Installation of the month
NICF fitting team makes the catwalk
A TOP team of fitters from the NICF (National Institute of Carpet and Floorlayers) was invited to install a catwalk carpet for London Fashion Week earlier this year. This premier fashion event attracts worldwide interest. The eight-man fitting team travelled down to London on Saturday where they booked into a hotel at King’s Cross near the venue for two nights.
The flooring and tools had been delivered at 6pm the previous evening, where a two hour window had been allocated for off-loading. An area of 14 x 35 linear metres had to be covered by the 4m wide lilac carpet. The installation materials used included 14 tubs of F Ball carpet tackifier and adhesives; Floortec floor protection and exhibition tape; and Gradus nosings, supplied by T&R Floorcoverings Distributor of Nottingham.
The fitting team arrived at the venue at 5am on Sunday to undertake the installation for which they had a 24 hour window. They were not allowed to mark the floor (‘steel deck’ as they called it) in any way. So Floortec’s floor protective sheet was put down first. Then the main runway (75m x 10m) was tackified and the carpet rolled out. An 8m high by 7m cove wall had to be installed with a 10m curved wall at the side. This was all completed in about 14 hours.
Two sets of three-tiered seating then had to be covered with carpet, but no adhesive could be used on the ‘steel deck’. Only staples were permitted. The seating area was 43 linear meters long with five sets of steps. This was completed at around 4am the next morning (Monday), ending a marathon 23-hour marathon fitting session. The team comprised of: Brian Blackbourn, head fitter and contract manager; Matt Blackbourn, NICF Master Fitter; Scott Carter Dowding; NICF Master Fitter; Dan Evans NICF, Master Fitter; Mark Thompson, NICF Fitter; Johnny Blackbourn, NICF trainee; Jamie Pearson, NICF trainee; and David Blackbourn, labourer.
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