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 | | EUROSTAR (ST PANCRAS) | | | Atkinson & Kirby | | 06/02/2008 | | | Arguably the biggest restoration project in the UK this year, the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras, London was recently opened by Her Majesty The Queen. The project worth £800 million took six years to complete and houses over 6000m² of FSC certified Jatoba block flooring supplied by the UK’s largest hardwood flooring manufacturer and supplier Atkinson & Kirby Ltd.
Copenhagen Airport was the inspiration for the flooring specified by Architects Chapman Taylor. Atkinson & Kirby worked closely with both Loughton Contracts and main contractor ISG throughout the project.
Jatoba was an ideal choice for an area like St Pancras that will receive such a large amount of foot traffic due to its hardwearing nature.
Due to the high profile nature of the project and National Heritage overseeing the whole renovation, sustainability of all materials was of key importance. Therefore being FSC certified and British manufacturers made Atkinson & Kirby the ideal choice to make this bespoke product and to maintain the FSC Chain of Custody.
Atkinson & Kirby worked painstakingly to get every last detail right, beginning with sourcing the FSC certified Jatoba lumber from which the bespoke sized blocks were to be made. Once the lumber was in their warehouse in Lancashire, it was then checked and verified by the Forest Stewardship Council, ISG, and Chapman Taylor to ensure that it met specification, it was from then on months of work ensued. Because of the desired pattern that the flooring was to take, the manufacturing process was highly complex, with quality control vital to ensure that all of the bespoke sized blocks were manufactured to a high standard.
By manufacturing the blocks themselves, Atkinson & Kirby were able to plan production schedules to meet exactly with the requirements of the project as a whole and of Loughton Contracts fitting schedule, and delivered all consignments of flooring in accordingly over a period of 5 months.
In order to keep the floors looking fresh and new, it was imperative to choose a finish that was suitably durable for the level of foot traffic that the floor will experience. Therefore specialist manufacturers Woca were approached. Woca worked closely with Loughton Contracts and Atkinson & Kirby to establish which of their vast range of specialist finishes would be most suitable for a building of this nature. Natural Master Oil was finally chosen, not only to best protect the timber but to also make this busy public area easy to maintain, which is of prime importance to the longevity of the installation.
When asked to comment on the project, Sales & Marketing Director David Ellams said “This has possibly been one of the most complex manufacturing tasks we have ever undertaken, but thanks to our skilled craftsmen at our Ormskirk manufacturing plant we have succeeded in producing a floor of outstanding beauty that will only improve with age. As with the rest of the restoration the Jatoba floor will be there long after our lifetime”. | |
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