Altro resin flooring and wall cladding have been installed at the Union Jack Club in London, to bring the kitchen up to date and improve productivity and quality.
Opened in 1907, The Union Jack Club is a private members club for serving and ex-serving military personnel of Her Majesty's Armed Forces. The club is a charity and aims to provide comfortable and affordable London-based accommodation for non-commissioned service personnel.
It can accommodate 400 people in 290 rooms, which range from single rooms to flats. The facilities also include restaurants, 12 private banqueting rooms, use of a gym and library. In 2011 the Union Jack Club accommodated 105,000 people and expects to exceed this in 2012.
The club’s kitchens have recently undergone a refurbishment to combine two working areas spread over two floors into one more practical working kitchen, to improve efficiency, productivity and the quality of the service.
John McCarthy, of Genie Interiors Limited which installed the Altro products, said: “The kitchen was too small and out of date, having been installed in 1975, and there were two working areas, which wasn’t very efficient, so we expanded the kitchen and merged everything on to one floor.
“We laid down 100m2 of Altro SoloSafeTM resin flooring with decorative quartz in the colour Clyde, an attractive blue. We ground the floor to establish a good key, uplifted the existing slab and laid the floor in just one week.
“Altro SoloSafe is the best product of its kind on the market in my view. It’s a great hygienic solution, quick drying, very hardwearing and it looks good, too. We also received very good technical support and back-up from Altro during this project. Their resin department came out to view the site and advise us on how to deliver the best result. We have a very good working relationship with them.”
Altro SoloSafe is a slip-resistant, easy to clean, decorative three-part solvent-free epoxy resin screed, incorporating Rapicure technology. This fast-cure, low-odour screed is ideal for a wide variety of areas where speed of installation and rapid return to service are essential.
The inherent slip resistance of Altro SoloSafe is effective in both barefoot and shoed environments, while remaining hygienic and easy to clean.
Genie Interiors Limited also installed 200m2 of Altro WhiterockTM hygienic wall cladding in the kitchen. Altro Whiterock is a cost-effective sheet extruded from a high quality, food safe PVCu polymer for operating temperatures up to 60oC. It is easy to clean, impact-resistant and grout-free. It meets all current EU Directives on health and hygiene.
Head Chef Martin Koch and his brigade of 12 chefs are now happily installed in their new kitchen. Martin said: “The new floor looks great and it’s so easy to clean; we brush it and wash it with soapy water twice a day. It also gives superb grip underfoot, even when the floor is wet.
“We have used Altro Whiterock wall cladding here in the past and it is a very reliable product; smart to look at and easy to keep clean.”