"paper and vinyl wallcoverings"

The modern Smart Kids Kindergarten in Gdansk, Poland, is inspired by the Finnish teaching method, now recognised as one of the best methods in the world. The Finnish model is geared towards supporting creative activity. The Kindergarten impresses with an inspiring, stylish interior in subdued colours. On the floor Forbo Sphera homogeneous vinyl flooring has been installed.

For the refurbishment of Edinburgh College’s busiest campus, its FM team called upon Forbo Flooring Systems’ Modul’up adhesive free sheet vinyl for its unique ability to be installed quickly and easily, while reducing downtime and disruption to day-to-day college life – as the floor covering could be walked on immediately after installation.

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.

When Jazzercise Studio Owner Sarah Sydney-Sheppard moved her business into its own purpose-built facility in the Southernhay area of Exeter she turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor to provide 200m2 of their world-renowned Taraflex® Multi-Use vinyl sports flooring for both the main studio and reception areas.

Fourteen products from Johnstone’s extensive range have been awarded the coveted EU Ecolabel accreditation and it was Johnstone’s Ecological Covaplus Vinyl Matt from this range that was used. The walls and ceilings of the Castle now boast a finish that is resistant to fading and yellowing, as well as ensuring they have a wipeable surface, excellent opacity, and even better colour retention

From floor to ceiling this 'Sport For All' school chose the DYNAMIK treatment with an area elastic sprung sports floor finished in Tarkett Sports Vinyl and DYNAMIK Sports Wall panels to provide the best acoustics. The Solid & Acoustic (Perforated) sports wall panels in Classic Oak CPL wood-effect finish complement the Grey floor surface.

Rob Small Mastering is an Audio Mastering Suite based in Leeds, they specialise in a range of mastering services that range from stereo mastering, vinyl mastering and stem mastering for pre-mixed music projects. The studio has both digital and analogue solutions that cater to the expansive world of electronic music, you can find out more on the specifics below.

This spacious showroom in Germany for one of Europe's leading furniture manufacturers is zoned beautifully throughout with Milliken's Wireframe cushion backed carpet tiles and Open-Shut wood style planks from the First Call luxury vinyl tile collection. The acoustic performance of the floor coverings offers a comfortable and sound absorbing solution for this double height open space.

Capturing the traditional charm of the Tudor period, London-based design studio, Upcircle, designed Chester’s newest student accommodation by taking inspiration from the city’s history and architecture. With the help of Forbo Flooring Systems’ comprehensive portfolio, including its recently refreshed Allura Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) collection, a warm, striking and sophisticated interior was created.

Donabate Portrane Library, recently refurbished by the Fingal County Council, is now a warm and inviting community library as a result of products chosen from Forbo Flooring Systems. The Marmoleum and Tessera products were chosen for their practicality, cleanliness and variety of interesting designs. And Sarlon Topography from Forbo’s acoustic vinyl collection was a must providing a quiet reading or studying environment.

Pencoedtre High School is a large new build high school in Barry, Wales. When this busy school required a brand-new world class flooring surface for its main indoor sports hall, they simply wanted only the best! HLM Architects would specify 700m2 of Taraflex® vinyl sports flooring in ‘Maple’, from international flooring specialists Gerflor.

Harlequin's expert technical team installed a fully-floating Harlequin Activity sprung floor system in all of the professional-standard studio performance spaces, topped with Harlequin Standfast, Harlequin Cascade and Harlequin Freestyle vinyl surfaces. Harlequin Mirrors and Harlequin Ballet Barres completed the installation. All floors were completed with fully welded seams and composite edge trims.

When Colchester Academy in Essex required a new sports floor for their main hall and their dance studio, they turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor for an Olympic pedigree solution. For this prestigious education establishment, Gerflor would supply a total of 552m2 of their world class Taraflex® Performance vinyl sports flooring for the sports hall, and 258m2 of their Taraflex® Combi 85 System in Evolution for their dance studio.

Sparsholt's continued growth over recent years meant that a new sports hall was required to enhance their sporting facilities. The new building included a four badminton court hall along with a modern Dance/Aerobic Studio and extensive Fitness Suite. The majority of the work was completed using the area elastic Komfort Plus sprung sports flooring system finished in Tarkett solid Sports Vinyl.

Calming colours and patterns have helped to create a special environment for mothers and babies at Glan Clwyd Hospital. Forbo Flooring Systems’ Sphera Element vinyl collection was specified throughout the Mother and Baby Unit, due to its bright and fresh appearance, high-performance and durability. Easy to work with, the Sphera sheets were laid throughout the unit and hand cut to shape to create a beautiful butterfly designs.

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.

