A COMPREHENSIVE package of Altro floors and walls has been used throughout the new restaurant, bar, and reception area as part of an ambitious revamp at a thriving Cornish holiday park.
Beachside Holiday Park celebrated its 60th anniversary this year with its busiest season ever. The family business may have a long history but it is not standing still, as general manager Ben Trenchard, grandson of the founders, explains.
‘We’ve invested heavily during the past 18 months in response to changing customer needs.
We’ve always had a bar onsite, but over time what people want has changed, so we embarked on a large improvement project to totally transform the main building.’
The holiday park worked with Classic Builders (South West) to remodel the building, adding a series of extensions with internal alternations too, creating a spacious, cohesive reception, restaurant, bar, and soft play space to meet the needs of their customers.
Says Altro: ‘In the kitchens, a tried-and-tested combination of Altro Crete resin floor and Altro Whiterock wall sheet delivers a robust, resilient and hygienic HACCP-approved solution that meets HSE standards. In the toilets and throughout the back of house, Altro XpressLay adhesive free safety floor was quick to install, with no compromise on durability or slip resistance.
‘For front-of-house in the large reception, restaurant and bar area, flooring choice was vitally important to achieving the overall vision. Beachside wanted to manage the fitout of this area themselves, and turned to Ian Williams of Ace Flooring & Carpets on the recommendation of their main contractor.’
‘We worked closely with Ben and the team at Beachside to make sure we got the look and feel they were after,’ explains Ian. ‘We looked at a lot of options from different manufacturers then together selected Altro Ensemble.’
Altro Ensemble is a modular flooring system of luxury vinyl tiles that reportedly gives complete design freedom to create what’s described as stunning floors for interior spaces. ‘With a vast range of colours and four modular sizes, it can be mixed and matched to create unique designs from colour blocking to geometric patterns. Altro Ensemble has 15dB sound reduction with added comfort underfoot, making it perfect for front of house areas where design is key.’
For Ben Trenchard of Beachside, his first experiences with Altro have been resoundingly positive. ‘Classic Builders had recommended the package of Altro products for the kitchen and back-of-house areas and we were delighted with those, then we were working with Ace Flooring and Altro again came out on top,’ he explains.
‘We used to have carpet in the main bar, but that was no longer a good choice. It’s not good for family dining and is old fashioned. We wanted a hard floor, with longevity and durability, that looked good and was easy to maintain. We’re a seasonal business, we have to make sound choices that we know will last.
‘We used Altro Ensemble throughout the large reception, restaurant, and bar space, which brings all the elements together cohesively. The Altro brochures and website were great for inspiration for the different patterns and designs that could be created,’ explains Ben.
Ace Flooring had used many Altro products over the years, but this was the first time they’ve used Altro Ensemble. However, it’s rapidly become a firm favourite, as Ian Williams explains: ‘If we could use this product on every job we would! It’s so good to use, we describe it as ‘fitter friendly’ – you can really tell when something is designed with a proper understanding of how it will be installed, and this certainly is.
‘We chose Altro Ensemble for the rustic, traditional wood effect but it delivered so much more than good looks. Ben and I could lay out different patterns to make a feature of the bar, we could do everything freehand and had so many options.
‘We had such good support from Altro, who really care about contractors, which gives confidence when working with a product for the first time.’
The project was completed in time to be put through its paces with the busiest summer season ever. ‘We’re delighted,’ says Ben. ‘Everything has performed exactly as we hoped it would. The floors and walls look great and are easy to clean and maintain.’
Ian has been back to visit a few times since the project was completed. ‘The feedback we’ve had is extremely positive – from customers and staff alike, it’s very impressive.
‘Altro was always our first choice manufacturer for safety floors, but working on a project like this you can see they’re now truly a ‘one-stop-shop’ with a great range for back-of-house and front-of-house, and specialist solutions too.’
www.altro.co.uk
