Bespoke Sphera floor designs for mother and baby unit  

Health Fri, Jun 1, 2018 11:11 AM

Calming colours and patterns have helped to create a special environment for mothers and babies at Glan Clwyd Hospital.

Forbo Flooring Systems’ new Sphera Element has been specified throughout the Mother and Baby Unit, due to its bright and fresh appearance, high-performance and durability.

Easy to work with, the Sphera sheets were laid throughout the unit and hand cut to shape to create a beautiful butterfly designs.

When specialist healthcare designers, IBI Group, were tasked with designing the hospital unit, they created a proposal that would bring the outside in with a design inspired by nature.

Cristina Tegolo, designer at IBI Group, who designed the ward said: “The unit is for mothers and their babies that are born sick or premature, from 27 weeks to Term and therefore in need of hospital care. Because of this, we of course needed to create a sense of calm and warmth. We created the butterfly flooring design to complement the wall art, which is a forest-like scene of trees and the hospital really loved it.

“I had previously been introduced to Forbo’s new Sphera collection and its ability to be cut into shapes to create bespoke designs, so it was the perfect choice for the project. We opted for a plain and clean looking base colour, Mortar, then for the various butterflies we chose Teal, a mustard-like shade Amber and Yellow Green, a bright green colour.”

These colours were chosen for the butterfly pattern due to them having serene connotations flowing throughout the corridors and into the equipment rooms, acting as an aesthetically pleasing wayfinding tool.

The first of three brand new homogeneous vinyls to be produced in Forbo’s new custom built £17m factory, Sphera Element is long lasting, as the SMART-top (Sustainable, Modern, Advanced, Robust Technology) surface finish ensures that it has a high resistance to chemicals, scratches and stains – perfect for a hospital environment, which will experience heavy footfall and wheeled traffic. It also delivers bright and saturated hues, resulting in striking colour tones, many with high light reflection values (LRV). Moreover, it can contribute to a healthy indoor environment, thanks to its phthalate free manufacturing and low emissions.

Forbo’s Eternal Wood was also installed in the cot rooms in the natural shade Limed Oak, complementing the nature inspired theme of the ward, with bright coloured Sphera butterflies laid on top pinpointing the numbered cot bay stations.

Andy Currie, Senior Project Manager at Active Flooring, who installed the flooring throughout the ward, said: “The feedback we have had from those working on the job was that the installation was great and there were no problems at all. I am really happy with the overall result – the bespoke graphics look brilliant!”

Mandi Cook, Neonatal Service Manager at Glan Clwyd said: “The families and staff like the flooring and the graphics within it as it helps to carry the theme of butterflies throughout the unit. It helps to give a bright cheerful atmosphere within the clinical areas. The flooring cleans easily which is of benefit as a light colour has been used in the corridor, which gets a lot of footfall. The areas with limed oak look very attractive and have received the most positive comments.”

In association with Forbo Flooring Systems


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High Holborn Road
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3NT
United Kingdom
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