RESIN flooring has been the ‘go to’ solution for industrial and commercial flooring applications for the past 50 years. This is due to its excellent performance characteristics, if specified according to the FeRFA classification system. The classification covers all types of requirements from a floor sealant through to a heavy-duty resin system.

For many types of application, a resin floor is ideal. However, an alternative is polished concrete, especially where a more decorative finish is required. Polished concrete is unbeatable for appearance, durability, ease of maintenance and economy over the long term. Polished concrete is increasingly specified for arenas, concourses and other locations where a highly durable, but attractive, surface finish is required.

Says TPS360, ‘The unique proposition that TPS360 brings to the market is their unrivalled expertise and experience in both areas – resin flooring and polished concrete & decorative overlay screed systems. Founded in 2008, TPS360 sets out a bold prospectus, in which the company promotes excellence and capability, backed up by an impressive array of projects and customer testimonials in its portfolio.’

‘The way we work with our customers is to get involved at the earliest possible stage in a project,’ says Darren Watkins, managing director. ‘We can explore with them all the various options for the ultimate flooring solution for their project. Because of our detailed understanding of resin flooring and polished concrete, we’re uniquely placed to be able to do this. We’re able to specify and install the best solution to deal with the challenges of our customers’ projects, whatever they
might be.

‘The expertise that we have, together with the successful projects that we can point to and the very significant investments that we have made in the business mean that we have a lot to shout about. I think our combination of skills and capabilities in these sectors means we can speak with unique authority in this industry.’

The company continues, ‘TPS360’s core expertise is in resin flooring, in which the company is a major player, operating from a base in Caerphilly, South Wales. It has built up its portfolio in this area steadily over the years, starting with smaller jobs and growing to be involved with some of the major construction projects in the region, such as the £350m Grange University Hospital, Cwmbran, which was an 18-month project amounting to £800,000, during which TPS360 sometimes had a team of ten or more of its own workers on-site and St Fagan’s Museum of Welsh Life which won awards from the main contractor for innovation in health and safety and from FeRFA as their large commercial project of the year.’

Other significant contracts have included Newport Market Regeneration, SoDA Manchester (School of Digital Arts), Swansea Arena and the recent showpiece Penderyn Copperworks Distillery, Swansea, working alongside some of the largest construction companies in the UK.

A major part of the resin flooring side of the business focuses on the food industry where managing director Darren Watkins provides specialist advice and support to government-funded food manufacturing groups which are helping drive innovation in the food industry across Wales. Resin flooring solutions are an essential aspect of the design of hygienic environments suitable for food production.

Director Gavin Ashcroft has built a strong reputation in this sector working with many established food industry clients providing high quality hygienic solutions to their existing facilities and support many more new start businesses by converting industrial establishments into food production facilities which meet the BRC standard required for their accreditation.

Continues TPS360, ‘Thanks to substantial business growth in recent years, the company is now also expanding its Midlands operation in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The team there, led by sales director Mark Jackson, will be able to enhance its service to customers from all parts of the central, north and east of England, which it will service from Tamworth.

Mark himself is one of the country’s foremost authorities on polished concrete, having worked in the field for 20 years.’

‘The expansion we’re undertaking right now is great news for the company, as it gives us an excellent platform for future growth, enabling us to provide a better and more rapid service for our customers, especially in the Midlands,’ says Mark Jackson.

‘We’re winning increasing amounts of business for our key services – resin and polished concrete. Being able to service and grow that business from a base in the Midlands is a great step forward for the company.’

The new facility includes a sales office, as well as warehousing and maintenance facilities for the company’s growing fleet of specialist floorlaying machinery.

The company is a proud member of FeRFA – the Resin Flooring Association, which is in itself an indication of its commitment to excellence and its ability to supply resin flooring solutions across all eight of the FeRFA resin classifications. The company boasts the experience and expertise to tackle the more technical resin flooring solutions, such as chemical protection systems in aggressive environments, anti-static floors and conductive flooring in electrically sensitive and explosive atmospheres, meeting the exacting requirements in many demanding environments.

The company also leads the way on technical developments within the resin flooring industry, promoting and installing innovative systems such as comfort resin flooring (liquid vinyl), which is seamless, impervious, easy to clean and ideal for healthcare and other hygiene-critical environments.

The ability to install all types of resin flooring systems means it can operate across a wide range of industry sectors including heavy industry, manufacturing, food & beverage, pharmaceutical, aerospace, MOD, warehousing and many more where we are equally comfortable and capable of working for main contractors or direct with the end-clients.

With regard to polished concrete flooring and decorative screeds, this is an area where TPS360 is in a market leadership position. In fact, this is a flooring solution which the company is pioneering in the UK.

Mark Jackson is the driving force behind the polished concrete business, having been in at the start of polished concrete in the UK.

Polished concrete has historically been popular in several markets around the world, such as America, and has been in the UK for about 30 years now and today it is growing fast. Polished concrete is a long-lasting and durable alternative especially for installations where a more decorative finish is required. This can include public buildings, educational facilities, manufacturing, hangars, warehousing, car showrooms and a range of other applications.

A polished concrete floor often requires a greater initial investment than a resin floor, but boasts benefits such as reduced lifecycle costs, environmental benefits and life expectancy in excess of 25 years.

‘Having invested heavily in machinery in the past, we believe we now have a greater capability in polished concrete than any other sub-contractor in the country,’ says Mark. ‘We’re now regularly delivering 5,000sq m jobs, and there aren’t many other companies out there who have the capacity for consistently completing work on this scale.’

Polished concrete can be used as a solution in newbuild and refurbishment projects equally well. However, in some applications where the existing concrete is either not suited because of condition, appearance, when more specific aesthetics are required or there are specific requirements such as underfloor heating – then polished overlay screeds provide an excellent solution.

Normally these screeds are installed at around 10mm and polished using the same processes as a polished concrete finish and where control of colour and aggregate provide some amazing results.
Sometimes, as in a recent project, the customer preferred a polished concrete floor, usually for aesthetic reasons, but the nature of the substrate turns out not to be suitable. In these cases, TPS360 will have no hesitation in specifying and installing a resin floor, which it can do because of the company’s equal capabilities in both areas.

The benefits of polished concrete to the customer are many – following the process, the surface will become dust proof, therefore no requirement of a secondary sealing layer for dustproofing; the floor has improved longevity compared to other solutions, leading to cost-savings in the long run; improved light reflectivity, meaning that some clients have found that they can save significant amounts on their lighting costs; environmental benefits during construction, since the process involves limited lorry movements for deliveries of product; also environmental benefits in service, since only water is required for cleaning; good slip resistance and finally owing to the densification process the floor can end up being stronger than it started.

A polished concrete surface can also be coloured and logos added by means of impregnating colour dyes. The aesthetic benefits mean polished concrete is increasingly specified by architects.

‘What we want to achieve in this sector is two-fold,’ says Mark. ‘First, that polished concrete is considered at the specification stage as an effective and durable solution especially for industrial floors, which we view as the biggest opportunity for growth. Second that TPS360 is the first-choice installer for contractors and end-users who are committed to polished concrete. We can tell them we’ve got something different we want to speak to them about and TPS360 really are setting the standards in this sector now.’
03450 268780
info@tps360.co.uk
www.tps360.co.uk
This article was previously published in The Specifier’s Guide to Flooring