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Altro retains its place in the prestigious Sunday Times Top 100

Altro has been ranked 83 in the coveted Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For 2018 list. This is the 11th time the family-founded, Letchworth-based company has featured in this prestigious list.

The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list is the annual ranking of ‘the cream of Britain’s happy and motivated workforces’. With more than 1,000 companies registered to take part, it is considered the most extensive research into employee engagement carried out in the UK.

Altro’s 350 UK employees were invited to take part in the survey, which asked questions about how the support they receive from the company, their training and development and opportunities for career growth, amongst others. The company again scored well, showing a continued commitment to employees.

Altro’s CEO, Richard Kahn, said “We are delighted to be selected for the eleventh time as one of the top 100 companies to work for in the UK. Since 1919 we have kept an ethos of family in the workplace, as we value our employees and the contributions they make. We are happy to see that our employees agree, which means we are continuing to provide a supportive and family-orientated environment that we have always committed ourselves to for nearly 100 years.

 

For more information please visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro creates a relaxing environment for playful dachshunds

Pigglefairy Puppies, based near Kings Lynn, is a council-licenced breeder of Kennel Club registered miniature Dachshunds. The kennel where the dogs slept was five years old, and was starting to look tired. It needed a refit, and owner Debbie Casemore wanted a solution that would not stress the dogs. She also needed a quick turnaround to make sure the dogs were able to return to the kennel quickly.

Debbie said: “I wanted the best for the dogs, and hygiene is so important for their welfare. I wanted an easy to clean floor and wall solution that would have no edges or crevices for the dogs to chew on. It also had to be quick to fit so the dogs could go back to their routine.”

Altro Cantata™ was chosen to provide an easy to clean floor that would be quick to install. Altro Cantata is installed without adhesive, which is a benefit when adhesive smells can cause stress. Altro Whiterock™ Satins in ‘Fawn’ was chosen as an easy to maintain and hygienic solution that looked good.

Debbie continued: “The colours of Altro Cantata and Altro Whiterock Satins are nice and neutral, and look really professional and clean.”

Altro Cantata and Altro Whiterock Satins were installed by Simon Johnson at Simply Interiors. Simon said: “Since Altro adhesive-free floors were launched, it now makes up approximately 80% of our safety flooring jobs. The speed for clients and us has proved invaluable! Altro Cantata is a great addition to the range.”

Altro Cantata is a decorative, adhesive-free floor that creates maximum impact with minimum downtime. Using Altro’s award-winning adhesive-free installation method, it can be welded and walked on the same day, and at the end of its life can be removed easily, allowing it to be reused or recycled. It is ideal for busy public spaces where disruption needs to be minimal, plus there are no associated adhesive odours. Altro Cantata’s 16 soft-look shades, which range from subtle naturals to beautifully vivid, enable you to set the desired tone yet it also has the durability needed for medium to high traffic areas.

Altro Whiterock Satins provides a stain-resistant, wipeclean surface. Available in a range of solid, satin-finish shades – from subtle pastels through to vivid brights – Altro Whiterock Satins can be used where aesthetics are important.

For more information please visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro Aquarius helps transform dining room to wet-room for disabled teenager

Altro Aquarius™ has been used in a life-changing home adaptation to create a wet-room for Devon-based teenager Mya Bolt.

Despite enduring years of tests, Mya’s parents are no closer to a diagnosis. “If asked, we call her ‘a unique’ and she certainly is, in every way. She’s a very happy, giggly girl, who loves music, make-up and wearing pretty clothes,” says her mother, Claire. “But she also needs total support with self-care, is non-verbal and has severe learning disabilities and poor mobility.

“We have accepted we may never have a specific name for her condition, she is just a very special girl, but it does makes it hard to plan for her future, as we have no idea what to expect,” explains Claire.

It was with her future in mind that Claire and her father Bert decided to convert their dining room into a level-access wet-room. “The older and bigger Mya got, the harder it was to get her upstairs to the bathroom,” says Claire. And, with no ground floor toilet, Mya had no choice but to use a commode in the living room.

