Saint-Gobain Weber Flooring System For London Film Museum, Covent Garden

Published by Jackie Biggin for Weber in Communities

Products from the extensive Saint-Gobain Weber range of commercial and architectural flooring products have been used in the newly refurbished Flower Cellars building inLondon’sCovent Garden.  The developed building, which has been empty for over three years, on the corner ofRussell Street andWellington Street, London WC2, is owned by Capital and Counties Properties PLC (Capco).  This dramatic space will become a new cultural concept for theLondonFilmMuseum and theLondon home of the internationally acclaimed restaurant Balthazar.

The floor system build to the exhibition areas, workshops, conference centre, restaurant and bars, and the vaulted entrance to the cloakroom facilities, covers 1700m² of floor space.  Architects KPF, Kohn Pederson Fox Associates International,London, worked with; main contractor Ellmer Construction, a specialist in high quality fit out and refurbishment projects; and Neonclass of Basildon, Essex, designer and flooring systems applicators, to carry out the work to a demanding schedule.

weber.floor 4955 db mat has been installed across the entire floor space and covered with weber.floor 4310 fibre flow levelling screed which together act as an acoustic barrier against impact noise transmission in this heavy footfall location.  weber.floor 4310 fibre flow was pump applied to an average thickness of 50mm.  This fibre-modified screed is formulated from special cements, aggregates, binders and admixtures and is designed for the renovation of existing floors including floating floor construction in domestic and commercial applications.

Two coats of resin primer and aggregate blind broadcast has been topped with weber.floor 4635 design ground stone.  This design floor concept opens up new horizons for architects and designers aiming to achieve a striking dimension to an interior floor screed which is both long-lasting and low maintenance.

“We then ground and polished with dust free vacuum facilities and finished with three coats of stain seal to achieve a really high shine,” says Mike Maslen, Neonclass.  “The work was carried out in stages alongside other trades over a tight 14-week period and everyone is extremely impressed with the results which look striking against areas of strong lighting which are complemented with softly lit areas.”

The service corridors and plant rooms, some 800m² of floor area, were all pumped and installed to 40mm level with weber.floor 4360 base flow rapid. This fast drying, fibre modified base screed was then topped with a hard-wearing finish of 10-15mm of weber.floor 4610 industry top industrial screed, and then sealed.

As Capco continues to evolve Covent Garden into a world-class retail and dining district, the newLondonFilmMuseuminCovent Gardenwill be an exciting addition to the successful existing location on the Southbank.  It will be dedicated to a behind-the-scenes look at cinema, TV and theatre, as well as providing educational and production facilities.

The arrival of the new Balthazar restaurant heralds anotherUKfirst for Covent Garden as this will be the only Balthazar outside ofManhattan.  It will be run by Caprice Holdings, owner of iconic restaurants including The Ivy and Scott’s. Covent Garden was awarded the accolade ofLondon’s Best Gastronomic Experience in the 2010 Visit London People’s Choice Awards.

For more information about Saint-Gobain Weber flooring systems, please call 08703 330070, or 028 9335 2999 in Northern Ireland, or visit www.netweber.co.uk.  Alternatively a free download of the new weber.app for iPhone and iPad users is available from the iTunes app store.  Helpful technical data, product features and benefits, calculations, problem solving and application video are included to help specifiers, contractors and applicators make product specification and purchasing decisions quickly and accurately.