WED2B is one of the largest and most affordable bridal retailers in the UK and specialises in making sure every bride-to-be looks and feels amazing on their special day. As a nationwide business, WED2B are passionate about their business and core principals of quality, choice and service. The interior design of each of their stores is carefully planned and executed to the highest standards, so the choice of flooring is no exception. Tarkett was the natural choice for their luxury vinyl floor tiles.

Formica Group is a leading provider of branded, designed surfacing solutions for commercial and residential customers worldwide. When its North Shields factory had some serious issues with an existing corridor flooring, the company turned to a local flooring supplier to suggest a suitable solution, which ultimately saw Formica Group specifying 300m2 of Attraction® fast track vinyl floor tiles from international flooring specialist Gerflor.

Find out why IOBAC Adhesive-Free Magnetic Flooring was specified by innovative house-builder Etopia for its BRE test house showcasing best-in-class sustainable buildings.The magnetically receptive Ezy-Install Underlay took just 45 mins to lay over the 55m2 ground floor area, followed by 3 hours to dry install magnetic Karndean Luxury Vinyl Tile in a modern herringbone pattern.

The Diocese was looking to create a cohesive, multi-functional interiors that would be sympathetic to the ethos of all its resident groups. Their bright and flexible new space features Milliken's Rootwork luxury vinyl tiles from the Change Agent collection in the reception and kitchen spcaces. Poise Retold and Tracing Landscape - Field Study modular carpet designs with WellBAC® Comfort cushion backing deliver exceptional underfoot and acoustic performance.

This project highlights the DYNAMIK Sydney system finished in sports vinyl, DYNAMIK solid, perforated and fabric acoustic wall panels and DYNAMIK protective giant carpet tiles. The client installed their DYNAMIK internal wall panels themselves and were pleased with the overall service: “We love the place now… thanks for all your help and patience in selecting the right [wall] panels and flooring. It has really proven to be worth it in the end.”

One of the advantages of installing a sprung sports floor, such as the DYNAMIK Athen system finished with a solid sports wood effect vinyl, is its versatility in allowing the space to not only be used for sports but to be hired out for non-sporting events such as meetings, community groups and social occasions. In a community setting such as The Greenhouse Centre, the opportunities to maximise the space is made easier with the right floor. Old and new features can be combined to create a functional space.

For the new Calderwood primary school, part of the Calderwood Master-plan development in West Lothian, JM architects was tasked with creating an open and collaborative space for teachers and students to enjoy for years to come. Thanks to Forbo Flooring Systems' large portfolio of solutions, JM architects specifies a variety of products throughout the school, with Marmoleum and vinyl at the forefront of this new development. The project went on to be the winner of the Forbo Escapes 2021/2022 competition.

When Bradford Academy needed a replacement for its sports hall floor they looked for guidance from Junckers. By going to the leading sports and dance floor systems manufacturer the academy knew that they would receive the right kind of advice and guidance to help them to steer their way through the overwhelming number of sports floor systems available on the market. Junckers worked in close partnership with the client, main contractor BAM and local Junckers’ Approved Contractor Harmony Contract Flooring to deliver the floor completed and on time. The client wanted a “sprung” floor which looked good and was easy to look after, and it needed to meet the performance standards for multi-purpose sports; EN 14904. The floor system selected meets category A4 standard, which means that the academy now has a floor which is recommended by Sport England and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA). The site constraints required a floor system with minimum construction height and Junckers’ EliteFlex 49 system, at only 49mm high was found to be ideal. The system is made from laminated foam-backed battens and 22mm timber deck with the 4mm vinyl layer bonded and welded on top. This provides a sports floor suitable for a range of activities from general education use through to elite levels of sport, dance and the like. Junckers was chosen as a supplier because over the many decades since it was founded the company has dedicated a significant amount of resource to developing the best “sprung” sports floor systems. This, and its “cradle to grave” technical and customer support and maintenance programmes sets it apart from other manufacturers, where the choice is often limited to a basic undercarriage system and various options for gluing a vinyl sheet to screed- an option which is no longer accepted by the ESFA as a suitable surface for sports. In the UK, Junckers has become a byword for high quality sports and activity floor systems, and for providing the technical and customer support needed to make every new Junckers floor one that the installer and client will be proud of. As part of continuous work to develop new products and constantly improve the ability to offer customers a broader choice of floor systems, Junckers has developed a range of vinyl sports and activity floors, based upon the established success of its undercarriage systems. One of Junckers’ main strengths is the variety of undercarriage systems it offers. Not only do these give different “sprung” performance characteristics with some suited to basketball, others for dance etc., thanks to experience and technical expertise Junckers is also able to take care of the less glamorous aspects of the installation, such as dealing with uneven sub-floors or those where there may be drying out problems. Junckers’ floors are all tested and certified to EN 14904, category A3, A4 or C3. In addition, Junckers own in-house testing and development centre assess the wider aspects of the floor’s performance such as point load bearing ability and lifespan issues such as fatigue testing. Junckers’ new vinyl floor systems are aimed at the education sector, sports halls, leisure centres and dance and fitness centres. When it comes to installation, vinyl floor customers have the same assurances that they currently have with Junckers solid hardwood floors because there is a network of fully trained Junckers Approved Installers on hand to make sure that the floor will be fitted properly.

