We had the pleasure of being involved in the design and installation of floorcoverings throughout a new 60 bed care home project in Newark.

The new building comprised of a range of beautiful apartments for people aged over sixty, made up of 48 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom homes, as well as extra facilities such as a beauty room with hairdressers and a cafeteria. Forty of the sixty apartments were occupied by residents who have been identified by Nottinghamshire County Council as suitable for the accommodation. The remaining twenty apartments were opened to applications from Newark and Sherwood Homes.

The £8 million facility was purposely designed to be dementia-friendly, meaning no two corridors are the same. Some corridors are differentiated by feature walls, with themed vinyl wall coverings of historical pictures and images, such as Southwell or the River Trent. This provides residents with a trip down memory lane, whilst also helping to navigate around the building.

The features of the building were carefully selected to help residents live independently, but with access to 24-hour support. These include designated charging spaces for mobility scooters, level access wet rooms, assisted bathing rooms, guest suites and underfloor heating.

We had five months to fit over 4000m² of floorcoverings. This involved applying layers of damp proof membrane and latex screeding works. The first two floors of bedrooms and corridors were carpeted with vinyl works to the kitchens and level access showers. The upper floor bedrooms were fully vinyled with a wood effect finish. The main central hubs within the building had a more bespoke finish with a mixture of carpet, vinyl, luxury vinyl tiles and planks.

Each wing and level had its own colour scheme to go along with the dementia-friendly interior and so different carpet choices had to be synchronised and detailed cutting plans produced.

Our management and installation teams really got to work on this project and coordinated the installation in a timely and efficient manner. We were extremely pleased with the results, as were the client, where quality in the work really shone through.

We had the privilege of working on a project on the redevelopment of Brookfield Campus at the University of Leicester, this included a complete refurbishment of the existing building as well as a new build extension. The original Brookfield House, located at the site is a historic building for the university as it was the original home to the benefactor of the university, Thomas Fielding Johnson. It is the new home for the university’s School of Business and is situated only 10 minutes away from the main campus and is close to the student village of Oadby.  

This was a large scheme to work with and totalled approx. £15.8 million, one of the university staff members have stated that this project was particularly special in order to bring a new lease of life back into Brookfield house and create an excellent environment for the students as well as the community as a whole. As it is located within the Stoneygate Conservation area, all precautions and planning were set out carefully and designed to respond to this in an appropriate manner. 

The new extension and refurbishment of Brookfield house included a new Harvard-style lecture theatre and state-of-the-art learning and teaching spaces. We worked with over 2,500m² of different materials across both buildings, including carpet tiles, LVT and safety flooring. There were three floors to work on and we had to make sure we completed all the works within the given timescale and before the deadline when the students would return and the site would be opening.  

The new seminar rooms consisted of an Interface carpet plank, which had a striped pattern and had a variety of different colours. We laid this planks in a herringbone pattern and made sure the colours and position of the planks was in strict accordance with the clients wishes. We also had some pattern work in the communal office area on the first and second floor. This was completed using the composure tile from Interface which consists of different coloured tiles being connected using a separate ‘Edge’ tile which fades the two colours together and gives a seamless connection between the two. This was used to separate the academic offices into the shared area. The rest of the office spaces were covered using the Composure tile as well and made up the majority of the works.  

The new lecture theatre was also completed using the Composure tile and we had to make sure that it was fitted smoothly against the oval shape of the theatre. We also fitted nosings that were specially templated and fabricated to fit round the lecture theatre. 

We laid some safety flooring from Altro into the WC areas in both buildings, this flooring has a high slip-resistance which is perfect for these areas. This was applied with a coved skirting which helps towards safety and hygiene. Along with safety vinyl we also applied some rubber vinyl flooring from Nora to the staircases, including the landings, treads and risers.  

It was an enjoyable experience creating a new and improved environment for the staff and students of the university to work in. We look forward to continuing our expertise in the education sector. 

