating performance possible. A meticulous installation plan which encompassed working alongside all trades on site was formulated and consequently followed to the letter in order to bring the project in on time and budget. The building for the new venue is a Grade II listed former power station, which meant there were restrictions on fixing to the original fabric of the building. The brief was that no alterations to the substrate were allowed, nor could the floor be fixed down, the entire flooring system had to be floating. The existing surface to build the floor from was a concrete substrate that was not completely level. To overcome the problem, Hutchison Flooring used a low-level New Era cradle and batten system from Junckers, which provided a laser-perfect level floor surface. Hutchison Flooring lay a polythene membrane with a 150mm overlap and taped joints to ensure sufficient vapour barrier followed by the cradle which involved carefully packing to the exact tolerances for every sprung cradle to ensure a perfectly level and flat floor for the skating ring. 22mm battens where laid in the cradles, brick bond staggered to create a perfect and reliable bond to the floor when nailed onto the battens. Junckers SylvaSport beech flooring was laid using a compression nailer on every batten on every row and 0.4mm spacers were included on every row to allow the correct expansion within the floor. Inspiration for the interior came from the original Flipper’s venue run by Ian Ross in the late Seventies and early Eighties. The client brief was for an immersive roller-skating experience with world-class sound and lighting. Central to the state-of- the-art indoor rink was a jet-black floor, an element the client insisted on. The black surface amplifies the atmosphere by maximising the reflection of the overhead lights, LED screens and mirrored panels on the sides. Junckers black-stained beech SylvaSport flooring has the desired jet-black, matt finish to provide the perfect backdrop to Flipper’s logo which is placed in the centre of the rink. Specialist court marking company MJ Courtmarkers custom made CNC laser cut vinyl templates of the logo which was painted with Junckers’ HP Sportsline line marking paint before being overcoated with HP Sports lacquer. 

Suma International Manufacturing Company fabricated 26 Halspan FD90 64mm for Jawaher Residential Building.Halspan 90 internal fire door blanks feature Halspan's unique 3-layer particle board. Specifically designed for the purpose, using a complex combination of chemical and engineering development, these blanks produce doors of altogether superior quality, strength and overall preformance.The Jawaher Residential Building is suited in Salmiya, Kuwait, and compromises of 13 floors featuring luxury apartments, a gymnasium, and a rooftop swimming pool overlooking the city.This project featured 26 fire-rated doors fabricated using Halspan’s FD90 64mm unique 3-layer particle board that is durability tested to severe duty and is suitable for veneer, laminate, or paint finishes.The doors were used in the primary entrances for all floor levels and are latched single-acting single doors (LSASD) featuring a wooden frame and solid red meranti lipping with beech veneer facing.This project was contracted by Main Contractor; Al Daleel General Trading & Contracting Co and was fabricated by Suma International Manufacturing Company.Photography courtesy of Suma International Manufacturing Company.

A new sports and leisure complex designed by FaluknerBrowns Architects has set a new environmental standard in ultra-low energy consumption. With an operational energy consumption of less than 100 kWh/m2/y, Ravelin Sports Centre uses only one- tenth of the energy demand of an equivalent sports centre. This is a landmark project which Junckers is proud to have participated in, a unique collaboration between architects, manufacturers, the client and BREEAM. The new building is fossil fuel-free, rated BREEAM Outstanding with extensive use of natural and sustainable materials, natural lighting and ventilation, air source heat pumps and heat recovery, including a bio-solar roof which reduces demand from the national grid by over 20%. The centre includes a swimming pool, a fitness suite, multi-activity studios, an eight-court sports hall, squash courts, climbing and bouldering facilities, a ski simulator and teaching facilities. The large sports hall has been fitted with 1600m2 Junckers SylvaSport Premium solid beech flooring installed by Junckers’ Approved Contractor Hutchison Flooring. Well-known for its high quality, performance and user safety, Junckers’ sports flooring also meet the strict criteria for sustainability and longevity required for a building of this standard. Wood is naturally low in embodied carbon, a consideration which comes more into focus when operational carbon is reduced. Junckers’ solid wood floors are sourced from managed forests with chain of custody certification through FSC® and PEFCTM and the company holds product-specific EPDs for its flooring. “When the operational carbon in a building is lowered, selecting materials with low embodied carbon becomes increasingly important. Specifying Junckers sports flooring fulfilled many criteria – durability, longevity, recyclability, and flexibility of use, which had a positive impact on the BREEAM assessment.” Irina Korneychuk, Senior Associate at FaulknerBrowns Architects With a proven long lifespan, a solid wood floor also scores highly when comparing maintenance, refurbishment, and replacement cycles. A Junckers 22mm solid beech floor can be sanded and refinished eight to ten times without loss of performance, and with typical 12-year intervals between refurbishments, a design life of 60+ years is easily achieved. An important part of future-proofing new buildings is recognising how a large percentage of embodied carbon is emitted post-completion when finishes need to be refreshed and replaced. At the same interval when a Junckers floor can be sanded and refinished, other sports flooring surfaces normally have to be replaced. This can lead to excessive use of raw materials and energy, unnecessary carbon emissions and pressure on landfill sites, especially in relation to surfaces made from fossil fuel derived materials such as vinyl and PU floors. Flexibility is another key consideration when building for a long design life. Leisure trends come and go but a multi-use sports hall is a timeless component of any leisure centre. The ability to use the flooring surface with its sprung undercarriage system for a multitude of sports, dance, performances, and competitions is crucial. Junckers sports flooring is widely used globally for all ball and racquet sports, dance, ballet, yoga, and other exercise studio-based activities. It is even hard-wearing enough to accommodate wheelchair rugby and retractable seating systems. 