Bathing was also becoming increasingly stressful with Claire often getting wetter than Mya and the physical task of lifting her in and out was becoming progressively harder. “It was clear she needed a way to achieve more independence. So when our Occupational Therapist suggested a shower-toilet, I knew it was the perfect solution,” says Claire.

Turning a dining room into a wet-room wasn’t an easy task. Located on the opposite side of the house to the soil pipe and sewage system, Bert had to hire a digger and excavate a whole new sewage network around three sides of the property. A new wall was installed to create a hallway past the bathroom, connecting it to what will eventually become Mya’s downstairs bedroom, and the rest of the family home.

Not knowing how Mya’s condition would develop, the Bolts decided to design the new wet-room with their worst-case scenario in mind – total wheelchair dependence. In addition to sanitaryware that accommodates Mya’s needs, for superior grip, Claire selected Altro’s Aquarius safety flooring. “I did consider regular tiles but we stayed in a hotel with Altro and the grip is just incomparable, plus it comes in lovely colours,” explains Claire. It runs straight into the shower space, and up the walls, effectively tanking the entire room.

Altro Aquarius was ideal as it is a specialist safety flooring developed for lasting performance in shoes or barefoot. Achieving Class B to DIN 51097 for barefoot use, plus PTV ≥50 (Slider 96), it provides optimum lifetime sustained slip resistance in wet and dry environments. The range features plain and tonal chip options to help you achieve high contrast and design flexibility. It has been extensively tested with a variety of shoes and contaminants to ensure top performance in high-risk environments. It’s also easy to clean, making it ideal for home adaptations.

While every element was planned to ensure Mya never outgrows her new bathroom, Claire is delighted to report that her dream of giving her daughter dignity and independence has come true. “This whole project really has been life changing for Mya, and our whole family.”

For more information please visit www.altro.ie.
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Altro resins transform University renovation

A package of Altro resins products have been used to transform a 30 year old building, which was previously part of the Hewlett Packard campus in Bristol, into the University of the West of England (UWE) Future Space. The building is used by Research and Development project teams to nurture start-up companies working in the fields of robotics and smart-controlled machinery and vehicles. The renovation project was completed by BAM Construction.

The timelines for the project were tight, but an added complication was that half the building needed to continue to be occupied by the staff of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. This meant that noise, dust, vibration and odours had to be kept to a minimum. Lucie Phillips, at WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff architects said “We felt, as designers, that a standard resin or vinyl floor finish would look bland in such a large space so we started to explore the options of using a feature resin and we are exceptionally happy with the results of the final product.”

A combination of Altro resins products was used to create solutions for areas such as the circulation hub, main access route from the entrance to the hub, laboratories, workshops and corridors. Products were selected for their UV stability and slip-resistance, flexibility and durability.

The renovation of an old building into a home for such hi-tech industries demanded a significant transformation. Large new sky-lights flooded the central circulation hub with natural daylight, which in-turn greatly increased UV light illuminating the light-coloured quartz floor, so Altro and WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff enhanced colour stability by including clear UV-stable seal coats.

Polydeck Resins Ltd were selected to install the floors, but the project still faced a number of challenges, some of which were not anticipated. Polydeck were able to provide ongoing specification guidance to improve the resultant finishes and problem-solving assistance with programming before and during the installation in order to help to bring the project to completion by the required date.

For more information visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro creates ‘home from home’ look for care home

Willowbrook Care Home in Birmingham provides specialist support for people with dementia and mental health problems who need personal care or nursing care on a long-term basis. The care home recently extended the premises to create more bedrooms and circulation areas for residents. Altro floors were used throughout the 2,000m² new build extension.

Altro Wood™ Safety was installed in circulation areas, dayrooms and bedrooms. Altro Pisces™ was used in all ensuites and assisted bathrooms. Altro Walkway™ 20 was used in the laundry room.

Paul Willis, Willowbrook Care Home’s owner, selected the Altro products after meeting with Altro and C&C Flooring, who provided guidance on specifying for care homes, with particular focus on floors for residents with dementia. Paul said: “We chose Altro Wood Safety, Altro Pisces and Altro Walkway 20 to help provide a homely appearance with excellent sustained slip resistance, durability and ease of maintenance. The end result is superb and we have had many wonderful, positive comments from residents, families and numerous healthcare professionals.”

