Altro

Altro wall solutions support fight against COVID-19ChallengeNew Jersey’s Holy Name Medical Centre was at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, coping with an alarmingly high rate of new COVID case admissions. It became clear that for Holy Name Medical Centre to continue providing its patients with crucial life-saving care, their existing Intensive Care Unit (ICU) space would need to undergo an essential update.Approach“Our ICU was built in the 1960s and was in need of an upgrade,” stated Melissa Candela, Holy Name Medical Centre’s Manager of Design and Construction. “Our experience at the epicentre of New Jersey’s outbreak triggered an action plan to transition the outdated space to a unit with the highest technology, safety, and design standards, in addition to strong functionality.” The design of the unit needed to prioritise interiors that could endure frequent cleaning and disinfecting routines while helping to create a design-oriented space with a patient focus.SolutionHoly Name Medical Centre selected Altro Whiterock White and the decorative Altro Whiterock wall designs throughout the ICU to create a high design, hygienic space for patient treatment. Altro Whiterock is a hygienic walls system, providing smooth impact-resistant surfaces and leaving dirt and bacteria nowhere to hide. This is especially practical in the case of Holy Name Medical Centre’s ICU, where thorough cleaning is vital in promoting the safety of patients and staff alike. Altro Whiterock wall designs can be used alongside Altro Whiterock White to create a less clinical feel in patient areas.Altro Whiterock wall designs give elegance to interior walls while providing the durability you expect from an Altro Whiterock wall sheet.

Altro solution brings life to design-led Hull birth centreA complete floors and walls solution from Altro has been used to create a relaxing, stylish home from home environment for mums-to-be in a new birth centre at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.The new midwife-led Fatima Allam Birth Centre meets the needs of women who want a more natural childbirth experience.Andrew Ledger, contracts manager for Apleona, which provides facilities management for the building, oversaw the new construction and was part of the team that devised the overall concept.“We specified Altro floors and walls from the start because we are using these products elsewhere in the hospital with a great deal of success. They meet all our clinical hygiene and infection control needs, while also offering a superb range of colours and textures, which makes them ideal for creating a modern and stylish environment.“The quality and durability of Altro is a major factor too because, as a PFI project, the long-term cost is under close scrutiny.Adele Howitt, from Studio Eleven Gallery & Workshop in Hull, won a commission from the hospital to design the interior concept.“Once we had decided on colours, we worked closely with Altro to look at the specific products. They completely understood our practical and aesthetic needs.”“I used Altro Whiterock Digiclad to create statement walls from floor to ceiling. This is a fantastic product for design-led projects because you can print any image or photograph onto it, and the quality is superb.”Adele chose Altro Whiterock Satins for the shower rooms. She says “It has some wonderful shades, and the subtle, sheer texture is very stylish.”Flooring for the birth centre was key to creating the homely, nonclinical feel. Andrew Ledger and the project team wanted natural, warm, wood-effect flooring and chose Altro Wood.Andrew says: “Wet areas in clinical environments need to be very safe underfoot, so we chose Altro Pisces safety flooring for both the shower rooms and around the birthing pool. This flooring performs superbly in both wet or dry conditions, and with bare feet or shoes, so it’s perfect for keeping both patients and staff safe. Altro Pisces also looks good enough to work within our design themes and there are some great colours.”The flooring was installed by Floorcovers UK. Partner Phil Morris said: “For quality and reliability Altro is the best, and they are a pleasure to work with."The Altro wall sheet was fitted by Richardson Claddings. Owner Joe Richardson comments:“The beauty of the Altro walls system is that it is so quiet, easy and clean to install. Altro sends the sheets to us ready-cut, which means minimal cutting or shaping on site.”Andrew Ledger says: “We get a lot of medical professionals visiting from around the world and they say the centre is the best of its kind they have seen anywhere.“Most importantly, the mothers who have given birth here are thrilled with it too.“After each birth, the rooms are completely disinfected and cleaned, and the Altro floors and walls are proving very easy to maintain.“We are delighted with this amazing facility.”