The Highland Council had used Junckers flooring for multiple projects previously and had come to rely on Junckers’ sports flooring systems. The Council’s brief for a new school, Merkinch Primary School and Family Centre in Inverness, included a high-performance sprung floor to BS EN 14904 level A4 which would perform well and continue to do so for many years to come. The ability to restore the floor multiple times to as-new condition without high maintenance costs was also a factor. Sustainability was high on the agenda for the entire project, the building was designed and built to be thermally efficient to reduce operational costs and offer an optimal learning environment. Significant focus was placed on reducing the embodied carbon of the project’s whole life carbon. Designed and built by Robertson Construction, the new school was realised using more sustainable methods of construction, ensuring optimal thermal performance and using sustainable materials, thus reducing operational costs for the school. Along with a glulam cross-laminated timber frame and shell, Junckers flooring with its A+ BRE Green Guide rating, contributed to the scheme. The new school includes a four-court multi-purpose hall fitted with 670m2 Junckers SylvaSport Beech flooring installed over UnoBAT 45 subfloor system by Junckers Approved Contractor Courtcraft. The floor is area elastic and fully complies with EN 14904 class A4, exceeding the specification requirements set by Sport England/Sport Scotland and the ESFA. Junckers solid maple flooring was also installed on tiered seating as well as a staircase in the open-plan common area. Flooring for education projects not only has to fulfil safety and performance standards, it now also has to has to adhere to strict environmental standards, including a proven 60+ years lifespan, recyclability and independently verified sourcing, manufacturing and transportation processes. Specifying a Junckers floor, be it for a school sports hall or elsewhere in a school building, fulfils the requirements set for funding purposes, confirmed by a list of independently verified accreditations, including EPDs, FSC®, PEFC and the Danish Indoor Climate Label. Junckers floors have a BREEAM rating of A+. 

The new Student Centre at Queen’s University Belfast brings together student services and the Student Union in a spectacular new building. Designed through collaboration between Hawkins\Brown and RPP Architects, the building sits at the heart of campus and cleverly bridges the gap between the University’s heritage and future. An accessible, modern space with an open plan entrance area creates a vibrant hub for students to socialise, engage, collaborate, and access support and advice. The interior exploits the high ceiling and large-scale steel structure where a central staircase doubles as terraced amphitheatre-style seating. Clad in Junckers’ solid Nordic Oak flooring with nosing in contrasting Black Oak to achieve an LRV differential of 30 points, the stairs form a visual and social focus in the building, creating a flexible, infinitely useable space. “The central social stair is a key design feature that links the spaces on different floors and provides clear, intuitive wayfinding for visitors. The warmth and natural character of the Nordic Oak flooring complimenting the red laminate cladding helps visual orientation running up through the public spaces” said Alan Shields, director, RPP Architecture. The solid hardwood flooring forms a hard-wearing and long-lasting surface ideal for high traffic areas and the natural warmth of the timber adds to the material beauty of the interior. With strong sustainability credentials, Junckers’ flooring plays a part in the architects’ design to create a building which is more efficient and less costly to operate and maintain, future-proofed for generations to come. The building also houses a performance studio with Junckers’ sprung SylvaSport Beech flooring and the one-of-a-kind Union Bar which has been fitted with a reclaimed Junckers’ sports floor. With the old line markings intact, the floor has a rustic, industrial look which will hide a multitude of sins in a busy student bar. It was finished with Junckers’ High Performance Friction+ lacquer to provide a slip resistant surface. The reclaimed floor was sourced with the help of Junckers’ Buy Back Scheme. Junckers connects with flooring contractors who specialise in reclaiming wood flooring by providing details of projects where an old floor needs lifting, as well as acting as liaison between contractors sourcing a floor which can be repurposed. The sports floor fitted in the student bar by Oakvale Wooden Flooring was lifted from a school sports hall in England by Hargreaves Reclaimed Flooring. 

