The Trafford Youth Service in Manchester works with and on behalf of young people aged 13-19.
They offer advice, personal support as well as exciting opportunities to be involved in arts, music, outdoor activities and a variety of community based projects. It’s a community ‘fix’ that’s delivering hope to the young people of the area.
The Old Trafford Youth Centre on St Hilda’s Road, Manchester is just a ten-minute stroll from Manchester United’s football ground.
The client, Trafford Borough Council wanted a warm, easy to maintain, comfortable floor for a multi-use area in the centre which could be used as a nursery during the day, as well as hosting a number of other activities such as sports at other times.
Jill Carding, Head Practioner at The Old Trafford Youth Centre commented: “We have sixteen members of staff in the centre every day, with forty to fifty families using our facilities every week. We regularly see a decent level of footfall and having suitable flooring in the centre is a must for us.”
This challenging remit would suit Gerflor’s Taraflex Multi-Use 6.2 perfectly. Trafford Borough Council already use Gerflor’s popular Taralay products in their Primary Schools and Community Centres throughout the Borough, so they were already extremely confident in specifying Gerflor products for this latest project.
The contracting challenge would fall to Stockport-based HVB Flooring. Their extensive knowledge of flooring materials and excellent working relationships with the world’s top manufacturers like Gerflor, offers their customers access to a variety of contract and decorative flooring solutions. And the specification of Gerflor’s Taraflex Multi-Use 6.2 was a flooring solution that HVB had used on many occasions.
Taraflex has been used in every summer Olympics since 1976 and is available in 17 colours and two wood-effect designs. While wooden floors are ‘area elastic’, deemed safe for certain types of impact and loading, other impacts, particular for lighter weight users such as exercise classes are uncomfortable due to the hard surface. Taraflex’s ‘point elastic’ flooring has a higher comfort factor than ‘area elastic’ floors and reduces the risk and severity of injuries.
Taraflex Multi-Use 6.2 also has P1 category shock absorption with indentation resistance two times greater than required by EN Standard 14904, an abrasion resistance three times the Standard’s requirement and excellent resistance to static and rolling heavy loads providing 25% to 35% of shock absorption. Also the double fibreglass grid helps to give better dimensional stability which means it’s less likely to expand or contract too much despite any potential temperature fluctuations. It also has much better dimensional stability allowing the material to be loose-laid as many adhesives are unable to cope with temperature differences.
As highlighted by the Old Trafford Youth Centre project, Gerflor have flooring solutions for all types of installation, from nurseries to secondary schools, together with social and community centres. It’s a total flooring solution that offers value, longevity, low maintenance and real safety.
Taraflex Multi Use 6.2 is extremely easy to keep clean, maintain and is also very hygienic, meeting the EN Standard of 22196 for anti- bacterial activity (E. coli - S. aureus - MRSA) (3) returning >99% levels of growth inhibition. The product is also treated with Protecsol, which renders polish redundant. Taraflex™ has a double density foam backing and as another bonus, it’s environmentally friendly.
Jill Carding finally commented: “We really like our new Gerflor flooring. It performs well, is easy to clean and maintain and is a real hit with all our centre visitors.”
