FOUNDED in 1974 Langley School is a secondary school with academy status situated in the Borough of Solihull, West Midlands. In keeping with a continual programme of refurbishment, the main sports hall at the school would be high on the agenda for a new replacement floor.

With a requirement to obtain the best sports floor on the market Langley School turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor to supply more than 680sq m of its world-class Olympic pedigree Taraflex vinyl sports flooring in ‘Anthracite’ finish.

As the main hall would also have to facilitate other non-sports activities including exams, the school also opted for Taraflex Bateco, a moveable solution for protecting multi-sports floors falling on non-sporting activities.

The school is a mixed, 11–16 comprehensive school with a current pupil roll of 1,050 and their motto is ‘Be the best you can be’ which of course means sports and fitness features on the comprehensive curriculum.

Langley School aims to create environments where pupils of all abilities are able to learn, strive, and succeed. The school firmly believes a lifelong love of movement is instilled by allowing young people to explore various sports at various levels. Their approach to sports is inclusive: the need for pupils to enjoy sports, and work with them to find a sport or sports that they will really enjoy.

Sport offers the pupils more than just physical movement: it offers them the opportunity to lead, to be part of a team, and to enjoy the camaraderie that comes with working towards a collective goal. The staff come from various sporting and educational backgrounds. Many have represented teams at national level and are fortunate to have sports leaders with first class coaching qualifications.

The sporting staff have a passion not just for their sport but for all sports taught at Langley School.

Outlining their decision to specify Gerflor sports products Mark Brown, FM at Langley School said, ‘Our sports hall floor had become damaged, so I contacted Wayne Andrews at Gerflor to go through our options.

‘On his recommendations, we decided to upgrade our sports flooring surface to Taraflex for the duty of care and protection qualities the product delivers, which is safer and more comfortable for our students. The durability of the Taraflex from Gerflor is absolutely first class and truly fit-for-purpose for many years to come.’

Commenting on the project Wayne Andrews, Gerflor key account sports and education manager – north said, ‘This was a direct enquiry through our technical support team followed up immediately by myself.

‘The school had previously had an incredibly old low-profile system with lino and a depth/void difference which required a build-up. The school chose Taraflex Subflex with Taraflex Evolution C3 Combi System offering high performance shock absorption levels of >45%, along with the immediate impact protection from Taraflex Evolution which was not present with the existing lino surface.’

Along with shock absorption, Taraflex is said by Gerflor to provide the benefits of Protecsol Surface Treatment providing reduced friction build up (co-efficient of friction) and ease of cleanability with long-term low lifecycle cost benefits for the school which means no polish for life.’

Wayne Andrews was keen to point out, ‘The school chose a sports floor manufactured by Gerflor, the world’s largest sports flooring manufacturer which has been used at grass roots level and all the way up to the Olympic Games since 1976. Mark Brown understood what the overall benefits that Taraflex could offer.’

On performance Mark Brown said, ‘The Taraflex sports floor we specified is definitely meeting our specification and exceeding our expectations. We’re extremely pleased with our new sports floor from Gerflor. It looks impressive and is delivering a safer and more comfortable surface for all our students to excel in when participating in sports. We also hire the space out to various badminton, netball and volleyball leagues who are also commenting that the new floor is exceptional and a pleasure to use.’

The installation of the new Taraflex Evolution sports floor at Langley School would be undertaken by the Solihull based FLR Group. For more than 40 years, FLR Group has been supplying carpets, luxury vinyl and other high quality flooring products to commercial environments across the UK.
Though they started small, FLR is now an industry leader. From their state-of-the-art showroom in Solihull, FLR is dedicated to ensuring every customer is given the opportunity to have worldclass products alongside a superior level of service.

Adam Kaid, contracts manager, FLR Group said, ‘Since our last communication with the client, we know the Gerflor Taraflex sports flooring is meeting and surpassing expectations. We’re really delighted with the end result and would definitely install and if given the opportunity specify Gerflor again.’

In a concluding statement Wayne Andrews said, ‘Mark Brown was extremely pleased with the initial consultation and the free site survey and follow up. Mark is incredibly delighted with the end result and service Gerflor offered along with FLR Group’s excellent installation.’

Summing up Mark Brown commented, ‘From start to finish the process was easy and trouble-free. I can’t thank Wayne Andrews enough for his help and specification assistance and to Adam Kaid from FLR for installing the sports floor. We’d definitely specify Gerflor’s Taraflex sports flooring again.’
www.gerflor.co.uk