Public sector flooring carries a documentation burden as heavy as the technical one. The specification has to be defensible, the procurement route has to be followed, and the whole life cost usually matters more than the capital cost, because the budget that replaces the floor is the same budget that maintains it.
What the flooring has to cope with
Accessibility is a genuine driver rather than a box to tick. Colour and luminance contrast between floor, wall and threshold is what makes a space navigable for a visually impaired user, and it is decided at specification stage or not at all.
The buildings themselves are the other factor. Civic estates are often old, with unknown build-ups, several generations of floor covering and an asbestos risk that has to be established by survey before any mechanical work begins.
Delivering on a framework
- Documentation issued in the format the framework requires, not ours
- Whole life cost set out alongside the capital figure
- Public access maintained, with works phased around opening hours
- Substrate risk investigated and priced rather than carried as a contingency
- Programmes that respect fixed budget years and end of year deadlines