Towards the end of 2019 we had the privilege of working on a project at Owlerton Stadium in Sheffield. Owlerton Stadium is a purpose-built speedway track built in 1929 which also hosts greyhound racing on a regular basis. Popular with families, couples and colleagues, the Stadium provides a range of packages available in the Restaurant, Executive Boxes and trackside, with capacity for 4,000 spectators across the whole site.  

The stadium is a popular place in Sheffield for a night out with different forms of entertainment like Greyhound Racing, Speedway Racing and Stock Car Racing events and has three bars inside. Owlerton Stadium has to make sure the range of bars, lounges and restaurants which are offered there, all of which have viewing available for all the events, are modern, comfortable and practical.  

The majority of this project was using a woven carpet from Desso, called Axminster. This carpet has a huge offering of different design options and colour possibilities as well as being durable for high traffic areas. We used this patterned carpet in the lounges, hospitality boxes, meeting room and entrance foyer which totalled to approximately 1,000m². The pattern which was chosen by our client and was bespoke, therefore we had to make sure that the patterns were laid in the correct direction and matched up exactly as per the architect’s drawings.  

Along with this broadloom carpet we used two other Desso carpet tile ranges in other areas, we used a Metallic Shades patterned tile in the office and lobby areas and we also used a secondary barrier matting tile, Desso Protect, for the entrances and a corridor. Along with secondary matting, we fitted a circular primary entrance matting from EMCO to the main entrance situated under a revolving door.  

Additionally, we used a variety of colours of an anti-slip vinyl flooring from Polyflor for use in the service corridors, behind the bar, in the kitchens and in the WCs. This was a safety vinyl with high durability and slip resistance which is perfect for areas where there are risks of water spillage and other contaminants.  This was fitted with a 100mm vinyl upstand included cove formers and capping strip making it easier for these areas to be kept hygienic.  Before laying these areas, we applied a DPM as there were areas with a high moisture content that needed some extra protection.  

It was a really enjoyable experience to work on the Owlerton Stadium and our client was extremely pleased with the final result.  

As one of the original red brick universities and a part of the Russell Group, The University of Sheffield is a really important part of the city and along with Sheffield Hallam University brings in around 60,000 students to Sheffield every year. One of the main accommodation sites of the University of Sheffield is the Endcliffe Student Village. This student village is located between Fulwood Road and Endcliffe Vale road in West Sheffield.  

It accommodates the majority of the university’s first year students as well as some second and third years, postgraduates and student families. It was constructed in 2006 and has grown since then with the addition of the Ranmoor village alongside it. As a big student community, accommodating around 4,500 students every year it has various facilities on site including a shop, café, bar and laundrette to meet all the needs of its inhabitants. 

One of the largest buildings in the village is the Howden building and we had the pleasure of working on it as part of refurbishment plans for the village. The project totalled over 4,000m² of carpet tiles and luxury vinyl tiles in the apartments and circulation areas. The building consists of a number of different blocks, each containing separate flats.  

The works included a living/kitchen area, a number of bedrooms and a communal area for each flat. The timeline was very important for this particular job as we had to make sure we completed all the works within the 7-week deadline which was the length of the university holidays until students were due to return. We made sure we met this timescale whilst maintaining a high level of quality in our work.  

There were 35 flats in total, 5 flats with 5 beds, 10 flats with 7 beds and 20 flats with 8 beds. Each of the 255 bedrooms were covered with a heavy-duty carpet tile from Burmatex in a neutral blue colour, these tiles are perfect for high traffic areas and offer a 10-year warranty. We then fitted a wood effect LVT from Amtico into the kitchen/living and communal corridors in all the flats.  

With further university accommodation projects on the horizon, we hope to continue down this avenue on many more projects in the future. 

The Royce Discovery Centre is an innovation research-focused building for the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sheffield. As a major partner of The Henry Royce Institute, the University of Sheffield has been awarded £34 million to fund the commercialisation of fundamental research into advanced metals processing. This is one of two facilities built for this purpose, the first being the Royce Translational Centre.  

