Glasgow Kelvin College, the city’s newest higher education facility and home to around 20,000 students, was established in 2013, through the merger of three existing colleges in the city – Stow College, North Glasgow College and John Wheatley College.
Bringing together the expertise, skills, creativity, ambition and genuine student-focussed support of these three legacy organisations, Glasgow Kelvin College is able to deliver exceptional learning experiences for its students.
Offering National Qualifications, through Higher Nationals, right up to degree level qualifications, Glasgow Kelvin College prides itself on delivering real opportunities in a practical and grounded way, describing its learning resources and facilities as ‘second to none with our campus buildings boasting exceptional student-focused amenities and services’.
No exception to this is the college’s East End Campus, a purpose-built higher education facility with learning spaces surrounding its main atrium. Featuring a coffee and snack kiosk, relaxed seating and dining areas, the light-filled, double height concourse branches off to the building’s classrooms and practical hands-on teaching areas, as well as enclosing the campus’ sensory garden.
Since the campus opened in 2013, grey, square, stone tiles have adorned the atrium’s floor, becoming cracked and unsafe over the years. The porous nature of stone tiles, as well as their grout lines, makes them notoriously difficult to clean and maintain, leaving a drab, stained finish despite a thorough and regular cleaning schedule.
Because the area features underfloor heating under the stone tiles, it was critical to choose a flooring system that would withstand the minimum surface temperature of 27°C to accommodate the natural thermal conductivity of stone, without compromising the warming capacity of the system.
Considering the previously cracked finish and to avoid future issues occurring, a suitably flexible flooring system to accommodate thermal expansion and contraction would be critical.
Guided by the expertise of Vebro Polymers’ Specification team, vebrospeed Flake, in the swatch Black Magic, was chosen to refresh the space. Installed directly over the prepared tiles with a flexible MMA membrane to accommodate for the heated substrate’s movement, the system has delivered a smooth, safe finish that breathes life back into the atrium and complements the impressive architecture of the building.
Installed over the college’s half-term break, the atrium was transformed and ready for use in under a week — including the preparation of the existing tiles, before welcoming students back to the newly refreshed campus.
Installed at Glasgow Kelvin College by Veitchi Flooring, vebrospeed Flake is a highly decorative and durable UV-stable flooring system based on ultra-fast-curing MMA (methyl methacrylate) resin technology and best suited to use in high traffic areas that require a new or replacement floor finish under a fast turnaround.
The 2.0 – 4.0 mm MMA flooring system comprises a fast-cure flexible primer that is scattered with vebro Natural Quartz to create a textured finish that allows for excellent adhesion of the body coat – a combination of vebro MMA Binder, vebro MMA Pigment and vebro MMA Filler – that is then blinded with vebro Coloured Flake Blends before being left to cure and finished with a fast cure, clear silk seal coat (vebro MMA Seal).
The FeRFA Type 4 flooring system’s ability to withstand heavy footfall makes vebrospeed Flake an ideal choice for the primary concourse of a busy education facility such as Glasgow Kelvin College’s East End Campus.
The leading authority for over 50 years on resin flooring systems, FeRFA has led the way in promoting the benefits of resin flooring as a high-performance solution for industrial and commercial applications, as well as taking a leading role in developing national and international standards for resin flooring, screeding and surface preparation.
Typically, FeRFA Type 4 systems consist of multiple layers, including a base coat, a wear layer and a sealer with the base layer providing adhesion to the substrate, the wear layer giving the floor its durability and the sealer protecting the floor from dirt, moisture and other contaminants.
Not only is the system resistant to a wide range of cleaning chemicals and detergents, vebrospeed Flake is seamlessly applied, using feathered day joints where necessary, to deliver an easy-to-clean surface free of grout lines where dirt and bacteria can build up. Not only does this create a more hygienic environment in the atrium, an area where students often frequent for lunch, but this also allows the college to maintain an attractive, welcoming atmosphere where the floor is clean, bright, and free from stains.
Also exhibiting excellent UV resistance, the fast-cure multi-layered system resists yellowing over time, further contributing to the continued aesthetic appeal of the overall space.
Glasgow Kelvin College has a clear goal to reduce its carbon footprint and is a proud signatory of the Race to Zero Commitment for Colleges and Universities. The ability to install vebrospeed Flake directly over the prepared existing floor tiles means the entire atrium could be transformed with minimal waste being sent to landfill.
Veitchi Flooring has been at the heart of the UK flooring industry since 1917, providing flooring solutions for many clients with a variety of needs. With Headquarters in Glasgow and offices in Dundee & Aberdeen, the company is well placed to cater to clients throughout the UK.
Vebro Polymers and Veitchi Flooring have established a strong partnership, delivering impressive flooring installations for a growing number of institutional, commercial and industrial clients, including Ministry of Defence, PD Hook (Hatcheries) and Peel Farm Organic Butchers.
