Forbo Flooring System’s Nuway Tuftiguard entrance matting system has been installed in phase one of the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street train station, to help minimise the risk of slips and trips.
Accommodating over 140, 000 passengers embarking on journeys from the station everyday - making it the busiest interchange station in the UK - the demand to keep the thousands of visitors safe was of utmost importance.
The development of the brand new Birmingham New Street train station will transform the original 1960s building into a thriving transport hub, featuring the new shopping centre Grand Central with John Lewis as the main store. The station sees everyday commuters rush in and out of the station entrance doors to catch a train or browse the shops on offer before their journeys. With the enormous floor space at Birmingham New Street station, consisting of its many platforms and concourse space, safety is the main priority.
The refurbishment project required a heavy duty entrance barrier matting system that could remove dirt and moisture from the soles of shoes - a crucial requirement to protect travellers from accidents and help maintain the appearance of the interior floor coverings.
The heavy and frequent traffic throughout the station includes wheeled vehicles and heavy suitcases, so another key requirement for the flooring was its load bearing capabilities. It also had to meet the guidelines of the Equality Act in terms of providing easy access for passengers with reduced mobility.
Alan James, Contracts Director at SDS Matting, an approved Forbo Entrance Systems Specialist Installer (FESSI), said: “We have installed a large number of Forbo’s products over the years and because of this we were confident that its range of entrance matting systems would meet the high performance characteristics required, in terms of slip resistance, durability and strength. The client, Network Rail, also required a 13 year warranty*, so for these reasons, Forbo Flooring System’s Nuway Tuftiguard entrance matting system was specified.”
Nuway Tuftiguard has the durability and strength to perform under very heavy traffic conditions, as well as having the ability to remove high levels of soil, thanks to its scraper bars and wiper strips – which can be assembled in either an open or closed construction, to give the mat its structural integrity and superior load bearing capacity.
The engineered product is able to cope with the worst of the soil and moisture tracked in on the soles of shoes or wheeled vehicles. What’s more, as Nuway Tuftiguard is specifically designed to withstand heavy static and dynamic loads and has a level surface for ease of movement of wheeled vehicles and luggage, it proved ideal for the installation.
Alan concluded: “As the entrance matting system was a bespoke and complex, curved design, Forbo supplied CAD drawings to ensure that the installation went smoothly and to minimise any product waste – making our job and the installation a lot easier and quicker.
“It fits the brief aesthetically and, with its thousands of visitors and the many contractors on site working on the redevelopment, it has been performing better than we had expected.”