An education in flooring

In line with the start of a new academic year, read on as Donna Hannaway, Head of Marketing UK and Ireland at Forbo Flooring Systems gives a quick lesson in education flooring design

While schools, colleges and universities are welcoming staff and students back for the start of a new academic year, the buildings will likely have remained a hive of activity over the summer holidays, it being the optimum time for interior refurbishments. However, designing and refurbishing educational establishments can be a complex challenge, with all estates having their own unique needs and set of design challenges.

Floor coverings are a central feature of any interior design scheme, making them a focal point of school refurbishments, especially in high footfall areas.

When it comes to choosing the right floor covering for the space, facility managers should first consult the General Design Brief produced by HM Government’s Education Skills and Funding Agency, containing guidance on the type of floor finishes to be used in schools. Put simply, the guide lays out the three priorities for flooring: that they are hard wearing, safe and fit for purpose.

There are a multitude of other factors to be considered too, including hygiene, acoustics, durability, slip resistance and, most importantly, speed of installation. This is key for refurbishments within the education sector, with work often carried out during weekends or school holidays. Fortunately, the continuous development of adhesive free flooring solutions over recent years means that there is now a ‘fast fit’ solution for most areas of an education estate, enabling projects to be turned around swiftly and with minimal disruption or downtime.

CORRIDORS

Corridors take a pounding from foot traffic on a daily basis, as staff and students navigate around the school and from lesson to lesson. As a result, floor coverings need to be tough enough to stand up to the task. Durability, slip resistance and sound reduction are the key things to consider when choosing the right solution for these busy circulation areas, making sheet vinyl an ideal solution.

Hard-wearing, easy to clean and with many collections offering varying levels of sound reduction, sheet vinyl can tick all the boxes. Look for an adhesive free vinyl that offers excellent dimensional stability, quick installation and 19 dB impact sound reduction, helping to reduce noise transmission to the floors below.

Linoleum is another great solution for these applications, offering the same reliable durability, longevity and ease of maintenance. Manufactured from rapidly renewable natural raw materials, and with some options achieving Climate Positive (carbon negative) status without the need for offsetting, it is widely regarded as one of the most sustainable floor coverings.

In addition to the countless colourways on offer, advancements in manufacturing techniques mean you can have bespoke design inlays cut into the flooring – ideal for guiding with wayfinding or to promote the school’s branding.

CLASSROOMS

Students go to school to learn, meaning the perfect classroom (or lecture theatre) should be an environment that inspires calm, focus and productivity. Colour, light and acoustics are all factors that can affect the learning process and, as the largest single surface of any interior, it’s imperative that the flooring has a positive impact on the atmosphere created.

Even today, carpet tiles remain the go-to option for classrooms, largely due to their modular format and natural acoustic properties, helping to lower the impact noise in these spaces and avoid disturbances. With the comprehensive range of colourways and designs available, you can easily create a bespoke flooring scheme that suits the age-range of students, from a bright and colourful reception classroom to calmer, more neutral shades for older children.

Once again, these solutions offer the option of adhesive free installation – facilitating both ease of installation and simplified maintenance in the future, with a damaged tile easily able to be lifted and replaced, rather than having to replace the entire flooring.

ENTRANCES

How many people slow down or stop to wipe their feet when walking into school or college? With heavy footfall coming through the doors of a school or university entrance every day, keeping the outside world outside is an ongoing challenge for facility managers, as well as being crucial for the safety of all occupants.

Whether it’s the main entrance or a door from a muddy sports field, a well-planned entrance area, with the incorporation of an effective entrance flooring system, such as Forbo’s Nuway and Coral barrier matting solutions, can drastically reduce the levels of dirt and moisture being tracked into the building, as well as reduce the potential for slips and trips.

KITCHENS, DINING ROOMS AND WASHROOMS

Safety isn’t only for the building entrance. It’s just as important throughout other heavily trafficked areas or potentially hazardous spaces, including commercial kitchens, dining areas, gym changing rooms and washrooms. In these areas, a Health and Safety Executive compliant safety floor covering should be considered.

When it comes to safety flooring, it’s important that you first possess an understanding of the Pendulum Test Value (PTV) and R rating, helping you to choose the right flooring for the individual space. A PTV of 36 or higher is classified as a low slip risk, making it ideal for most general and specialist use spaces. There is also the ‘Ramp Test’, or R rating, which measures the ability of a surface to provide friction on a sloped plane. For this, there is a minimum rating of R9 and a maximum of R13. R11 and above are recommended for surfaces regularly expected to have a high risk of continuous contamination, such as those found within commercial kitchens or laundries, with these application areas also requiring a PTV of 40 or above.

While safety flooring has often led to a compromise with design in the past, this no longer has to be the case, with a range of new contemporary designs available on the market, including realistic wood and stone effects, such as Forbo’s newly updated Step safety vinyl collection.

It’s clear when it comes to specifying flooring for education estates that ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t wash. With so many different spaces, areas and zones within our schools, colleges and universities, each calling for different performance criteria, colourways and designs, working with a flooring manufacturer can streamline the specification process. It can also be helpful to seek further advice from a flooring expert to ensure the most appropriate solution, which is quick to install, is chosen for each area.