A host of Bostik subfloor preparation and adhesive products have been used for the installation of the floor coveringsat Wixams Retirement Village, a recently opened care community in Bedfordshire.Contractor Unite Flooring was appointed to install luxury vinyl tiles and carpeting throughout the apartments and communal areas of the complex, contributing to its pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. Unite then selected a range of products from Bostik, and benefitted from the company’s technical advice throughout the project.

F. Ball and Co. Ltd.’s newest high-performance water-mix smoothing underlayment, Stopgap 1500 AquaPro, has been used alongside the company’s Styccobond F46 pressure sensitive vinyl adhesive to provide a time-saving solution for installing floorcoverings in Derbyshire’s largest hospital.Derbyshire Flooring Contractors installed an eye-catching bespoke vinyl flooring design in the waiting area and connecting corridors of the children’s outpatient ward at Royal Derby Hospital, a total area of 800m2.The floors in the ward required refurbishing as the old floorcoverings had become worn. Work needed to be carried out in the evening, in stages, so that it would not interfere with the day-to-day running of the ward. Requiring a time-saving solution, contractors opted to use Stopgap 1500 AquaPro water-mix smoothing underlayment, avoiding the need to remove old adhesive residues.Stopgap 1500 AquaPro uses the latest technology to offer a water-mix smoothing underlayment that can be applied over old adhesive residues, including bitumen, carpet tile tackifiers and ceramic tile adhesives. In such applications, there is no need to prime beforehand, saving further time and expense. Fast-setting and fast-drying, it is walk-on hard in as little as 60 minutes after application and ready to receive floorcoverings from just four hours.Work began with the labour-intensive task of uplifting old floorcoverings. Stopgap 1500 AquaPro was then applied at a thickness of 3mm over the subfloors to create a perfectly smooth base for new floorcoverings.A bespoke two-tone design, resembling a river running through the children’s ward with ‘islands’ of colour either side, was created by cutting shapes from two different colours of Polyflor Classic Mystique PUR vinyl sheet flooring, with the pieces adhered using Styccobond F46 pressure sensitive adhesive.Styccobond F46 provides instant grab, preventing floorcoverings from sliding when placed, helping with the creation of designs and patterns. The adhesive is also formulated to minimise the incidence of trowel serrations showing through thin vinyl flooring potentially affecting the finished appearance of installations.Commenting on the project, Mark Grant, Managing Director at Derbyshire Flooring Contractors, said: “We like using F. Ball products – they’re really good quality and reliable. Also, their tech reps are always available, if needed, to provide advice on products to use and procedures to follow throughout a project, from start to finish, including keeping us up-to-date with the latest technology that can help us achieve optimum results efficiently. That’s how I found out about Stopgap 1500 AquaPro, which saved us a lot of time outside of normal working hours and enabled us to complete the work while the ward wasn’t in use, minimising disruption to services.”

Johnstone’s Trade’s products have been the driving force behind a striking new-look Mini dealership. For the exterior metal cladding, Johnstone’s Metal Defence System Steel & Cladding Topcoat in black was used to provide excellent protection from corrosion, ensuring the building will continue to stand out for years to come. Johnstone’s Covaplus Vinyl Matt, specified in both off white and orange, was applied to the dealership’s interior to showcase the superb cars on show, with a superb finish free from flashing.

Johnstone’s Trade has played a starring role in the refurbishment of an old theatre, which is now a popular pub in Ipswich. Johnstone’s Covaplus Vinyl Matt proved the perfect choice for the huge expanses of wall surface and the large ceiling in the pub, which retained its high ceilings as a key part of the design. Applied in a range of colours, which were carefully chosen to complement the pub’s new contemporary design, Johnstone’s Covaplus ensured a high quality finish and even appearance was achieved.

