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Fit for Purpose Flooring Solutions for Healthcare Facilities

  • Fit for Purpose Flooring Solutions for Healthcare Facilities2
  • Fit for Purpose Flooring Solutions for Healthcare Facilities3
  • Fit for Purpose Flooring Solutions for Healthcare Facilities

Fit for Purpose Flooring Solutions for Healthcare Facilities

Healthcare facilities can pose significant challenges for facilities managers specifying a floor covering material that strikes the correct balance between hygiene performance and design.

Hygiene and cleanliness are critical to the safe operation of a healthcare building. The floor is the surface where bacteria gather. If floors are not correctly specified or properly cleaned, the spread of disease and onset risk of contamination amongst patients can have devastating consequences.

As a result, seamless resin materials are increasingly being used in these settings to provide an eye-catching and clean surface, which is strong enough to bear superimposed loads.

Not only hardwearing and durable, resin materials are easily cleaned and maintained. The material delivers a non-porous, watertight, impervious finish that does not support microbial growth or allow moisture to accumulate in joint and crevices.

Resin material can be laid to coves to provide a hygienic transition between the floor and wall – helping to prevent the spread of bacteria and infection.  Resin can also be graded to meet varying slip-resistance requirements – ensuring a safe environment for staff and patients alike by reducing the risk of slips and aggravated trips.

Just this year, Flowcrete was fortunate to have played its part in the construction of a medical research facility at the Kwazulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, located at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

The unique tower building is spread across eight storeys and represents a total footprint of 4,000 square metres.1000 square metres of Flowcrete’s self-smoothing epoxy flooring system was selected for refurbishment works across levels six and seven of the facility – including a restricted area used to store, handle and test dangerous pathogens.

Flowshield SL is non-tainting and non-dusting, delivering an attractive easily cleaned surface that is ideal for use in laboratories and other sterile environments.

The material was supplied in three custom colour ways – beige, red and orange – all of which were hand-picked by the architect and colour matched by Flowcrete.

Work at the site also included the installation of Flowcrete’s water-based epoxy wall coating system, Flowseal EPW, in the same custom beige colour across both floors to deliver a seamless, chemical resistant and hygienic finish.

Across the Atlantic a more durable solution was chosen to address an existing flooring problem at the Park Ten Surgical Center, located in Houston, USA.

After having detected moisture problem, originated in part by the vinyl tile (VCT) installed throughout the facility, caused bubbling and delaminating floor issues that needed to be corrected immediately.

Flowfresh SLB, a seamless, self-levelling and chemical resistant polyurethane concrete system, was installed across 7,000 square feet of the facility’s hallways and surgery rooms, in a decorative flake finish.

Sandra Monsalve-Ramos, Marketing Manager for Flowcrete Americas, said: “Like any of Flowcrete’s Flowfresh products, Flowfresh SLB contains Polygiene®, an innovative antimicrobial additive that reduces the generation of bacterial population on the surface of the floor by up to 99 per cent.

One of the Flowfresh advantages is that Polygiene® remains active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, during the complete lifetime of the floor, for maximum hygiene performance.

In addition, Flowfresh SLB offers excellent resistance to moisture vapour transmission, eliminating the passage of water vapor to the surface, which ultimately avoids delaminating of the floor system.”

The system was coated and sealed using Peran STC and Flowseal UV. These low odor products deliver a durable and robust finish to the floor system, which provides chemical and abrasion resistance and a UV stable formulation to retain the colour integrity of the floor finish.

A more decorative Flowcrete resin flooring system was first choice in the United Kingdom, at the world renowned, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

Partnering together with Walt Disney, the hospital has recently opened a new cafeteria, restaurant and Disney-themed relaxation area for patients and their families, housed in the newly opened Morgan Stanley Clinical Building.

The design and interior fit-out of both the main cafeteria and adjoining play area is inspired by the magical world of Disney, featuring a striking illuminated ceiling in a series of coloured bands.

Bringing a sprinkle of fairy dust to the new area’s interior design is a sparkling seamless terrazzo floor finish from Flowcrete UK.

Incorporating a blend of recycled glass and mirror glass aggregates within a coloured epoxy resin material, Flowcrete’s Mondéco terrazzo provides clients with a floor that shimmers underfoot.

Throughout the cafeteria and adjoining play area, Mondéco has been installed in contrasting monochrome shades in an eye-catching curved pattern.

Mondéco is extremely hardwearing and can withstand high volumes of foot traffic as well as providing excellent impact, scratch and slip-resistance.

With healthcare and other medical facilities having to factor in a wide-range of flooring requirements including heavy foot and wheeled traffic, exposure to harmful chemicals, pathogens and bacteria as well as cost and colour, resin flooring is emerging as a new trend within these settings for its ability to remedy all ailments.

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Will Facer

Will Facer is the Marketing Manager at Flowcrete Asia - a leading manufacturer of seamless resin floor solutions. In this role Will leads the Asia Pacific regional marketing efforts to engage with construction professionals and to provide them with insights and information on resin flooring.

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