C&C Flooring installed the Altro floors. Roo Williams, Director, C&C Flooring said: “We have been using Altro Wood Safety, Altro Walkway 20, and Altro Pisces for a good while now, the ranges themselves complement each other and look fantastic.

“We have a strong relationship with Altro, the support we get is unbelievable. It makes our job as a flooring contractor a whole lot easier and the products themselves are second to none.

“The Altro products look a million dollars and are performing extremely well. The best feature of Altro products is the performance, after years of traffic they always look like new. Altro Wood Safety itself lends itself to so many environments such as care homes, schools, office blocks and many more.”

For more information please visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro solution brings life to design-led Hull Birth Centre

A complete floors and walls solution from Altro has been used to create a relaxing, stylish and home from home environment for mums-to-be in a new birth centre at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

The new midwife-led Fatima Allam Birth Centre has been designed to meet the needs of women who want a more natural childbirth experience. It comprises three birthing rooms, each individually designed to create a homely and relaxed feel in beautiful surroundings, while also providing a safe, hygienic environment.

The rooms feature a birthing bed, birthing pool, ensuite bathroom and additional equipment, which is cleverly concealed within hidden wall panelling.

The design vision for the Fatima Allam Birth Centre was to create an environment that looked entirely non-clinical, a home from home for mums-to-be; relaxing, calm, very contemporary in its design and a tranquil haven in which to experience this life-changing event.

Andrew Ledger, contracts manager for Apleona, which provides facilities management for the building, oversaw the new construction and was part of the team that devised the overall concept of the birth centre.

“We had a very specific idea of what we wanted the centre to look like, and how we wanted it to function,” Andrew says. “As a midwife-led unit, a relaxed and homely atmosphere was essential, however a priority was of course infection control, hygiene, durability and quality.

“We specified Altro floors and walls from the start because we are using these products elsewhere in the hospital with a great deal of success. They meet all our clinical hygiene and infection control needs, while also offering a superb range of colours and textures, which makes them ideal for creating a modern and stylish environment.

“The quality and durability of Altro is a major factor too because, as a PFI project, the long-term cost is under close scrutiny.

Professional artist and designer Adele Howitt, from Studio Eleven Gallery & Workshop in Hull, won a commission from the hospital to design the interior concept for the new birth centre. She provided various colour ways, materials, and themes, to inspire the team. The colour palette was agreed and a range of approved products to work with, including Altro floors and walls.
“Choosing the colour scheme for the birth unit was a team effort between myself, the hospital midwifery team, and Mrs Fatima Allam herself, whose husband generously donated funds towards the unit.

“Once we had decided on colours, we worked closely with Altro to look at the specific products that would meet our brief. They were very hands-on, with technical guidance and information, plenty of new ideas, and suggesting products we hadn’t previously considered. They completely understood our practical and aesthetic needs.”

Adele says: “This was something very different, very special. Childbirth is such a major life event and research has shown that the environment in which a woman gives birth can have a profound effect on the anxiety or fear she may experience. A hospital can be a very stressful environment at such a key time in a person’s life and can lead to feelings of loss of control.

“I wanted each of the birthing rooms in the new centre to have its own individual style, personality, textures and colours, with the feel of a chic boutique hotel. But I chose an overall theme to link them, which was flowers of Egyptian mythology, one for each room — Lotus, Persea and Jasmine.

“Rather than hanging pictures on the walls, I wanted to create more profound artistic design features in the birth and shower rooms so I used Altro Whiterock Digiclad to create statement walls from floor to ceiling. This is a fantastic product for design-led projects because you can print any image or photograph onto it, and the quality is superb.”

Altro Whiterock Digiclad™ is ideal for creating the right impression with a bespoke design on your wall. From a calming coastal landscape in a hospital ward to a bold company logo in a reception area, the only limit is your imagination. Altro Whiterock Digiclad is created by reproducing a photographic image or vector art on to Altro Whiterock wall sheet, with consistent, photographic quality. Hard-coat technology provides scratch-resistant properties for added surface protection, making Altro Whiterock Digiclad ideal for areas where durability is important.