The centres will help them build on the University’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and transfer their knowledge and expertise to local industry – their engineers will use the research from the Royce Discovery Centre to evolve novel materials and processing techniques, making them accessible for trial by industry. There is a mixture of laboratory spaces and a double-height workshop area. The Centre will house a combination of Henry Royce Institute capability and Materials Science and Engineering equipment currently located in the Sir Robert Hadfield Building.  

In total the project amounted to just over 1,000m² of flooring throughout the building and included working with vinyl, carpet tiles, Marmoleum and entrance flooring as well as applying latex screed and DPM to the subfloor. 

A large part of this project was using Forbo Marmoleum Ohmex within the laboratory and circulation areas on the first floor. Marmoleum Ohmex is a linoleum floor covering that meets higher requirements for electrical conductivity. This ensures personal safety and protects equipment that is sensitive to static electricity, like computers and other electronic devices. This was important as these areas included characterisation, chemistry and laser laboratories where important research would be taking place when the centre was opened. Installing Marmoleum requires a lot of skill due to the thickness and make-up of the material, something which our fitters are trained to do. As well as the Marmoleum Ohmex, we fitted Marmoleum Real Marbled in the lobbies, landings and stairwells. 

We also fitted around 150m² of carpet tiles in the office and mezzanine areas of the building using Desso Metallic Shades. There was pattern work with these tiles which included a fading-out style layout of the tiles in the mezzanine area, which we completed successfully in accordance with the clients wishes.  

This was a challenging but successful project by all. 

Cottesmore Academy is a small primary school situated in Kendrew Barracks, Oakham. It is a smaller than average school with only six classes overall and the majority of the pupils there are of service families.  It became an academy sponsor led in 2018 and is now part of the Rutland Learning Trust. We have been working with a lot of schools as a business and enjoy collaborating with them as they have new and innovative ideas for patterns in classrooms, in corridors and school halls.  

We were part of a unique project with Cottesmore Academy as they had a design for their corridors which we had never encountered before but were really excited to complete. The corridors of Cottesmore were transformed into that of a road, with added bus stops, carparks, roundabouts and even junctions at the entrances to classrooms. As well as an innovative design it will assist the young children of the school with road awareness and other outdoor surroundings. 

By using a special type of rubber vinyl from Nora by Interface coupled with a high standard installation, we were able to create a pattern and ensure it looked high quality and served its purpose as a fun new highlight to the school. The road followed through approximately 200m² of corridors and circulation areas in the school, along with 4 flights of stairs.  

The material we used for this project Noraplan Sentica which is especially made for heavy usage, high footfall sound absorption, slip resistance and increased safety thanks to its high fire-retardant properties. All of these features make it the perfect floor covering for a school corridor. Additionally, this flooring requires no finishing, waxing or sealing. All these floor coverings have a dense, nonporous and dirt-repellent surface—eliminating the need to use unfriendly, harsh cleaning chemicals which was important for us to consider due to small children being in close contact with the flooring on a more regular basis.  

Additionally, we prepared the subfloor throughout. All four flights of stairs saw new contrasting coloured nosings with anti-slip properties. 

It was fantastic to get involved in such a unique project and gain more skills and knowledge. As a business we welcome new challenges and it was great to work on something different and for it to be a really positive result for us and the school.  

Sheffield City Council undertook a massive £300 million investment programme over five years to make their council homes better for tenants. These including improving kitchens, bathrooms, windows, doors, heating systems and communal areas. 

Over a three-year period Ryjock worked across the city to install over 25,000m² of new flooring throughout the communal areas of over 1,000 low rise communal blocks. These blocks varied in size from one storey to three storeys high, containing between two and ten flats. At the peak of the project we were consistently completing over ten communal blocks per week! 

We worked carefully with our clients to install the new flooring works with minimal hassle to the occupied tenants. In the larger blocks, with many tenants wanting to gain access to and from their properties, this proved to be a challenge. For certain periods of time, the walkways were simply not accessible to the tenants due to damp proofing and latex screeding works. We had to work closely with the tenants and give plenty of notice and two-way communication with regards start dates and times of no entry, in and out the blocks.  

