Heronrib has been installed throughout the refurbished Rye Sports Centre

Slip resistant Heronrib matting is playing a vital role in the Rye Sports Centre.  This facility, one of several operated by the Freedom Leisure Group, has been refurbished with close attention paid to health and safety.  The reason for installing the matting throughout the changing-rooms is to reduce any danger of slipping on the wet floor tiles.

Heronrib is the well proven solution for reducing accidents associated with slipping, particularly around swimming-pools, in changing-rooms and shower areas.  The open grid format has raised profile underbars which allow water to drain away easily in all directions.

The Frontrunner entrance flooring system is fronting a new £15m leisure centre at North Ashfield. The leisure and sports facility comprises a 25m six-lane swimming pool, learner pool, ice rink, two squash courts, a four-court badminton hall and six-lane bowls hall, fitness suite with 90 machines, creche and car park.

A priority for Ashfield Council has been the importance of achieving the highest standards of cleanliness by ensuring that external shoe dirt and wind blown dust is prevented from entering the building. Working with design and build contractor Alfred McAlpine/Carilion, this has been solved by using the high performance Frontrunner system within automatic sliding double entrance doors. The matting was installed by Brook Flooring of Milton Keynes.

Over many years, high performance Heronrib has proved to be the perfect solution for preventing slipping, particularly on ceramic tiles, concrete and other hard wet surfaces.  In the UK and overseas, the matting is widely used to cover wet surfaces in sports clubs, leisure centres and schools, such as shower areas, walkays and changing rooms.  

In hot countries, where temperatures are high, it has the additional benefit  of protecting bare feet  from discomfort.  For example, many prestige five star hotels in the Middle East have installed Heronrib slip resistant matting around their swimming pools.  It also creates a comfortable and hygienic surface for walking over uneven, cracked or sandy surfaces.

Skin complaints of the feet are most commonly caused in changing rooms, swimming pools and other areas because bare feet can easily be contaminated.  At the same time, the Health & Safety Executive warns about the rise in accidents caused by people slipping on wet surfaces.

Good design practice dictates that wet floors should be inherently slip resistant but this is not easy with some materials.  Some ceramic tiles, for example, may have a less slippery textured surface but are harder to clean which in turn makes them less hygienic.    

A new flooring product which provides solutions to both these problems is Herontile.  This innovative tile complements widely used roll format Heronrib matting.  Both are available from international floorcovering manufacturer Plastic Extruders Ltd.