AS newbuild community centres grow in size, scope and flexibility, Britain’s flooring contractors are responding with solution-led, adaptable floorcoverings.
When Designer Contracts, the UK’s leading flooring contractor, was asked to supply flooring for the new Keymer Community Centre at Burgess Hill, West Sussex, it says it was able to meet a brief calling for practical and durable products that visually matched the building’s modern aesthetic as well as meeting health and safety requirements.
The long-awaited community centre at the Kings Weald new homes development on the former Keymer Tiles site features a 17.5x10m sports hall, a kitchen, cafe, creche, male, female, and disabled toilets. The first floor includes a viewing gallery for the sports hall. There are also two meeting/function rooms, more toilets, and a balcony.
Designer Contracts was asked to fit out all areas apart from the main sprung hall floor, supplying a total of nearly 700sq m of floorcoverings for the entrance hall, meeting areas, creche, café, kitchen, and toilet facilities.
Said Grant Barwell, principal architectural technologist of the project: ‘Key to designing a community centre is its flexibility in terms of use and facilities – and flexibility in the design and specification of materials, including flooring, should facilitate this.’
Designer Contracts installed a range of products including Polysafe Quattro. This heavy duty wet room safety flooring is designed to provide a high degree of slip-resistance, for those using continually wet areas in footwear or bare feet.
The main staircase was fitted with a hardwearing, 100% solution-dyed nylon carpet tile.
Elsewhere, across the entrance and meeting areas, PolySafe Wood FX was used. This is a high specification, decorative safety vinyl flooring range combining the assurance of sustainable slip resistance with high durability.
Featuring authentic reproductions of ‘popular, high clarity wood designs, the range incorporates a light to dark colour spectrum with non-intrusive safety aggregates in the vinyl to create a safe yet attractive interior in commercial or residential areas’.
Said Simon Lovett, area manager for the Designer Contracts Thames Medway region: ‘We were delighted to supply floorcoverings for this project which is part of the second phase of the 475 new homes development. The much anticipated community centre also includes open space that consists of a grass sports field, a multiuse games area, mini soccer pitch, a play space with various fitness and play equipment, some ponds – and an orchard.
‘First install was mid-December 2020. The project was completed in sections with final sign off on 16 February – a period during which a large number of trades required access to the centre which we accommodated by starting late in the day and working over weekends.
‘We’re delighted to have been involved in this community project and hope our contribution to the finished centre helps local residents enjoy the amenity in both comfort and safety.’
Designer Contracts, which was recently named as a finalist in the 2020 Lloyds Bank Business Awards, operates across 15 UK regional facilities.
www.designercontracts.com
