November Refurb and Retrofit Magazine

Quality all the way with Gerflor
The MacGregor Flooring
Company based in
Hamilton, just outside
Glasgow, are widely
renowned as the one of the
leading specialist commercial
flooring companies in
Scotland.
This family-owned business
has over 30 years’ experience
within the contract flooring
sector delivering a nononsense
level of quality
service with the products to
match. It’s a supply situation
that suits the high levels of
quality manufacturing and
service that international
interiors and flooring specialists Gerflor excel at.
Kenny Smith, Contracts Director, MacGregor Flooring, who has
been with the firm for almost twenty-seven years’ comments,
“any flooring contract is only as good as the products being
used. It is very hard for us to provide our clients with a Rolls
Royce job if we’re being asked to use Lada parts”. Like most
industries, flooring has its ‘touch points’ in terms of business
relationships. Kenny Smith says, “I believe having a good
working relationship with manufacturers is critical in terms of
the service we require when discussing project prices, deliveries
and complaints”. He goes on to further comment, “Gerflor have
made significant improvements in the past couple of years in
relation to the overall customer experience and this has
manifested itself in their overall performance improving. It’s
what you would expect of a global brand. In my opinion you
see the true measure of any company when they are faced with
having to deal with problems, be it with delivery or quality
issues. Gerflor recognise this and try their very best to resolve
these issues to everyone’s satisfaction”.
Supplying the right choice of products to customers and
specifiers is crucial to any flooring manufacturer in being able to
satiate various market sectors.
Gerflor are particularly strong in the education sector where
they are able to offer flooring in all areas from toilets to
classrooms to sports halls with a host of products including
their Tarasafe Ultra H20, Taralay Impression Control and
Taraflex® sports flooring.
www.gerflor.co.uk
Window security – a clear solution
By Martin Oates –
Commercial Director with SE Controls
Our previous article covered the
use of windows for smoke
ventilation, clarifying the
certification required to EN12101-2 and
the ability of SE Controls to meet these
requirements. However, window security
is also a key design requirement with all
market leading systems tested to the PAS
24 standard to meet the demands of the
Secure By Design (SBD) initiative and
Building Regulations Approved Document
Q (ADQ).
Automated windows that are utilised for
ventilation strategies will also need to
comply to the standard, which requires the actuators to resist 3000N of
negative force when the window is closed. This is becoming
commonplace in applications such as school refurbishment where
façade automation remains a popular and cost effective solution of
providing improved ventilation performance over manually operated
windows.
The SECO N 24 25 twin actuator from SE Controls has successfully
passed the PAS 24 test and in addition to presenting physical resistance
to intruders, it also provides a signal to the controller, should the
window fail to close fully, to maintain the integrity of the security
system, as
requested by the
SBD schools
standard. Two
locking points in
one neat enclosure
with programmable
gasket relief
optimise weather
performance and
security to meet BS
6375 parts 1,2 and 3
in addition to the
PAS 24 test.
Bespoke fixing
brackets and
reinforcement to
the window is often
required to provide
sufficient strength
for the fixing, which
is usually the
weakest point of resistance, as the actuator provides 2 x 4000N of
resistance to forced opening.
The ability to manufacture bespoke body lengths allows SE Controls to
locate the locking points on different size windows exactly as tested,
relative to the corners, to maintain consistency of performance and
compliance. Test conducted with an actuator located at the centre of a
vent will either not pass the test or can only be utilised for different
widths.
Similar to EN12101-2, the fabrication and installation solution requires a
process that is audited by an independent notified body and must be
re-tested annually.
If you have requirements for SBD or ADQ certified automated windows,
please contact the SE Controls team for further information.
Tel: 01543 443060 or visit the website.
www.secontrols.com
Nov 2016 R2 Refurb retrofit 13
magazine