Floors Magazine Floors Magazine June / July 2014 | Page 50
Airport grows with the help of BAL
Major tiling work at London Southend Airport is being completed with the
exclusive use of BAL adhesives and grouts. The tiling is being carried out
within a signification expansion project, which has included a new control
tower, new railway station, extended runway and new departure terminal. The
tiling is being carried out by a team of eight skilled fixers from Elite Tiling
Ltd. of Chelmsford.
The first phase of the development, the Departures Concourse, was finished
last year. Work is continuing on Phase 2, which includes the ground and first
floor of the Arrivals Concourse, catering zone, and the queuing and central
search areas.
More than 5,500 m2 of floor tiles are to be laid throughout the extension,
including the new departure lounge. The porcelain tiles have been supplied
by Solus Ceramics, of Birmingham. The products specified for fixing these
are BAL Supercover Rapid Flex adhesive, in grey, and BAL Superflex Wide
Joint grout. The floor tiles are being laid onto power floated concrete, a
hard-wearing substrate often specified for high-traffic areas. The fixers
prepare the surface for tiling with BAL Prime APD.
A further 300 m2 of white gloss tiles are being supplied by Ceramic Tiles,
of Ipswich. They have been specified for the walls of toilet facilities, both for
customers and for airside staff. These are being fixed with BAL White Star
plus ready-mixed adhesive and grouted with BAL Grout, in white. The team
is also fixing both treads and risers on staircases.
Gary Bude, managing director of Elite Tiling, explained that BAL involvement
in the project went well beyond supplying the adhesives and grouts. “BAL
was more of a partner than a supplier,” he said. “BAL’s Mark Dove was on
site with me long before the start, examining the job and going through the
requirements. Working with his colleagues in Stoke, he then delivered the full
formal M40 specification for the job. He was back on site for the first day of
the project and visited again while the work continued, just to make sure that
there were no issues or concerns. We could not have asked for more.”
Gary Bude said, “Like most professionals, I have worked with BAL products
for years and know that their performance can be trusted. It is always helpful
when a single product has the versatility for use throughout a project, as was
the case here with both the adhesive and the grout.”