Architects Dixon Jones specified 600m2 Junckers solid oak flooring for Marlborough Primary School, a multi award-winning building on a densely populated urban site in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea in London.
The brief to create a primary school much larger than the original Victorian building on the existing
site challenged Dixon Jones to design a school where teaching accommodation is arranged
vertically around a series of cascading roof terraces. With nursery and reception classes on the
ground, children progress upwards through the building the older they get, with the junior years
arranged on the upper floors.
The interior forms an equally dynamic environment for students and staff with teaching spaces arranged around communal halls and generous circulation areas. A large main hall and multi-use space flooded with natural light from two central roof lights, features Junckers wide board oak flooring throughout, providing a natural, unifying backdrop. Junckers’ FSC and PEFC certified floors are a durable, long-lasting choice with low lifecycle costs. Made in solid wood, the floor can be sanded and re-finished multiple times without losing its good looks or performance, ideal for a thriving community school.
Main contractor: Mace; Joinery contractor: Swift Crafted; Photography: Paul Riddle.
Junckers solid oak flooring at Marlborough Primary School by Dixon Jones. Photo: Paul RiddleJunckers solid oak flooring at Marlborough Primary School by Dixon Jones. Photo: Paul RiddleJunckers solid oak flooring at Marlborough Primary School by Dixon Jones. Photo: Paul RiddleJunckers solid oak flooring at Marlborough Primary School by Dixon Jones. Photo: Paul RiddleJunckers solid oak flooring at Marlborough Primary School by Dixon Jones. Photo: Paul RiddleJunckers solid oak flooring at Marlborough Primary School by Dixon Jones. Photo: Paul RiddleJunckers solid oak flooring at Marlborough Primary School by Dixon Jones. Photo: Paul Riddle
A feat of architectural innovation, Storey’s Field Centre & Nursery by architects MUMA has won multiple awards, including RIBA East Building of the Year, the regional Sustainability Award, Architect’s Journal ‘Design of the Year’, a shortlisting for the Stirling Prize as well as top prize at the 2018 Wood Awards. Built with sustainable, high quality materials, the building features nearly 400m2 Junckers Oak Classic flooring.
The new facility serves the community on the North West Cambridge Development, with a nursery school for 100 children and a large community hall complete with acoustics that can be adjusted to cater for a multitude of events.
The large, triple-height space in the hall is realised in wood, where the tones of the timber gradually lighten from the floor upwards. A sprung floor utilising Junckers’ 22mm Oak Classic flooring was installed over underfloor heating, derived from the district’s own combined heat and power plant. Ideal for use in a large public space, Junckers’ solid wood flooring is durable and easy to maintain, as well as FSC and PEFC certified, contributing towards the building’s environmentally sustainable profile.
The flooring contractor was Capital Floors Ltd.
Junckers 22mm Oak Classic at Storey’s Field Centre and Nursery by MUMA Photo: Alan Williams
Junckers 22mm Oak Classic at Storey’s Field Centre and Nursery by MUMA Photo: Alan Williams
Junckers 22mm Oak Classic at Storey’s Field Centre and Nursery by MUMA Photo: Alan Williams
Junckers 22mm Oak Classic at Storey’s Field Centre by MUMA Photo: Alan Williams a caption
Junckers 22mm Oak Classic at Storey’s Field Centre and Nursery by MUMA Photo: Alan Williams
Storey’s Field Centre and Nursery by MUMA Photo: Alan Williams
We are very proud to have supplied our solid timber floors to this amazing project which recently won a Wood Award, the Education and Public Sector 2018 category and was also shortlisted for the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize 2018.
The Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre by Níall McLaughlin Architects is a graceful addition to the listed parkland at Worcester College, Oxford. The striking contemporary building houses new conference and events facilities. With a high-end finish throughout, the building houses a large lecture theatre and dance studio fitted with Junckers Oak Boulevard flooring. With a plank width of 185mm, Oak Boulevard is our widest dimension board, an elegant and durable option for a public building.
When Bradford Academy needed a replacement for its sports hall floor they looked for guidance from Junckers. By going to the leading sports and dance floor systems manufacturer the academy knew that they would receive the right kind of advice and guidance to help them to steer their way through the overwhelming number of sports floor systems available on the market.
We worked in close partnership with the client, main contractor BAM and our local Approved Contractor Harmony Contract Flooring, to deliver the floor completed and on time. The client wanted a sprung floor which looked good and was easy to look after, and it needed to meet the performance standards for multi-purpose sports; EN 14904. The floor system selected meets category A4 standard, which means that the academy now has a floor which is recommended by Sport England and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA).
