Dating from 1779, the Grade I listedPiece Hall, Halifax, is Britain’s last surviving cloth hall.
In 2017, the building underwent a £19 million conservation programme and is now a centre for trade and culture, with a mix of independent shops, cafes, bars and heritage spaces.
The use of patented magnetic flooring technology enabled the flooring in its Trading Rooms restaurant to be updated to be more in keeping with the rest of this historic building, but with a significantly quicker installation time versus traditional flooring methods, and with minimal disruption to restaurant operations.
THE CHALLENGE
The original floor of the Trading Rooms restaurant was a polished, sealed concrete floor that the owner felt did not fit aesthetically well with The Piece Hall building.
However, with a busy restaurant and any kind of downtime costing money, the client needed a solution that enabled the flooring to be changed as quickly as possible whilst improving the appearance of the restaurant.
The resulting floor also needed to withstand wear and tear from heavy foot traffic in the restaurant and be straight forward to maintain.
“We are delighted with the quality of finish of the flooring. It suits the space ideally and looks amazing. The floor finish is a key part of the vision and this achieved the ‘look’ that we so much wanted to achieve. As the operator, the other aspect is the excellent practicality of this finish – we’ve now got the ideal outcome.”
Nick Taylor, Commercial Lead, The Piece Hall Trust
THE INSTALLATION
Requested to work on the project by Resincoat, 2 floorlayers from IOBAC approved contractor, MDA Contracts Ltd completed the 170m2 install in just 1 day.
With no need for any preparation apart from a light sanding, the Resincoat Magnetic Base Coat was trowel-applied straight onto the concrete and then rollered. The resin base was dry and able to be trafficked and laid on in 90 minutes.
Magnetic luxury vinyl tiles (Argen from the Karndean Opus collection) were simply then dry-laid in a herringbone pattern with a straight-laid border.
Glenn Alexander, Director of MDA Contracts Ltd, comments that
“the same job would have taken two fitters at least 4 days using traditional methods. This solution is easy to work with and is revolutionary as regards the time in which a flooring project can be completed.”
THE SOLUTION
Manufacturer Resincoat Ltd specified a magnetic flooring system powered by IOBAC patented technology to overcome this challenge.
The system works by applying a quick cure metallised resin base coat, and then simply laying magnetic surface tiles on top.
Little surface preparation was required as the resin can be applied to sub-floors of up to 95% relative humidity.
THE BENEFITS
Speed
Minimal disruption to restaurant operations
Flexibility
When disaster struck and the new floor was damaged just days after installation, there was no drama. The damaged tile was simply lifted up and a new magnetic tile put in its place in a matter of seconds.
The metallised resin base stays permanently in position, enabling any future damage to be easily rectified. And when the time for a design refresh comes, the entire floor can be completely replaced quickly and easily just by switching out the top surface tiles, with no need to disturb and rectify the subfloor.
Sustainability
As the system uses no adhesives, any used floor tiles are contamination-free and can be easily stored for re-use, or recycled, rather than potentially going into landfill.
The installation process itself is very clean, with the metallised resin having low VOC’s.
Cost Efficiency
As the surface finish is not permanent fixing, it will qualify for capital allowance tax savings.
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