Our installation teams showed great understanding when it came to elderly tenants and unavoidable call out appointments. Likewise, they showed great patience when it came to more challenging tenants. The job was as much as working with tenants, as it was installing the new floors. We are proud of not receiving one complaint, from any tenant, with regards to the conduct of both our installation teams and site management. 

The flooring works involved a full latex screed throughout the blocks, with ground floor’s also receiving a damp proofing membrane. The entire block was then installed with anti-slip vinyl, barrier matting in the entrance ways, non-slip stair nosing’s, edging strips around the landings to protect open edged vinyl, thresholds to all store doors and a full clear sealed perimeter. The transformation before and after was quite something. 

One tenant told us that she could now invite guests over without feeling embarrassed. ‘I was ashamed when I had visitors coming in, but it doesn’t look like a council block. Now it’s lovely. It looks like a private block of flats. I’m not embarrassed when people come anymore’. 

Ever since we began offering our flooring services we have always been involved in working within the NHS. Whether that be in hospitals, doctor’s surgeries or dental practices. 

We are locally approved by the NHS trust to undertake work across our region. Our safety procedures and protocols meet the standards needed to be considered a safe contractor for which work can be assigned to. We are proud to be one of only a few who have the Trusts’ approval. 

We understand the strict environment of working in such places and realise extra measures are often needed to go above and beyond in order to get the job done. Not only installing works to strict quality standards, but also causing minimal distress to staff, patients and visitors alike. 

Our past projects have involved us installing new flooring throughout many a ward, from visitors waiting rooms, toilets and cafeteria’s through to A&E, Resus and CT Scanner units. Different areas requiring different materials and different working methods, co-ordinating with a wide range of people. Of course, not all works can be carried out during normal working hours and so often we must work through the night, section by section, to get the job done. 

We work particular closely with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, our local NHS Trust with whom we have a good relationship with. We are grateful and thank them for their prolonged support and faith they continue to show in us. 

A lot of the work across this industry is installing long lasting, durable vinyl, which has good resistance when it comes to high traffic areas, after care and cleaning. Providing a high-performance vinyl with excellent technical capabilities such as extreme durability, superior wear, stain and abrasion resistance, allows the NHS to save on refurbishment costs in the long run.  

Through our collaboration with local and national builders, we continue to strengthen our partnership with the NHS and look to further enhance the service we provide. 

We look forward to working on a ward near you! 

Doncaster International Business Park was the location for 41 new ‘work pod’ office units, consisting of 1,450 sq. ft and 1,600 sq. ft, in two, three and four-unit blocks at the site located adjacent to Robin Hood Airport.  

Fountain Court, as it is now known, covers 62,000 sq. ft and created more than 130 jobs, providing environmentally sustainable office accommodation for 134 staff. The most energy efficient office development in the region. The project won the Design, Innovation & Creativity award at the Leeds Beckett University’s annual RISE awards in 2017. We are thrilled to have played, an albeit small part, in the project’s success. 

The site was previously MoD land and was used as a parade ground and barracks of the RAF Finningley, prior to closure and redevelopment of the surrounding area as Robin Hood Airport and business park. 

The project was broken down into phases where we were asked to complete pockets of the work pods over a set period of time. Our installation teams and management co-ordinated the work with the client to follow a strict pod by pod process, where we were given set days to complete the installation within selected pods. 

The pods were installed with over 5,000m² of heavy duty carpet tiles in the main areas, with vinyl installed to WC’s and wet areas. 

During the project, the specification was very much of a neutral theme and so the installation, of the carpet tiles in particular, was a straight forward affair. More creative jobs with contrasting colour schemes and designs are more challenging, and so require greater attention to detail and more time. The neutral design theme with this one was very much welcome due to the limited timeframes we had to complete the pods! 

Transforming empty rooms into modern works spaces through the use of contemporary carpet tile designs is something we relish. We would love for you to consider us when the time is right for you to make that transformation.