Adele chose Altro Whiterock Satins™ for the shower rooms. She says “It has some wonderful shades, and the subtle, sheer texture is very stylish.”

Altro Whiterock Satins is a versatile and sophisticated hygienic walls system available in a range of solid, decorative, satin shades – from soothing and healing through to bright and energetic. It provides all the impact resistance and hygiene you would expect from Altro Whiterock, with a stain-resistant, wipe-clean surface.

Adele continues: “These walls products enabled me to create some exciting and innovative designs for each room and gave me enormous scope to create the look and feel I wanted of stylish calm, individual strength and beauty, without having to compromise.

“The Lotus room has a beach theme, with grey painted walls. Here I used Altro Whiterock Digiclad on three statement walls with a stylised image of enlarged grains of sand. In the Lotus shower room, I chose an image of a wave on one wall, and on the three remaining walls Altro Whiterock Satins in Cream.

“Persea has a forest theme, and for this room I chose a monochrome wood grain image for the Altro Whiterock Digiclad walls. In the shower room, the wall sheet depicts pebbles.

“The Jasmine suite is all about meadows. The wall sheet features beautiful pastel lilac, green and cream wild flowers, while the shower room has a lovely pale lilac called Malva for the Whiterock Satins walls, and an image of shifting grey sand.

“I also designed some panels for the doors in the centre using Altro Whiterock Digiclad, which matched the corridor wallpaper of Lotus, Persea and Jasmine flower heads on a pale blue background.”

Flooring for the birth centre was key to creating the homely, non-clinical feel. Andrew Ledger and the project team wanted natural, warm, wood-effect flooring and chose Altro Wood™ for the three bedrooms and corridors.

Andrew and his team also specified a way-finding system for the new centre to help those with partial sight and dementia. The system comprises a border of Altro WalkwayTM 20 safety flooring in black fitted around the edge of all the floors in the bedrooms and corridors.

Andrew says: “This system is very effective and it also helps to limit damage from trolleys and medical equipment because it encourages people away from the walls. We are rolling it out for all our new builds.

“Wet areas in clinical environments need to be very safe underfoot, so we chose Altro Pisces safety flooring for both the shower rooms and around the birthing pool. This flooring performs superbly in both wet or dry conditions, and with bare feet or shoes, so it’s perfect for keeping both patients and staff safe. Altro Pisces also looks good enough to work within our design themes and there are some great colours.”

Altro Pisces™ performs whether wet or dry, in shoes or barefoot, and offers 16 soft-look shades. The result is the consistent, soft appearance that you would want from domestic interiors, with the lifetime sustained slip resistance you expect from Altro safety flooring.

The flooring was installed in the Fatima Allam Birth Centre by Floorcovers UK. Partner Phil Morris said: “We have installed a great deal of Altro flooring in the hospital over the years, so we were delighted that it was specified for this new birth unit. For quality and reliability Altro is the best, and they are a pleasure to work with.

“The installation was quite a challenge because we were working in a very delicate and sensitive area right next to the live maternity ward and neonatal intensive care unit. We had to carry all our materials through the ward where babies were being born every day during our four-week working schedule.

“This meant we had to be incredibly mindful of what was going on around us, take all dust and rubbish out in sealed containers, and work as quietly and professionally as possible to minimise the impact on mothers and babies. It was a wonderful experience, though, to hear babies being born every day.”

The Altro wall sheet was fitted by Richardson Claddings. Owner Joe Richardson comments: “The majority of work we do is in healthcare and we install a lot of Altro Whiterock, so we are accustomed to working in sensitive clinical areas, and in this hospital too.

“The beauty of the Altro walls system is that it is so quiet, easy and clean to install. Altro sends the sheets to us ready-cut, which means minimal cutting or shaping on site.

“So we were able to work very quickly and quietly around the live ward. All the on-site trades worked closely with the hospital and we had a very tight and closely monitored works programme. The hospital staff were very helpful and understood all our challenges.”

