Huddersfield University and Leeds fitness centre, ProFIT28, get to grips with Gerflor products

The University of Huddersfield sports and leisure facilities feature very heavily in student life. These sports areas take a hammering and so when the university decided to install new flooring, it was essential it found a quality manufacturer to deliver the sports surfaces that were needed.

Chosen for its comfort and safety performance properties, Taraflex® Sport M Evolution from international flooring and interiors specialist Gerflor was the product specified. Commenting after the completion of the installation in 2014, Laurie Nettleton, sport and leisure centre manager said: “Gerflor installed a bespoke flooring solution at our sports centre in order to provide protection underneath the functional rig. The floor was fitted in less than five hours and the Gerflor team was efficient, friendly and professional”.

Superior properties
Taraflex® vinyl sports flooring from Gerflor has been used in many international and local sporting events and is available in 17 colours and three wood-effect designs.

The Sport M Evolution product offers a P1 category shock absorbency of 25-35 per cent, and meets the EN 14904 Standard for indoor sports surfaces.

Taraflex® is also recognised for providing durability, safety and comfort without impairing performance. The range offers greater than 45 per cent force reduction, making it unrivalled in the marketplace in terms of offering comfort for its users.

Taraflex® also meets the EN Standard of 22196 for anti-bacterial activity (E. coli - S. aureus - MRSA), returning >99 per cent levels of growth inhibition. The product is treated with Protecsol®, which renders polish redundant and is triple-action, meaning that no polish is ever required. Taraflex® has a double density foam backing and as another bonus, it’s environmentally-friendly.

In addition, Gerflor offers a number of installation solutions for Taraflex® including the Eco-Fit System which allows fast, free floating installation.

The durability and performance of the Gerflor sports flooring at Huddersfield has proven to be a crucial element in the ongoing delivery to its users. Speaking two years after its installation, Nettleton commented: “The Taraflex floor is proving to be very durable and still looks as good as new.

“Feedback from students and staff at the university about the flooring has been very positive, which would suggest we got this purchase just right."

WIDE Product RANGE
ProFIT28 is a ‘new concept’ fitness and wellbeing centre based at Westbourne House in Leeds. Their approach in only accepting and providing the best performing products was a perfect fit for Gerflor.

William Ramsay, CEO of ProFIT28 fitness and wellbeing centre, said: “We chose Gerflor and Connor Sports products because they delivered the best aesthetic impact and longer maintenance-free life”.

For the impact areas on the second floor and ground floor, the centre chose Connor Sports Powerdek fleck rubber (Gerflor acquired Connor Sports in 2014), while Gerflor’s Taraflex® Sport M Evolution was specified for the first floor fitness studio. Ramsay said: “Taraflex® provided us with a floor that offered great impact resistance without losing room height. Our fitness class instructors said it’s one of the best floors they’ve taught on."

For the reception, they chose Gerflor’s highly innovative Creation 70 LVT flooring. The Creation 70 range offers a new palette of realistic wood and mineral finishes in tile and plank formats with bevelled edges. The loose-lay Clic system’s unique vertical interlocking format also allows it to be laid quickly over most existing surfaces.

The first floor changing rooms required a flooring that was both safe in dry and wet environments, so the centre chose Gerflor’s Tarasafe™ Ultra H2O. Intended for barefoot spaces where there are continuous wet areas, Tarasafe™ Ultra H2O also offers a shod solution. It is rated Grade C in the barefoot ramp test – the best possible – and >36 in the wet pendulum test. It also scored R11 in the slip resistance wet shod test.

Ramsay concluded: “We selected Gerflor flooring for their range, service and quality of the products and we would certainly choose them again”.