IssueHutchesons’ Grammar School is a co-educational, independent school in the southside of Glasgow. Founded in 1641, the school has a long-held record of academic achievement and offers pupils an unrivalled choice of extra-curricular activities at its primary and secondary schools. The kitchen, serving area and coffee/dining hall ‘The Bistro’ were being modernised to bring the facilities up to date and in keeping with the school’s standards of excellence.ApproachAfter a visit with an Altro Specification Consultant and considering the need to keep project timescales as short as possible, the installation needed a quick to lay, robust solution for the floors. With a unique blue and grey colour scheme tying into the school’s brand and emblem, the floor design needed to match this.SolutionAltro Wood adhesive-free in colours Soft Maple and Vintage Oak were installed in the dining hall and kitchen servery, helping to reduce the installation time by 50%, quickly returning the area to use.Altro Ensemble was installed in the Coffee/Bistro area in a diagonal, mixed pattern of colours Greige Rustic Oak, Medium Grey Harmonious Oak, Barrel Oak and Tobacco Limed Striking Oak.Altro Stronghold in colour Monsoon was installed in the kitchen, providing safety from slips and comfort underfoot for the busy staff.

IssueSheffield Olympic Legacy Park Stadium was created after a collaboration of key institutions decided to deliver an Olympic legacy through the four themes of sport, community, environment and economy. The park has an ethos to achieve physical and mental health and wellbeing by providing world-class facilities for community sports, from grassroots up to elite levels.ApproachWith the need to provide inspirational interiors for aspiring Olympians, Alex Parojcic, Architect at Whittam Cox knew that a high-end design, complemented by technical performance and ease of maintenance was required for the new changing areas, showers and physiotherapy suite. “Ceramic tiles had originally been specified for the showers and changing rooms, but we switched to Altro Tegulis when we realised the installation would be quicker, give a fantastic look and feel to the areas,and provide the cleanliness and hygiene standards required for such busy areas.”Joe Richardson of Richardsons Cladding who completed the installation, added “Altro Tegulis was a quick and easy install which assisted with the contractor’s tight programme. If this had been done in the ceramic tiles it would have impacted the programme massively.”SolutionAltro Tegulis, partnered by Altro Aquarius were specified for the showers, providing safety from slips in shoes and barefoot. For the changing rooms, where traffic from football studs, sports shoe spikes and bumps/knocks from sports bags and equipment would be experienced, Altro Atlas 40 was specified. Altro Wood provided a less clinical finish in the physiotherapy suite.Altro Tegulis tile-effect wall panels offer the ideal alternative to traditional tiles for wet rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and retail spaces. With a range of tile-effect patterns offering a grout-free alternative to tiles, Altro Tegulis offers a more familiar feeling than traditional wall panel sheets.Altro Atlas is well suited to areas where the risk of a slip is high, including heavy duty industrial use and sports changing rooms. Hard wearing, stable, and resistant to mechanical damage and chemicals, Altro Atlas 40 provides long term durability and slip resistance, and is easy to clean and maintain.Altro Aquarius is a specialist solution for combined wet and dry, shoe and barefoot areas. Keeps you safe with common contaminants such as shampoo and conditioner.Altro Wood is a general purpose 2mm wood-effect vinyl safety flooring available in a range of designs with different plank sizes.

Calm and non-clinical environment for busy ICUChallengeHospital environments are created to heal; yet supporting both physical and mental health needs in clinical environments can be challenging. The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Harrogate District Hospital required a refurbishment to its walls and wanted a non-clinical design, but with hygienic properties. Approach The unit had different areas with different functions – it needed to have hygienic, clean, wipe down walls which were also robust and could withstand bumps and scuffs. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the refurbishment needed to be completed quickly with minimum downtime to ICU. The team also wanted the unit to have a non-clinical feel. Solution Altro Whiterock White, Altro Whiterock Chameleon, and Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) were selected for the walls in the ICU. The hospital’s paediatric unit had Altro hygienic wall sheets installed previously and knew they were robust and trusted products. The ICU staff and project design team took time to select artwork of cherry blossom branches that would be cheerful yet calming for patients, as well as inspiring and uplifting for hardworking staff. The images were printed to create the Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) wall sheets.

Calm and non-clinical environment for busy Intensive Care UnitChallengeHospital environments are created to heal; yet supporting both physical and mental health needs in clinical environments can be challenging. The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Harrogate District Hospital required a refurbishment to its walls and wanted a non-clinical design, but with hygienic properties.ApproachThe unit had different areas with different functions – it needed to have hygienic, clean, wipe down walls which were also robust and could withstand bumps and scuffs. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the refurbishment needed to be completed quickly with minimum downtime to ICU. The team also wanted the unit to have a non-clinical feel.SolutionAltro Whiterock White, Altro Whiterock Chameleon, and Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) were selected for the walls in the ICU. The hospital’s paediatric unit had Altro hygienic wall sheets installed previously and knew they were robust and trusted products. The ICU staff and project design team took time to select artwork of cherry blossom branches that would be cheerful yet calming for patients, as well as inspiring and uplifting for hardworking staff. The images were printed to create the Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) wall sheets.

