The entire floor area at the Youth Centre for American servicemen’s children was installed more than ten years back and was in need of replacement. A wide range of Forbo’s products have been used in the facility as part of the integrated flooring solution, complete with intricate Aquajet and hand cut designs.
The initial brief required refurbishment of three main areas. Key considerations for the project, aside from the aesthetics and sustainability, were durability and maintenance. Reception and corridor areas form the main communal zones, while the classrooms and kitchen areas were subject to heavy footfall and required effective slip resistance. Coral duo entrance system has been installed in the main entrance as well as in the entrance to each classroom by P & B Flooring contractors.
The company claims that Coral duo retains 10% more dirt in the first few metres than any other textile entrance flooring system, which makes it a suitable choice for ensuring that the interior floor coverings remain dry and clean while providing an attractive entrance area.
The refurbishment has used various shades from Forbo’s Marmoleum real palette for the reception area. The field colour is muted grey Eiger, while the vibrant red of Bleekerstreet has been installed at the welcome desk. A circular design to add visual interest to the area was cut using Forbo’s unique Aquajet water cutting system, which enables reproduction of the most intricate designs. The technology allows for creativity in creating bespoke patterns, with each section of the design supplied in pre-assembled pieces to be fitted together on the floor.
To provide a quirky touch to the corridors, a squiggle motif in three shades of cream, black and intense red, was hand cut and fitted together by P & B Flooring on site, demonstrating the flexibility of Marmoleum. Made from natural and renewable raw materials, Marmoleum claims to have the lowest environmental impact according to Life Cycle Assessment criteria and is naturally biodegradable. Marmoleum incorporates a water based Topshield finish for easy and cost-efficient cleaning and maintenance, which is suitable for the reception area subjected to frequent heavy footfall.
In addition, Surestep colour and Safestep R12 safety flooring has been installed in the kitchen areas, which is slip resistant coupled with good maintenance properties and high durability. The flooring retains these properties due to the inclusion of aluminium oxide or quartz and carborundum particles in the wear layer.
Finally, Flotex vector in an aubergine shade has been specified in the Artroom. The composition of Flotex, which has over 70 million electrostatically flocked fibres per square metre, offers the hard wearing and washable characteristics of a resilient floor, warm , comfort and acoustic properties of carpet. Being completely waterproof, Flotex is also a washable textile floor covering, ensuring practical cleaning and maintenance of this area.