The project’s main contractor was CTS Shopfitting Ltd. Account manager Adrian Cartwright said: “This was a very exciting design-led project, which required a great deal of co-operation from everyone. The sensitive nature of the build, plus the proximity of the works to the wards meant it was essential to work as quietly, cleanly and quickly as possible to cause minimal disruption. A very successful result and a fantastic facility.”

Andrew Ledger says: “The new centre has been a huge success. From a design point of view, it looks fantastic and completely meets the brief we set out. The compliments and feedback we have received from everyone who has been here have been tremendous.

“We get a lot of medical professionals visiting from around the world and they say the centre is the best of its kind they have seen anywhere, which is a wonderful endorsement and makes us very proud of what we have achieved.

“Most importantly, the mothers who have given birth here are thrilled with it too, and we have received thousands of positive comments. There really isn’t a more beautiful or peaceful place to give birth. For the midwives, it’s a dream come true; a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere they love to work in, where they can control the environment and provide a very special level of care.

“The Altro floors and walls solution is key to the overall look, form and function of the birth unit. It looks superb and very striking. Adele has used the products very effectively to create schemes and designs that are both subtle and powerful.

“From a more practical angle, the Altro wall sheet provides a tough, hardwearing surface. We are very impressed that in the shower rooms the walling overlaps the flooring to prevent water ingress, which would prove very expensive to rectify. After each birth, the rooms are completely disinfected and cleaned, and the Altro floors and walls are proving very easy to maintain.

“We are delighted with this amazing facility. It’s very much a team effort, everyone from the clinical team to the suppliers, designer and installers understood what we wanted to create and worked together to bring the vision to life.”

For more information please visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro ideal for £25 million Welsh super school

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Award-winning Altro XpressLay™ safety flooring has been used throughout a £25 million secondary ‘super school’ in North Wales. At 4,500m2, it is the biggest ever Altro XpressLay installation in the North West.

The new Rhyl High School has been funded by Denbighshire Council and the Welsh Government, and built by Willmott Dixon. It accommodates 1,200 students, and also provides a base for 45 students from a nearby community special school. The whole building was constructed to achieve a rating of “excellent” on the BREEAM scale.

As with most new-build school projects, cost and time were major factors in the construction of Rhyl High. Flooring company Linney Cooper — who were appointed by Willmott Dixon to install the flooring throughout the new school — were well aware of this. But even though Altro flooring had not originally been specified, Linney Cooper recommended switching to Altro XpressLay.

Robert Goring, Senior Project Surveyor at Willmott Dixon, said “We have been working with Linney Cooper for many years. Their expert knowledge of flooring led to a recommendation to change our specification to Altro XpressLay, which is a proven cost and time saving product. In addition, the flooring met the stringent criteria for safety, quality and design.”

James Sullivan, Linney Cooper Contracts Manager, said “For the Rhyl High project, Altro XpressLay and its properties presented themselves as a better alternative flooring solution to the one specified, for many reasons. The substrate floor at the new school was a power-floated concrete that would take a great deal of preparation with diamond grinding and laying a dpm. But, crucially, Altro XpressLay can be laid without a dpm, because it can be put down straight onto a damp subfloor or a new concrete floor at up to 97% relative humidity. This means quick and easy installation without having to wait for the substrate to dry.

“In addition, Altro Xpresslay can be laid without adhesive. There is no waiting for it to ‘cure’, we just lay, weld and walk on it the same day. There are no tacky areas, or having to plan installation in stages because of drying times.

“The flooring can be taken up and re-used elsewhere, and if we need to replace areas of damage or wear in the future, we can do so, very easily, with minimal disruption. There are no adhesive odours, either, which is perfect for sites such as schools.”

James continued: “Altro XpressLay is not a short-term solution, it is a proven, groundbreaking flooring that holds as effectively as an Altro safety flooring installed using adhesive, and there are no rucks, no movement at all.” It offers the same guarantees and lifetime slip resistance of other Altro safety flooring. The floor can be removed easily, reused and is 100% recyclable at the end of its life.