Dynamic interior spaces created for flagship care homeIssue Quantum Care were launching their flagship care home, Mantles Court, and wanted an interior design that created a warm, welcoming and comfortable space. Quantum Care asked WHAT IF? Designs to create the interior spaces with a non-clinical feel, making the state of the art, 78-bed care facility feel like a home-from-home for residents. Approach WHAT IF? Designs looked at the flow of resident living spaces and the needs for each area. Communal spaces including lounges, dining and kitchen areas required floors that were easy to clean, looked fantastic and provided safety from slips. For the ensuite bathrooms, a softer, neutral coloured floor with slip resistance for both staff and residents was needed, while bedrooms called for a more homely, domestic feel, with comfort under foot as a priority. Solution Altro Wood was chosen for the dining room, bedrooms and the hair salon for its natural, homely, good looks. Altro Aquarius and Altro Pisces, with their wide colour palette and lifetime sustained slip resistance, were selected for the ensuite bathrooms, providing safety for shoe and barefoot users. And in the communal areas, Altro Ensemble was chosen for its flexibility and design choices as well as its noise reduction and comfort underfoot.

IssueWavendon Community Hub has been created and designed to provide local residents with a place to meet and take part in physical and social activities. In keeping with surrounding properties, Wavendon Community Hub is constructed in red/buff brick, with pitched tiled roofs. The building comprises two separate halves: a community side with a vaulted hall space and a separate, large multi-purpose area with changing facilities. The floors needed to perform for different needs and uses, providing robust durability, safety from slips, but still provide welcoming good looks.ApproachThe project was designed by W E Architecture Ltd and the build was completed by Borras Construction Ltd, with flooring installed throughout by HC Coverings Ltd, using Mapei floor preparation products.SolutionResilient flooring was specified throughout the centre and installed over underfloor heating. Designs specified throughout the 500 square metre area included Altro Wood in the communal areas, Altro Aquarius in the toilets, showers and changing rooms and Altro Walkway 20 in corridors and back-of-house areas.

The Milton Keynes Hospital Paediatric Emergency Department was undergoing a refurbishment. The overall aim was to create a child-friendly environment that would appeal to children of all ages.AD Architects designed the new unit and chose Altro Orchestra to create two colourful, reception play areas. The variety of different shades and textures gave scope for an enchanted woodland forest theme to be created using Altro Orchestra throughout. Altro Suprema safety flooring was also fitted in the new unit’s observation areas, treatment bays and examination rooms. The new unit was built by Parias Commercial Interiors, and the Altro flooring fitted by Total Flooring. Altro Orchestra flooring helped to transform the Paediatric Emergency Department to a wonderfully bright, colourful area that children love to play in. Altro Orchestra offers comfort underfoot making life easier on the feet for staff and visitors, and with a palette of 40 colours and designs — varying from calming neutrals reflecting tones of nature to vibrant shades — it creates the right atmosphere every time. The Altro Suprema flooring provides a great, practical flooring which is ultrasafe, but also very stylish and it really adds to the environment. The hospital staff are thrilled with the result.

Altro is at the birth of a new designIssueTwenty-five years since its last refurbishment, the maternity Delivery Suite at the Royal Cornwall Hospital was in need of a revamp. The new facility has been created to ensure mothers, babies and families have a home-fromhome experience, but in a clinical and psychologically safe environment. The maternity Delivery Suite comprises of nine delivery rooms and also includes a high dependency unit. With these very high traffic areas, robust, yet good looking interior design products were a must.ApproachThe team wanted to bring an essence of Cornwall into the space to evoke the calming influence of the sea and the natural world, but needed a solution with proven clinical credentials in safety, hygiene and maintenance.“Every staff member in the maternity department was asked to submit their ideas for the new space, their vision, both practically and visually,” said Zoe Nelson, Acute Maternity Matron at the hospital. “Our Estates Department Manager, Duncan Clift, recommended Altro, because he has used them before in the hospital with great success and trusts their products.”SolutionThe Royal Cornwall Hospital chose Altro Wood and Altro Pisces safety floors in colours to represent sand. For the walls, they selected Altro Whiterock Satins in ocean hues to mirror the sea, and Altro Fortis Titanium wall protection in Pearl and Battleship to replicate rocks. Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) was used to portray wall art of Cornish ocean scenes. The result is a beautiful environment that promotes a relaxing birthing experience for mother and baby.

Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro is the biggest hospital in Cornwall. The corridor needed updating quickly and required a durable solution to withstand high footfall and wheeled traffic in the area. Altro Cantata adhesive-free flooring was combined with Altro Fortis Titanium wall protection.

IssueThe Woodland Village is a purpose-built facility within Sherwood Forest Center Parcs. The concept has been developed over several years across all Center Parcs villages providing a guest attraction dripping in the magic of Christmas from start to finish, offering more than just a “meet and greet” with Santa. The lights, music, animations, and the occasional elf, guide visitors on a journey through the Woodland Village and on to Santa’s Woodland Workshop.As a multi-functional facility, set in a forest, Santa’s Woodland Workshop needed a floor that could withstand all the “muck and mud” of the wilderness, trudged in by the rangers and their little helpers. The floor design would also need to be suitable when the village operates as a Christmas retail outlet providing welcoming aesthetics and having the durability to cope with heavy foot traffic.ApproachAltro floors have a proven history within Center Parcs having been successfully installed at Center Parcs villages across the UK and Ireland. Floors that matched the internal Woodland Village ‘earthy’ design, the corporate branding of the Rangers’ Hut and Christmas shop, providing safety from slips together with easy cleaning were required.SolutionWith PTV >36 slip resistance, Altro EasyClean Technology and a 10-year guarantee Altro Illustra was specified for the Rangers Hut, providing a naturally safe, clean, simple yet effective design. Able to cope with medium to heavy traffic with sustained slip resistance, Altro Wood was specified for Santa’s Woodland Workshop bringing a forest feel to the busy guest attraction.Of course, only families visiting Santa are allowed to see inside the Woodland Workshop and view the festive floors, “You see, Santa really does exist” said lead designer, Darren Binney of Jackson Design Associates Ltd.

Altro provides durable solution for seclusion room at psychiatric hospitalAltro Zodiac, Altro Aquarius, Altro Whiterock DigicladSpringfield University Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Tooting, South London and also the headquarters of the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust. Springfield University Hospital has been the primary location for mental health services in south west London for over 175 years. The Trust serves 1.1 million people across the London boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth and employ more than 2,000 staff who provide care and treatment to about 20,000 people from south west London and beyond at any given moment.The hospital has a seclusion room with ensuite bathroom facilities for service users. The room was already installed with Altro Zodiac smooth flooring in the room, and Altro Aquarius safety flooring in the bathroom. The Trust added Altro Whiterock Satins and Altro Whiterock Digiclad on the walls to create a fully tanked room with one part joints, making the room resilient and secure. Altro Whiterock was also thermoformed into all the window frame reveals for extra security.The Director of Nursing and Quality commented: “In creating a new seclusion space on the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), we wanted to create a secure but therapeutic environment for our service users. We were able to take advantage of the ability to print a large image across one complete wall. The result is that we have a fantastic soft- focus leaf image with warm autumnal colours, which helps create a sense of calm.”Altro Whiterock Digiclad is created by reproducing a photographic image or vector art onto Altro Whiterock wall sheets, with consistent, photographic quality. Hard-coat technology provides scratch-resistant properties for added surface protection, making Altro Whiterock Digiclad ideal for areas where durability is important. In the seclusion room a calming image of autumn leaves was used to brighten the room and create a visual focal point.Altro Aquarius is a specialist safety flooring developed for use in wet and dry environments, providing optimum slipresistance for shoe and bare foot use for the lifetime of the flooring, and a colour range ideal for creating home from home environments. Combined with Altro Whiterock Satins, it can create an impervious and easy to clean surface from floor to ceiling that meets strict hygiene standards.

