case study
Guildford Lido
Client: Guildford Borough Council
250M2 UltraTUFF
Project Background
Flexflooring Ltd has been heavily involved in refurbishing two paddling pools at Guildford Lido ready for the expected long hot summer! The Lido, owned by Guildford Borough Council and operated by Spectrum, is set in four and a half acres of landscaped gardens and includes a 50 x 27 metre Olympic sized heated swimming pool, plus two children’s paddling pools, each one an impressive 33 metres long and 3.6 metres wide.
Prep Work
This project was a major milestone for Flexflooring, as it was the first UK installation to include both Rubbaflex sg and UltraTUFF™. With Rubbaflex installed as the perfect non-slip paddling pool surround and UltraTUFF Pool and Deck Coating installed as a non-slip, non-porous product on the floor of the paddling pool. Surface preparation is always a key element to the success of any project and in this instance included removing the old rubber surround and tiles before diamond grinding the paddling pool floors to ensure a smooth surface key for the UltraTUFF™.
Flexflooring took a week to complete this phase before moving on to installing over 300m² of Rubbaflex sg. The colour chosen for the pool surround was a mixture of yellow, orange and white, which created a clear contrast to the colours used within the pool.
Products Used
Rubbaflex sg, aliphatic resin S151.99, UltraTUFF.
Another key benefit of Rubbaflex sg is that it can be installed both vertically as well as horizontally, so Flexflooring also used this product to cover a number of steps around the paddling pools. Flexflooring always incorporate a special UV resistant resin binder to reduce any colour change to their Rubbaflex floors.
The final stage of the project was to spray over 250m² of UltraTUFF™ onto the paddling pool steps and floors. This stage included the application of a primer and the masking up of edges to ensure a smooth finish is maintained between the UltraTUFF™ and Rubbaflex. Two coats were applied using an airless sprayer leaving a bright surface, which in this instance was completed in two colours; Safety Yellow for the step and Waterpark Blue for the pool floors.
Finishing Touches
The final finishing touch was to incorporate some simple design work to the pool floors showing a number of sea creatures in contrasting colours including a starfish, shark and stingray!
The overall effect completely rejuvenates the paddling pool area leaving it much safer underfoot. The use of three distinct colours helps to clearly separate the surround from the pool step and pool floor thereby ensuring users clearly see the step when entering and leaving the pool and finally the addition of the sea creatures creates added interest for the children using the pools.
For more information on our Rubbaflex materials, please visit our Wet Pour Flooring page.
