• Royal College Strathclyde

    • PROJECT DETAILS

    SystemINTRAshape
    SpecificationBespoke 380 x 380mm INTRAshape square tiles in black anodised with Elite Black 608 and Grey 606 inserts
    ClientThe University of Strathclyde
    InstallerMaster Matting
    LocationRoyal College Building, 204 George Street, Glasgow

    A Very Victorian Problem

    The Royal College Building is Category B listed. Designed by David Barclay, the 1903, gargantuan 4-storey Italianate college is a monument to Victorian architecture. It houses the University of Strathclyde’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor’s residence, alongside various university departments and independent businesses.

    As you’d expect, the entrance lobby is a grand affair and welcomes thousands of students, staff and visitors through its arched bays and up its curved marble staircase. But, with a Glasgow city-centre location and architecture pre-dating modern draught lobbies or revolving doors, Estates Services were losing a battle with the inclement weather. They needed to take control and prevent water from being tracked into the building, making the tiled floor and marble steps beyond slippery.

    A Custom Approach

    The University’s Building Surveyor contacted INTRAsystems while exploring potential products in their ongoing experiments. They initially enquired about INTRAdisc, but after a follow-up call and subsequent site visit, it was clear they needed a unique Entrance Mat for a unique building. And INTRAshape offered the ideal foundation for customisaiton.

    With its listed building status, the Entrance Matting system needed to be true to its heritage as a technical college of engineering — practically perfect and sympathetic to the building’s aesthetics.

    Customised Chessboard Tiled Entrance Matting

    Instead of focusing on providing extra grip on wet floors, we concentrated on removing the water at source. We advised increasing the Entrance Mat from 4m2 to 10m2, to maximise the absorption area. Covering the full width of the Polished red ashlar portico entrance bay and up to the marble staircase. However, enlarging the small matwell wasn’t possible because of listed building constraints, so we suggested levelling the existing recessed matwell and installing a surface-mounted system with ramped edges.

    Fine Details But Heavy Duty

    We custom-made 380 x 380mm INTRAshape tiles, with a black anodised finisha. Combined them with INTRAlux Elite Black 608 and Grey 606 inserts, to match the existing chessboard, monochrome flooring tiles perfectly.

    INTRAlux Elite has a high-density pile of coarse and fine polyamide fibres made from 100% Econyl (recycled plastics). They boast high moisture absorption (up to 5.4L/m2) and scraping abilities. The heavy-duty inserts also deliver durability, comfort and excellent sound absorption.

    This, combined with the modular INTRAshape system, meets the multi-directional traffic requirement, as visitors can turn left from the doors to the accessibility lift and staff entrance.

    A Perfect Match

    Procurement partner and preferred contractor, Kirkton Flooring, managed the project with our support for layout and drawings, then Master Matting completed the install. First impressions were positive, and it’s a marked improvement on earlier mitigation attempts.

    “It looks fab thanks, just exactly what I imagined it to be like. Thanks for all your assistance and patience on this one, much appreciated.” Building Surveyor, Estates Services, University of Strathclyde

    Mastering Entrance Matting with Expertise and Innovation

    INTRAsystems’ specialist knowledge and proprietary products mean we can tackle any challenge of Entrance Matting. Whether you need a sensitive retrofit in a listed building or a contemporary new build system, we can match your Entrance Matting conundrum to enhance safety, design and first impressions.

    INTRAshape

    Free your imagination and create infinite design possibilities… Complementary, tessellating shapes can be used to …