In addition to Altro XpressLay, Altro Whiterock™ White walling and Altro Stronghold™ 30 safety flooring were installed in the school kitchen. These products are often specified together as they deliver a proven combination of safety and hygiene in hard working environments.

Altro Whiterock White is the hygienic alternative to tiles that’s impact resistant, grout-free and easy to clean. Its smooth white surface and classic purity make it a timeless choice for any interior.

Altro Stronghold 30 achieves Altro’s highest rating for slip resistance and is designed to minimise risk in wet and greasy conditions for the lifetime of the flooring. As well as helping to keep staff safe from slips, it also helps reduce their fatigue, thanks to its 3mm thickness which provides noise reduction and comfort underfoot.

Linney Cooper installed the Altro Stronghold 30, while MI Contracts fitted the Altro Whiterock White.

For more information please visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro’s harmonious ranges strike the right chord

Altro has launched three new complimentary flooring ranges, developed to deliver harmonious design possibilities and meet the needs of diverse areas. Each room in a building has different challenges. Altro’s new flooring ranges draw from the same colour palette but offer different properties so you can mix and match to meet your needs, without compromising on style or performance.

Altro Operetta™ is a robust 2mm floor perfect for medium to high traffic areas such as corridors in hospitals, care homes or schools, patient rooms and retail environments. It has 25 attractive natural and contemporary colours and finishes to fit your interior design scheme.

Altro Orchestra™ is ideal for areas where comfort and sound reduction are important. Engineered to create the ideal environment to learn and live, this 2.85mm thick floor with 15db sound reduction offers comfort underfoot, making life easier on the feet of students, patients and hard-working staff. An even wider palette of 40 colours and designs varying from calming neutrals reflecting tones of nature to vibrant shades allow you to design the right atmosphere every time.

Altro

Altro Serenade™ is an acoustic floor, ideal for playrooms, hotel rooms, care homes or offices – anywhere where silence is golden. Whether softening the sounds of little feet or maximising privacy at work or leisure, Altro Serenade is up to the task. At 3.9mm thick with 19dB sound reduction, it also offers a high level of comfort underfoot. With 15 colour and design options, Altro Serenade matches and coordinates with Altro Operetta and Altro Orchestra.

Altro’s new ranges are colourful, easy to clean and compatible with each other. They are perfect for internal areas with low potential for spills from water, and can be combined with Altro safety flooring for areas prone to spills that have a high slip risk.

All three ranges also harmonise perfectly with Altro Whiterock™ hygienic wall cladding and the Altro Fortis™ wall, door and corner protection system, allowing you to create the look and feel you want, throughout.

All have industry-leading guarantees and the performance you would expect from Altro.

For more information visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro’s first adhesive-free flooring for low slip risk areas is tough time-saving solution at Warrington Hospital

New Altro CantataTM, the company’s first adhesive-free flooring for areas with a low slip risk, is already demonstrating its capabilities at Warrington Hospital, providing a tough time and cost saving solution in a busy non-clinical corridor.

Lee Bushell, the hospital’s Acting Head of Capital Projects, says “The service corridor is an area that gets an enormous amount of traffic. It’s in constant use during the day.

“After many years of this treatment, the existing vinyl flooring was really showing the strain. It looked tired, scruffy and we needed to find a hard wearing, affordable long term solution that could be laid with minimal disruption in this busy area.

“We have a very good relationship with Altro, and their flooring is proving very successful elsewhere in the hospital, so we asked them to have a look at the corridor and give us some guidance.

“They suggested we use their new Altro Cantata flooring, because it could be laid straight down onto the existing flooring, without adhesive, which would mean a fast installation.

New Altro Cantata is a decorative, adhesive-free flooring that creates maximum impact with minimum downtime. Using Altro’s award-winning adhesive-free installation method, it can be welded and walked on the same day, and at the end of its life removed easily, allowing it to be reused or recycled. It can handle the traffic of busy areas and is a long-term solution that will look good for years to come.