A major US oil company was experiencing corrosion in its sour crude oil tanks. Chemicals and water in the oil were creating severe pitting and corrosion issues at the bottom of the storage tanks. They contacted Hempel looking for a long-term protective lining solution.A poor lining system can result in substantial losses. Tanks and vessels left out of service for repair, cost owners valuable time and lost revenues. Hempaline vinyl esters have been designed to resist against acids, caustics, strong solvents, oil and water, protecting assets and maintain the purity of the content of the tank.To combat corrosion in the customer’s sour crude oil tanks we recommended our Hempaline Defend 500 vinyl ester mat reinforced to line the tank bottom and also the bottom 4 feet of the wall surfaces.The high-performance scheme was applied following grit blasting and consisted of a single coat of Hempaline Prepare 120 primer. A first coat of Hempaline Defend 500 was then applied and whilst wet, a 450 gm/m2 (1.5 oz/ft2) chopped strand mat was incorporated into the coating. Following a light sanding to remove any upstanding fibres, a second coat of chemically resistant Hempaline Defend 500 was applied.

The latest sustainable materials to be added to our range are BioCarbon® zero carbon laminates. These are the first carbon neutral materials of this type to be available in the UK.In addition to having all the durability and decorative characteristics of standard HPL materials, BioCarbon also provides both anti-bacterial and anti-microbial protection, as well as being zero carbon.This combination of features makes it ideal for our Pendock Washroom range of cubicles and is also used within our Pendock Linea building linings products as a durable finishing solution.BioCarbon is manufactured using renewable and sustainable energy sources together with a range of initiatives to offset production processes making it carbon neutral. Manufactured in Colombia, where almost 70% of all energy generated is from hydro-electric, this is what powers, the manufacturing plant.Beyond this, the material used to create the HPL and CL laminates, which is primarily paper, is harvested from sustainable sources and is offset by BioCarbon with its own 200 hectare re-forestation programme that helps absorb 400 tonnes of carbon dioxide, annually. The programme is monitored and audited by PwC.Storage, handling and distribution impacts are also factored into the calculations, which results in a range of products, where the entire process from manufacturing to fabricator is carbon neutral.

A variety of products from Johnstone’s Trade’s Ecological Solutions range have played their part in ensuring a new £74 million state-of-the-art campus building for Kirklees College has received a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.The team decorated the vast majority of the building’s interior with Johnstone’s Acrylic Durable Matt and Covaplus Vinyl Matt; two core products from the range. In addition, Johnstone’s Satin Finish was used for the interior wood and metalwork, while Johnstone’s Professional Undercoat and Gloss were used to protect the exterior steelwork.

A host of products from Johnstone’s have been used to help restore Portsmouth F.C.’s Fratton Park stadium to its former glory. The decorators have been aided significantly by the performance qualities of products from Johnstone’s range. These included Covaplus Vinyl Matt, for its washable finish with excellent opacity and coverage, Stormshield Smooth Masonry in team colour Pompey Blue on brickwork, Flortred for flooring areas and Smooth Metal Paint to protect metal barriers in the lower North and West Stands.

The £55.75 million development, which used a number of Johnstone’s Trade products was shortlisted in the Best Education Project category at the 2016 Partnership Awards. Acrylic Durable Eggshell in off-white was applied to the main wall areas for the striking colours. Other products that were specified for the project included Johnstone’s Covaplus Vinyl Matt on the ceilings, providing a durable finish that is resistant to fading. The doors, frames and skirting boards of the new school was covered with Johnstone’s Aqua Gloss in grey and orange to give a traditional gloss look.

Former Terry's Chocolate Factory in York is transformed into a spectacular Care Village with the help of Johnstone's Trade. The landmark building is Grade II listed and, after a number of years lying unused and unloved was brought back to life using Johnstone’s Trade’s Covaplus Vinyl Matt and Acrylic Durable Matt. Applied to the walls and ceilings of the interior building, making it ideal for high traffic areas. In addition, Johnstone’s Water Based Undercoat and Gloss were used for the trim and window frames, providing a high sheen finish that will stay whiter for longer.

Challenge As part of a major Council Housing refurbishment project Portsmouth City specified the installation of a new vinyl floor covering to all stairwells with new Equality Act compliant stair nosings. The Equality Act offers best practice guidance and recommendations on how to make stairways safe and accessible for partially sighted people. Any new stair nosings for the project would therefore need to feature appropriately sized dimensions, a contrasting band of colour and tactile hazard warning surfaces to assist with user safety.

Bostik has supplied technical advice and subfloor preparation products to facilitate the installation of the flooring at a new school in Oldham, helping to overcome some difficult conditions and ensure the project was completed on schedule.The purpose-built, four-storey Oasis Academy Leesbrook building is now catering for 1,500 pupils aged 11-16, having opened its doors after a two-year construction period.Sedgley Flooring Solutions was contracted to install the flooring in the building – approximately 6,500m2 of vinyl sheeting and 3,500m2 of carpet tiles