Floor and building protection solutions company Polyflor South Africa (SA) has refurbished the 950 m2 domestic departure lounge of Lanseria International Airport, conveniently located between Johannesburg and Pretoria, in Gauteng, into an attractive and functional space that is in line with international airports, using its Expona commercial luxury vinyl tile (LVT).

Lanseria operations deputy executive manager Trevor Teegler says the decision was made to revamp the lounge to enhance the comfort and experience of the airport’s increasing number of passengers.

“We originally had heavy-duty, commercial nylon carpet tiles installed in the lounge area. However, with the increase in foot traffic, the tiles soon began to look old and worn. Even with our regular maintenance and cleaning efforts, the floors no longer matched the modern-looking, clean image we were introducing in the rest of the airport. It was time to literally rip up the old and bring in the new,” Teegler adds.

Polyflor SA CEO Tandy Coleman explains that, when selecting a floor for a busy commercial area such as that of an airport, several important aspects need to be taken into consideration: “Aesthetics aside, a floor must be able to withstand heavy foot traffic and abuse by suitcases and trolley wheels”.

Such a floor must also be able to reduce or dampen noise levels and keep passengers on their feet by being slip-resistant.

Further, owing to the terminal building having been built around a steel structure, it was important to select a floor that would allow for a degree of flexibility and movement. Polyflor’s Expona commercial wood polyurethane reactive (PUR) LVT in the vibrant wood effect wild teak ticked all the boxes.

“We selected Polyflor to be our flooring partners in this refurbishment project because we were impressed with its product offering, expertise and record of successful installations in similar high-traffic areas and its willingness to partner with us every step of the way,” Teegler confirms.

Coleman states that, as part of Polyflor SA’s PolyCare service offering, the company has undertaken to do a quarterly maintenance inspection, at no extra cost, alongside management and the maintenance teams at the airport. She adds that regular wear-and-tear floor inspections will be performed to ensure proper cleaning and maintenance.

She applauds the selection of a floor and layout that is practical and bends space from a psychological perspective. “The end-result was a floor that is warm and welcoming, yet modern and upmarket. The feedback we have received from management and passengers is that they are extremely happy with the new look and performance of the floor.”

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Polyflor SA launched its colourful, homogenous flooring collection range, the Palettone PUR, at the Melrose Arch Gallery in Sandton, Johannesburg, in July.

“We were inspired by this range’s beautiful palette of colours and felt that an artistic, colourful environment, such as an art gallery, would be the ideal setting to introduce this new range of floors to our clients, sales staff and the media,” says Coleman.

In choosing colours for Palettone, the Polyflor product design team started with 200 colours. However, taking all its research into account and focusing on colours that stem from nature, it eventually settled on seven colour palettes comprising a total of 50 shades that includes classic neutrals, soothing pastels and daring brights.

She explains that the 50 shades have a matte surface with a PUR coating for easy maintenance and are available in a 2 m × 20 m sheet format. About 12 of these shades are available in 608 mm × 608 mm tiles and six are available in static dissipative sheet specification for use in areas where static control is required, such as in telecommunications installations, computer rooms and electronic manufacturing, as well as healthcare facilities, such as scanner rooms, X-ray suites and operating theatres.