From cities to small towns to suburban corridors, innovation spaces are transforming the landscape. Over the past 10 years, these spaces such as offices have grown at a considerable pace across the United Kingdom and globally.
Providing an environment that’s as sexy as it is functional is a challenge facing a host of employers as they seek to provide an ‘all encompassing’ fun space for their workers and visitors to enjoy. With the continually improving economy and unemployment at a 16-year old low, the competition in the recruitment business is a fierce as ever and having an edge is paramount in securing both staff and top-flight candidates. It is no secret that where you work influences how you think.
The Recruit 121 Group is an innovative staffing, sourcing and training consultancy in Cardiff providing highly specialised services and solutions for their candidates and clients. When Recruit 121 decided to move between floors within their existing building, (Capital Tower) in central Cardiff, they saw this as a chance to devise a unique space where they could work as well as play. The project would also have to include flooring that could work for a solicitor’s office who were sharing the same floor in the building. The concept would therefore need an interior design company who could create and deliver the project using only the best products and materials. The challenge to design and complete this task would fall to Cardiff-based D&G Office Interiors who would in turn specify some utterly stunning products from international flooring specialist Gerflor for the kitchen and dining areas of the project.
D&G Office interiors are one of Wale’s top commercial furniture and fit out companies. Formed in 1994 they are still a family owned and run enterprise. They are backed by a dedicated team of installation experts, delivering a host of quality, design-led office solutions throughout the UK.
Michelle Sheppard, Interior Designer for D&G Office Interiors commented, “we already had an existing relationship with the client and decided to specify Gerflor’s Taralay Impression Compact in Herringbone Chatain”. She went on to add, “there were two companies based on the same floor and we wanted to accommodate them both within one design scheme. One was a solicitors practice who had a requirement to be corporate and conservative, whereas the second, a recruitment company wanted to create a bold area that could stand out and provide their staff with a fun and stimulating break-out space. We felt like the herringbone look of Gerflor’s Taralay Impression Compact flooring could easily adapt to both schemes to provide us with some versatility throughout the floor space”.
The International Design Awards (IDA) is a set of ‘Design Oscars’ that truly celebrates the original and the best work in any given creative field. Therefore, it’s no surprise that last year saw Gerflor’s Taralay Impression vinyl heterogeneous flooring collection scoop a bronze award in the prestigious IDA product category.
The current collection heterogeneous flooring displays a wide palette of 21 designs and 83 colours. It’s an amazing array of choices conducive to creating tailor-made spaces; from classical to contemporary and bright, or welcoming and warm. This collection is a cornucopia of beautiful designs welded to incredible levels of performance, easier long-lasting maintenance and now with a new patented surface treatment. The latest enhanced matt and embossed designs across the ranges now deliver incredibly realistic effects that are producing some simply stunning results.
The Taralay Impression range is a multi-purpose vinyl heterogeneous flooring available in 2m sheet format with a Group T wear rating. It’s ideal for a host of heavy traffic environments where at least R10 slip resistance is a requirement. The Taralay Impression heterogeneous flooring range is also equipped with the brand new Protecsol® 2, patented surface treatment from Gerflor obtained by UV laser cross-linking. This treatment avoids applying any acrylic emulsion throughout the lifetime of the product saving on cleaning time and money as it reduces water and detergent consumption. Taralay Impression Compact heterogeneous flooring by D&G Office Interiors comprises a compacted backing reinforced with glass fibre and has a printed design protected by a transparent wear layer 0.70mm thick. It also offers 8dB sound insulation and indentation resistance of 0.03mm.
The Herringbone design within the Taralay Impression wood effect range chosen by Michelle Sheppard plays with exquisite chevron patterns superimposed on a parquet effect for a new visual approach to wood and is perfectly in tune with the modern “tattoo” trends we see today. In design terms it was a perfect fit for the Recruit 121 project. Michelle Sheppard went on to further say, “this product provides the durability the project required but we mainly chose it because it’s very modern and eye-catching. It’s totally different from the ‘standard’ vinyl flooring”.
Michelle Sheppard ended by saying, “I adored the way the Gerflor floor looked and would definitely use the product again. The client loved the whole scheme and especially the break out area where the Gerflor flooring was installed. I would definitely specify it again”.
Learn more about Gerflor solutions, ask for a free sample or contact us to speak to a specialist today by calling 01926 622 600, emailing contractuk@gerflor.com, or visiting gerflor.co.uk for the latest innovations.