St Bede's College is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational school for children from 3–18 based in Manchester. Established in 1876, the college was originally located along Manchester’s historic Oxford Road before relocating a year later to its present site near Chorlton. The college has over the years extended the existing buildings, to improve its facilities and provide educational opportunities for 3-18-year olds.
St Bede’s actively encourages its pupils to be confident and modest young people in keeping with the school’s core values – humanity, compassion and empathy for others, of which it is steadfastly proud. In keeping with these values, the school aims to provide pupils with the opportunities needed in which to flourish. As with most schools and colleges these days, sport and fitness working in tandem with academia play a major part of a child’s self-development, and at St Bede’s College this ethos is no different.
When it was decided to replace the existing flooring in the main sports hall at St Bede’s the aspects of quality, performance and durability took centre stage. The hall is used for multiple sports activities across a broad range of age groups which include basketball, netball, badminton and table tennis, together with a host of indoor fitness pursuits. The new surface also needed to be multi-purpose in order to be able to host exams and school functions, so therefore needed to withstand varied usage and heavy traffic. The College turned to international flooring specialist Gerflor to supply 590m2 of its world renowned Taraflex® Performance vinyl sports flooring in Gold and Blue to provide the high performing, multi-use solution it was seeking.
Noel McGoff, Site Manager, St Bede’s College commented, “Simon Miller the Assistant Site Manger and I chose Gerflor flooring on the recommendation of our contractors Recreational Coatings Limited. The existing floor was very old, and in fact was the wrong type of floor for the location and usage. Replacing it with Taraflex® Performance from Gerflor was the perfect choice as it provided a durable, high performance, safe floor for the range of uses we have today and is a vast improvement on what we had.”
Stockport-based Recreational Coatings Limited has over 30 years’ experience of installing sports surfaces in Olympic, Commonwealth, World and European events throughout the UK and beyond. Jed Hill, its Managing Director said, “with a strong reputation to uphold, the College entrusted our team here at Recreational Coatings Limited to replace the existing floor with a new, high-performance surface.” Jed Hill added, “the College had knowledge of local Taraflex® installations through playing sport against other schools. Gerflor’s Taraflex® Performance vinyl sports flooring ticked all the boxes for its sport and multi-use requirements. Taraflex® Performance vinyl sports flooring can be specified for a wide range of applications including most kinds of sports and leisure activities.
It has excellent safety and performance qualities, as well as vibrant colours and wood designs to make it ideal for a vast array of areas. Taraflex® Performance can also be customised with logos, team names and, as in the case of St Bede’s, the college name and badge.
The Taraflex® sports flooring range from Gerflor has been used by the largest international sports federations (volleyball, handball, badminton, table tennis) for decades. Through partnerships with these federations Gerflor has been present at the Summer Olympic Games since 1976. The Taraflex® range offers sensibly priced solutions for every level of performance and it is widely recognised and used within the education, community, leisure and health and fitness sectors.
On the refurbishment challenges that faced St Bede’s College Noel McGoff went on to say, “The major consideration for us was to be able to re-open the College for the start of the September term. The College hall is used for a variety of sports and College occasions; therefore, a quick and effective installation was crucial.”
Taraflex® Performance is available in 17 colours and 3 wood-effect designs as standard with an addition 110 solid colour options available with a 500sqm minimum order quantity. It offers a P2 category shock absorbency of 35% to 45%. and is recognised for providing durability, safety and comfort without impairing performance. Taraflex® Performance is treated with the Triple Action Protecsol® surface treatment, which means no polish is ever required. It contributes to easy maintenance and is anti-friction burn whilst maximising both slide and grip. Taraflex® Performance is an ideal solution for renovation works as it’s available with the Dry-Tex™ System perfect for new construction or refurbishment projects with damp subfloors.
Jed Hill ended by commenting, “this was one of our more challenging installations due to subsidence and sub floor issues. Gerflor’s Taraflex® Performance sports flooring was the easiest and smoothest element of the installation.”
Noel McGoff concluded by saying, “all the staff and pupils are delighted with the new Taraflex® flooring, it is vibrant and comfortable to play sports on. We would have no hesitation in choosing Gerflor sports floorings 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.