Gradus Enhances Safety at Central Square, Leeds

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Central Square is an 11-storey mixed-use complex, located a two-minute walk from City Square and Leeds Train Station. The £100m development has more than 200,000 sq. feet of space and contains offices, accommodation, restaurants, a bar and retail units. It also boasts an impressive atrium with a winter garden, as well as a rooftop ‘sky garden’ and outside terrace.

Gradus supplied R95XT11 PVC-u and CXT3 aluminium stair edgings to the main staircases to help protect against the risk of slips, trips and falls. The CXT3 profile is designed specifically for use with ceramics, stone and marble with an extended perforated flange that beds into the adhesive at the same time that the flooring is installed to provide a secure fixing, whilst the R95XT11 profile is designed specifically to be used with cushion-backed carpet tiles, such as those specified by Milliken for the development, as it has a larger 9.5mm gauge to accommodate the thicker carpet tile backing.

ASXT20 aluminum stair edgings were also specified for use in the escape staircases and were installed using Gradus Grip, a solvent free rapid curing flexible adhesive that is suitable for bonding stair edgings to most surfaces. Gradus Grip is a more cost effective solution than traditional fixings, as it removes the need for drilling and screwing, so less time is needed to fix each stair edging.

Phil Tate, Contracts Manager at Fresco Flooring who installed the products, commented: “We saved a lot of time and cost using Gradus Grip to install the stair edgings at Central Square, Leeds compared to a mechanical fixing. Plus, it looks much better and will be easier to keep clean with no screw head cover plugs.”

Gradus also supplied a range of barrier matting to the development, including Esplanade 5000HD and Boulevard 5000HD. Gradus’ Esplanade 5000HD primary barrier matting has been installed in the main entrance and provides a robust solution which is suitable for heavy foot and wheeled traffic.

Boulevard 5000HD was specified for the entrance to the rooftop ‘sky garden’. By using this system in conjunction with Esplanade 5000HD, Gradus was able to provide a cost-effective, coordinated system to provide safe access for all users of the building.

Karen Burman, Product Manager at Gradus, said: “Our versatile range of barrier matting solutions are ideal for use within leisure, retail and commercial office environments as they will not only increase public safety, but will also help to extend the lifespan of surrounding floorcoverings.

“The Central Square complex will experience heavy traffic on a daily basis. It was therefore essential that we supplied a barrier matting solution that could cope with the environment’s demands, while maintaining a modern and clean aesthetic.”

For further information on the full range of stair edgings and matting available from Gradus, please call 01625 428922 or visit www.gradus.com