It is ideal for busy public spaces where disruption needs to be minimal, such as hospitals, schools and general circulation areas, with the durability needed for medium to high traffic areas. Plus there are no associated adhesive odours. Altro Cantata’s 16 soft-look shades, which range from subtle naturals to beautifully vivid, allows you to create just the right colour scheme or tone.

Lee Bushell continues: “I must admit I was sceptical that Altro Cantata would be able to meet our needs, but I am very pleased that I have been proved wrong, and it has been perfect for us in so many ways.

“There was a very short window for installation, because the corridor is in use until 7pm, but the process went very smoothly and was completed in just one night. A flooring that needs adhesive would have taken 3 to 4 days to fit. Altro Cantata has delivered a massive saving in cost, and the corridor was back in full use the next morning.

When speaking of the floor handling foot and wheeled traffic, Lee said: “It’s is standing up to the demands well with no signs of movement, bubbling or rippling, which proves it truly is a long term solution and not just a temporary fix. Very impressive.

“In terms of aesthetics, the flooring looks superb. There are some great colour choices with Altro Cantata. We selected a pale ice blue, which perfectly matches the colour scheme of the corridor.

“Cleaning is proving to be a revelation. The black scuffs and wheel marks from the trolleys were always tough to remove on the old flooring. Initially our cleaning team was doubtful they could get the marks off the new flooring, and nervous of using the scrubber and buffer because they thought they might do some damage.

“But we are delighted to report that the flooring comes up like new after every nightly cleaning regime, and even the stubborn black wheel marks are gone. Scrubbing machines and buffers are doing a wonderful job, with no damage.

“Sustainability is also an important factor for us. Because Altro Cantata is an adhesive-free flooring it means that in the future, if we need to make repairs, we can simply cut out a section and replace it, without having to re-lay the entire area. And the product is 100% recyclable as well.

“Overall, Altro Cantata is meeting all our needs in terms of cost saving, durability, looks and hygiene. This is vital at a time when the NHS is looking to make savings where possible, while also maintaining the highest standards.

“We are currently looking at using this product in another non-clinical area of the hospital, where there are similar issues with installation time. We think it will do a fantastic job there as well.”

Altro Cantata was installed at Warrington Hospital by Cheshire Contract Flooring Ltd. Director Dave Hunt says: “We specialise in installing flooring in healthcare environments, so we completely understand the pressures in terms of timing, cost and often sensitive environments.

“The beauty of Altro Cantata is that it can be laid straight down on to the subfloor, or existing flooring, with minimal preparation. There is no need to grind the floor, or put down a DPM, or prime, screed or use adhesive. This is a massive time and cost saver, a real fast track solution. Plus there is no need to wait for adhesive to dry and cure, so the flooring can be used and walked on immediately. It’s an ideal product for busy areas with heavy traffic where quick installation is paramount.”

Dave Hunt adds: “We laid the flooring in just one night, an area of 140m2, with two operatives. The process was quite straightforward. Firstly we made sure the existing flooring was clean, dry and dust free, then rolled out the sheet of product and cut it to size. Double-sided tape was then put around the perimeter, along the walls, one either side of the join.

“The tape was then peeled back and the flooring laid down and pressed into place. We finished by hot welding the joints, putting in a sit-on skirting, and steel threshold strips in the doorway. It was so fast: we could not have completed the work in this short timeframe with a traditional vinyl flooring.

“The work was carried on a very cold night in November, and we were afraid that the low temperature might cause the product to be brittle and buckle. But it settled very well, and we are delighted with how easy it was to work with and install. It looks great too.

“I was unsure that the flooring would stay in place with all the heavy trolleys turning on it every day, but it has been designed to do just that, and hasn’t moved or buckled in the slightest. We are very impressed with Altro Cantata and we’ll certainly be recommending it for our future projects.”

For more information please visit www.altro.co.uk.
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Altro XpressLay brings fast turnaround and cost savings at 27 new build schools

The proven cost and time saving credentials of award-winning Altro LooselayTM technology has lead to Altro XpressLayTM safety flooring being selected for installation in 27 new schools being built in the North East of England.