The site constraints required a floor system with minimum construction height and Junckers’ EliteFlex 49 system, at only 49mm high was found to be ideal. The system is made from laminated foam-backed battens and 22mm timber deck with the 4mm vinyl layer bonded and welded on top. This provides a sports floor suitable for a range of activities from general education use through to elite levels of sport, dance and the like.
Over the many decades since our company was founded, we have dedicated a significant amount of resource to developing the best sprung sports floor systems on the market. This, and our “cradle to grave” technical and customer support and maintenance programmes sets us apart from other manufacturers, where the choice is often limited to a basic undercarriage system and various options for gluing a vinyl sheet to screed, an option which is no longer accepted by the ESFA as a suitable surface for sports.
In the UK, Junckers has become a by-word for high quality sports and activity floor systems, and for providing the technical and customer support needed to make every new Junckers floor one that the installer and client will be proud of. As part of continuous work to develop new products and constantly improve the ability to offer customers a broader choice of floor systems, we have developed a range of vinyl sports and activity floors, based upon the established success of our undercarriage systems.
One of our main strengths is the variety of undercarriage systems we offers. Not only do these give different sprung performance characteristics with some suited to basketball, others for dance etc., thanks to experience and technical expertise we are also able to take care of the less glamorous aspects of the installation, such as dealing with uneven sub floors or those where there may be drying out problems. Junckers’ floors are all tested and certified to EN 14904, category A3, A4 or C3. In addition, our own
in-house testing and development centre assess the wider aspects of the floor’s performance such as point load bearing ability and lifespan issues such as fatigue testing.
Our new vinyl floor systems are aimed at the education sector, sports halls, leisure centres and dance and fitness centres. When it comes to installation, vinyl floor customers have the same assurances that they currently have with our solid hardwood floors because there is a network of fully trained Junckers Approved Installers on hand to make sure that the floor will be fitted properly.
For more information on our new Vinyl Sports Flooring, please contact our offices tel 01376 534 700 or email sales@junckers.co.uk
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
Junckers Vinyl Sports Flooring at Bradford Academy photo: Jake Fitzjones
We are happy to announce we are launching a new range of vinyl sports floor systems to sit alongside our flagship collection of solid hardwood floors.
In the UK, Junckers has become a by-word for high quality sports and activity floor systems, and for providing the technical and customer support needed to make every new Junckers floor one that the installer and client will be proud of. As part of our continuous work to develop new products and constantly improve the ability to offer customers a broader choice of floor systems, we have developed a range of vinyl sports and activity floors, based upon the established success of our undercarriage systems.
We have has made the decision to launch a product range which has traditionally been a competitor for its long-established solid hardwood sports floor range after discovering that the range and types of undercarriage being offered appear so limited, even from the larger players in the market. With an established high-performance product, which fulfils all criteria, we are able to offer clients and developers something that is a step up from sub-flooring systems currently on the market.
For many clients, solid hardwood can be the best option – because of its unbeatable life cycle costs, which is always a high priority for sports halls, better environmental credentials, durability, repairability and versatility, retractable seating etc. But some customers prefer vinyl floors, perhaps based upon their past experience, and because they are used to it they feel more comfortable sticking with it. From autumn 2017, we are offering our customers a choice with the launch of our new vinyl sports floor systems.
The EFA (Education Funding Agency) who is responsible for setting the design standards for all school construction in England and Wales, has moved away from accepting “Point Elastic” vinyl floor systems so “stuck to screed” vinyl floors are becoming less favourable and are not really the best surface to play sport or dance on. This means that there is a stronger focus upon Area and Combined elastic floors, which usually require a “sprung” undercarriage, needing a little more expertise to design, manufacture and install. This is not always an area where existing vinyl floor system suppliers excel, but design and manufacture of sports undercarriages has been in our DNA for decades. Being able to combine some of the best undercarriage systems currently available with a vinyl finish means we are able to offer a product which is far superior to vinyl glued to screed.
One of our main strengths is the variety of undercarriage systems we offer. Not only do these give different “sprung” performance characteristics with some suited to basketball, others for dance etc., thanks to experience and technical expertise we are also able to take care of the less glamorous aspects of the installation, such as dealing with uneven sub floors or those where there may be drying out problems. Junckers’ floors are all tested and certified to EN 14904, category A3, A4 or C3. In addition, our own in-house testing and development centre assess the wider aspects of the floor’s performance such as point load bearing ability and lifespan issues such as fatigue testing.
Our new vinyl floor systems are aimed at the education sector, sports halls, leisure centres and dance and fitness centres. When it comes to installation, vinyl floor customers have the same assurances that they currently have with Junckers solid hardwood floors because there is a network of fully trained Junckers Approved Installers on hand to make sure that the floor will be fitted properly.
For more information on our new Vinyl Sports Floor Systems, please contact sales@junckers.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)1376 534 700
