Hatfield Business Park, Herts

F Ball products provide high performance floor finish for pharmaceutical company


F. Ball’s high performance Stopgap subfloor preparation products and Styccobond adhesives have been specified as part of a £100 million investment at Hatfield Business Park, Hertfordshire. Meeting the varied flooring demands for the office space and research laboratories, F. Ball’s products ensured a smooth, high performance floor finish was achieved. Developed by main contractors, Walter Lilly, the facilities at Hatfield form the new European headquarters for pharmaceutical company, Eisai Ltd.

Prior to the installation of floor preparation products at Hatfield Business Park, flooring contractors, Shedon Interiors Ltd. carried out extensive moisture testing on the concrete subfloor. As the testing indicated a relative humidity of 90-95%, a Stopgap waterproof surface membrane, was applied to a 3,500m2 area of the absorbent concrete subfloor.

Following the application of Stopgap P131 primer, Stopgap 300 HD was installed in the office space and laboratories to ensure a smooth finish for the final floorcoverings. A water mix, fast-drying smoothing underlayment, Stopgap 300 is ideal for heavy-duty interior flooring areas. Shedon Interiors Ltd. trowel-applied a 4mm thick layer of Stopgap 300 to the floor, using a spike roller to achieve a smooth, uniform finish.

Paul Grayling, director at Shedon Interiors Ltd., comments: “Stopgap 300 was ideal for Hatfield Business Park. As a water-based smoothing underlayment, the product has excellent self-smoothing characteristics, saving us valuable time during the application process. We were particularly impressed with the smooth and even finish created by Stopgap 300 in the large laboratory areas. From our experience of using F. Ball’s subfloor preparation products and flooring adhesives, they always deliver on ease of use and performance.”

In the 2,000m2 of laboratory space, a Polyflor Finesse anti-static floorcovering was installed onto the smoothing underlayment using Styccobond F57 adhesive. Designed to give a high-bond strength and good plasticiser resistance, Styccobond F57 is a solvent-free acrylic conductive adhesive, with a strong initial tack and a long open time for ease of application of vinyl floorcoverings.

Completing the flooring at the development, InterfaceFLOR Transformation loop pile carpet tiles were fitted in the 1,000m2 of office space using Styccobond F41 Carpet Tile Tackifier. Applied directly onto the Stopgap 300 smoothing underlayment, Styccobond F41 is a non-flammable, solvent-free emulsion adhesive. Designed to provide a permanently tacky film, Styccobond F41 prevents the movement of loose lay carpet tiles while allowing the tiles to be lifted and replaced easily without remedial work.