Galliford Try is building the new schools as part of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP). Galliford Try has a longstanding Supply Chain Agreement with Altro, so when it came to specifying flooring for the PSBP schools, both companies worked closely together to select a high quality, cost-effective flooring that was also quick to install.

Roy Perry, Galliford Try Contracts Manager, said: “We chose to work with Altro on the PSBP scheme due to the strength of our supply chain relationship and their array of appropriate products for the schools.

“We selected Altro XpressLay because it’s a cost-competitive option that would also save us installation time on all the priority school schemes in this region. In many instances we require a quick turnaround, as Galliford Try is under pressure to deliver the schools within set timescales.

“We have been pleased with the service we have received from Altro and the flooring contractors, which has enabled us to complete the work to the customers’ satisfaction.”
Altro XpressLay is the world’s first ever adhesive-free safety flooring, and features Altro Looselay technology. Altro Looselay technology allows any subfloor moisture to escape. It has been designed to lie flat, without the need to be adhered. Altro Looselay doubled-sided, moisture-tolerant tape is used to secure the flooring in place while you weld. As there is no adhesive you get same-day welding and can walk on the floor straight away. Altro XpressLay can be easily removed post-installation, re-used elsewhere and then recycled at the end of its life.

The range boasts 42 colours, featuring bright and subtle, sparkle-free designs and decorative chipped options to choose from. The Altro XpressLay palette matches with Altro WalkwayTM 20 safety flooring, enabling both ranges to be combined to suit the application.

Altro XpressLay also features Altro Easyclean technology with superior chemical and stain resistance, to ensure it stays looking good for longer.

The flagship school for the PSBP scheme, and one of the first to be built, is the £18.6 million Hessle High School and Sixth Form College in East Yorkshire. Previously Hessle High was split over two sites, with 1,450 students, including 200 students in the sixth form.

The new build, designed by DLA Architecture Ltd in Leeds, has created a combined, fit-for-purpose school that operates from just one site, with new science labs, ICT and teaching areas and sports facilities for up to 1,550 pupils, including 230 students in the sixth form.

Phoenix Flooring Division installed 5,500m2 of Altro XpressLay throughout Hessle High School in four different shades; Waterfall on stairs and corridors; Blizzard in laboratories; Fog in wet areas; and Roof Garden in the stores.

The easy-to-fit capabilities of Altro XpressLay meant big savings in time and a trouble-free installation, as Phoenix Flooring MD Matt Brown explained.

“With Altro XpressLay there is no need to lay a dpm, and it can be fitted without adhesives,” said Matt. “This makes it very cost and time effective, and fitter friendly too. We know that every time we use this flooring we save a lot of time on a project, so for us it’s a great choice all round.

“Prior to fitting at the school, we prepared the substrate with a smoothing compound to create a true, flat surface. We then fitted Altro Looselay double-sided moisture tolerant adhesive tape to all perimeters and areas where the flooring would have joints. This helps the flooring to stay in place.

“Then it was simply a case of cutting the sheets of Altro XpressLay to fit, laying them into position, removing the backing from the adhesive tape, and rolling the flooring back into place. Joints were finally hot welded to finish off.

“We were on site for three months, with eight fitters working at the busiest period. We had excellent support from Altro throughout the entire project, but they always deliver a very high level of back-up.”

Mark Owen, Facilities Manager at Hessle High School is happy that Altro XpressLay is ticking all the right boxes. “We had a mixture of lino and tiles in the old school, which looked very old fashioned and was neither safe underfoot nor easy to maintain. This new flooring looks superb, colourful and modern, and it’s a proven safety flooring that can stand up to the rigours of busy school life.

“There has been no rucking or movement at all. It’s as firm and reliable as any flooring fitted with adhesive. So for a school it’s a great product, because we have the flexibility to repair or reuse the flooring in the future if required.

“Maintaining the flooring is proving easy as well, and it cleans up very nicely. We mop as and when required, and for areas which get the most traffic and dirt we use a walk-behind scrubber regularly. During school holidays we give everything a much more thorough going over with a circular scrubber, which brings the floors back to their very best.”

For more information please visit www.altro.co.uk.
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