Expanding care options with fit-for-purpose solutionsAltro Wood, Altro Serenade, Altro Aquarius, Altro Stronghold 30IssueFounded in 1995, The Glen is part of the Willow Valley Communities network that offers ageing residents a mind, body and spirit approach to wellness. The Glen provides a range of support services including shortterm rehabilitation from surgery or illness, as well as specialised memory care for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders. The facility needed updating to allow residents to continue to enjoy the comforts of home while promoting their physical and mental wellbeing.ApproachTo continue its mission of designing programmes and places fit to people, Willow Valley enlisted CCS Building Group to manage The Glen expansion project, which began in 2018. CCS collaborated with their Altro representative, knowing Willow Valley’s history of using Altro products during previous renovations with proven success.SolutionThroughout its completion, The Glen project utilised multiple Altro floors. For resident rooms accommodating those receiving skilled care, CCS chose Altro Wood for its warm, domestic aesthetic. In the facility’s communal areas, Altro Serenade provides 19dB sound reduction to reduce excess noise. Altro Stronghold 30 was used in the facility’s kitchens for its superb slip resistance and comfort underfoot for busy staff. For residents’ bathrooms and shower areas, CCS selected Altro Aquarius specialist safety flooring for its high slip resistance value both in shoes or barefoot.

Bringing natural, simple and light aesthetics to busy campusIssueThe Aarhus University campus is easily recognisable with its long yellow brick buildings rising between trees, mature plants, lakes and paths in a park close to the city centre. The architecture of The Skou Building, which was named after Nobel Prize winner Jens-Christian Skou and is home to the Institute of Biomedicine, needed to be retained, while modernised.ApproachArchitect company CUBO Arkitekter designed the space, which was opened in 2018 and won the City Architects Award in 2019, with a focus on reinterpreting the campus architecture. The building is designed as two staggered lengths that meet in a central atrium. Glass slits have been inserted vertically throughout the building, affording wonderful views of the external spaces and the local cathedral.Inside there has been an emphasis on reducing the number of different materials used, to create a simple, bright and natural look throughout. At the same time, some of the organic, natural shapes in the green spaces outside are drawn into the building, promoting the biophilic design.SolutionThe first two levels of The Skou Building now feature white walls, oak interiors and large glass sections, continuing the biophilic feel. To provide safety throughout the 9000 m2 of corridors and laboratories on the top six floors, Altro Walkway 20 in Cloud has been used, reducing the risk of slipping to one in a million. In addition, 750 m2 of Altro Walkway 20 SD static dissipative flooring in Fog has been used in laboratories which had specific safety requirements. To complete the biophilic design, works of art have been used throughout the building to bring the outside in.

Innovative technology firm chooses Altro for its new HQChallengeTriton Systems Inc. are a global product venturing and investment company, developing innovative ideas from concept stages to commercial fruition. In order to accommodate their rapid growth and expand production capabilities, Triton needed to relocate its facilities and headquarters to a newly renovated space. The remodelled site includes a host of upgraded amenities, such as new laboratories and development centres, to enable a full spectrum of in-house operations ranging from chemistry and biology to machining, testing and virtual reality.ApproachLocal design firm Fishbrook Design Studio, collaborated with Triton to create the ideal interior for their new site. In the laboratory areas, the studio specified Altro Walkway 20 safety flooring to promote employee safety and achieve the desired aesthetic.Solution“We were looking for attractive flooring solutions that offered safe environments, cleanliness, low maintenance and durability,” explained Kristin Naumann, Director of Design, Fishbrook Design Studio. “For my renovation projects, Altro products offer a great looking, durable way to upgrade hightraffic areas such as common areas and workspaces.”

IssueA 15-year-old bathroom in a housing development was looking tired and dated and the owner wanted to refresh the area with minimal disruption in a quick timescale. The bathroom had three walls of ceramic tiles, and a sink splashback, which were in good condition but were unfashionable and required high levels of maintenance to remove limescale and mould.The property, a first floor flat, had easy access but no lift, so equipment, materials and any waste needed to be carried up and down the stairs.Approach“We wanted to replace the ceramic tiles, without having to re-plaster the bathroom walls which would mean a complete renovation and redecoration project,” said Helen Green, the owner. “We live in an area with hard water and limescale is a real problem so a wall that is easy to keep clean would be ideal.”SolutionAfter liaising with Altro customer services, the new Altro Walls ShowerKit was recommended as being the ideal solution as the wall panels can be installed over existing ceramic tiles and provides ease of maintenance for residents. There is also no requirement for construction materials or heavy equipment as Altro Walls ShowerKit is lighter to transport than ceramic tiles.