Winchester Council has opened a new multi-functional sport and leisure centre to cater to activity needs of the local population. Designed as a highly sustainable building, Winchester Sport and Leisure Park is one the UK’s greenest leisure centres, achieving a BREEAM rating of excellent. The new sport and leisure park by LA Architects provides state-of-the-art facilities for the community, including a 50m eight-lane swimming pool, a 20x10m teaching pool, a large fitness suite, two exercise studios, a spin studio, an eight-court multi-use sports hall, four squash courts, a café, and a climbing area. The large sports hall and squash courts have been fitted with Junckers solid wood sports flooring systems, offering a safe, high-performing, and long-lasting floor which fully complies with EN 14904 class A4. Junckers’ approved flooring contractor Courtcraft Ltd installed Junckers 22x129mm solid Maple flooring in the sports hall over the New Era UnoBAT undercarriage system; as well as SylvaSquash Beech Champion in the four squash courts. Junckers flooring is a product with a long-standing history of caring for the environment, an important consideration for the architect in the specification process. Said Mike Lawless of LA Architects: ‘When designing to change the face of sports and leisure facilities in the UK and create a place of quality everything matters. Every detail, material, and every specification matters. It is enormously important to consider quality in every part of the building; to seek out manufacturers who can work with us to deliv- er the quality and creativity that the UK sports and leisure industry must strive for.” Junckers’ floors hold independently verified sustainability accreditations to verify its environmental credentials, including EPDs, FSC®, PEFCTM, the Danish Indoor Climate Label, and an A+ BREEAM rating. Junckers’ sports floors are made in solid hardwood, one of the most durable surfaces available and virtually unbeatable in terms of life cycle costs. The floor has a very long lifespan and can be sanded and re-finished eight to ten times during its life. With 12-year intervals between sandings, a typical lifespan of 60 years will comfortably be exceeded. And, at the end of its long life, a Junckers floor can often be re-used or re-purposed or it will degrade naturally without adding to landfill sites. All Junckers sports floors meet the design guidance provided by Sport England and SportScotland. 

Meadowbank Sports Centre has been the home of elite sport in Edinburgh since the 1930s. The historic Meadowbank stadium was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games, which it also hosted for a second time in 1986. For nearly 50 years the centre was open to both elite athletes and the local community before it closed in 2017. Designed to high standards of sustainability by Holmes Miller Architects, the new centre is part of a wider regeneration of the surrounding area in accordance with the City of Edinburgh Council’s long-term plan to cut carbon emissions and at the same time improve the health and wellbeing of the local community. Providing access to state-of-the-art sport and physical activity on their doorstep, the new centre is first and foremost a community sports facility. There is an outdoor athletics track with a 500-seat capacity stand and inside facilities include two multi-sports halls with fixed and moveable spectator seating, two squash courts, a gym floor and fitness studios all fitted with Junckers’ solid hardwood flooring. The two multi-sport halls are fitted with Junckers 22mm Maple Champion flooring providing a durable and long-lasting floor that will easily withstand high levels of usage. Installed over Junckers UnoBat 45 subfloor system, the floor offers a safe and high-performing surface with excellent shock absorption and ball bounce, fully conforming to EN 14904 class A4. Installed by Junckers’ Approved Contractor Courtcraft, the floor has a 25-year warranty which includes a regular maintenance programme to keep the floor in optimal condition. The larger sports hall houses a large-capacity retractable seating unit which can be rolled out onto the sports floor when needed and stored away when not in use. With extensive technical expertise in this area, Junckers will advise on how to strengthen the sprung batten system to allow for heavy loads whilst leaving the sprung quality of the floor unaffected. A sealed solid hardwood flooring surface is very resistant to the type of wear and tear which may occur with retractable seating systems. Seating wheels will not mark or indent the Junckers floor whereas vinyl and other synthetic floors are often impossible to use because the wheels cause permanent tracking marks and scuffs. In addition, Courtcraft installed Junckers’ SylvaSquash flooring in two squash courts, a high-performance solid beech floor left unfinished to ensure high grip-levels; and Maple Champion in the two fitness studios. Junckers’ 22mm oak flooring was also supplied for standing-only plinths the gym area, fitted by GL Floors. A sporting and social hub for Edinburgh, Meadowbank Sports Centre offer participation and accessibility at the heart of the centre, bringing physical, mental, and social benefits to the local community and beyond for generations to come. The project was a collaboration between The City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Leisure and sportscotland.