Colleges and universities

Staff rooms

Floors

Staff areas are well used: lots of feet, chairs and table legs, so the floor needs to be durable. As a space used for work, meetings and well-earned breaks, it needs to look homely, comfortable: the floor plays a central part in creating a space where staff are happy to be. With staff areas in constant use, installation or refurbishment needs to be quick and easy.

Altro Cantata is a soft-look adhesive-free floor, available in 17 shades from subtle naturals to beautifully vivid. It offers 14dB impact sound reduction and comfort underfoot. Altro Cantata halves installation time – you can weld and walk the same day, even over fresh concrete, with no adhesive odours. There are no rucks, no movement and it is guaranteed for ten years. At the end of its life the entire floor can be uplifted and reused or recycled.

Art rooms

Floors

No surprises here. Art room floors contend with a lot of contaminants, including chalk dust and water from clay work. It needs to be easy to sweep up and clean up, without students slipping up.

Altro Classic 25 is a specialist safety floor, meaning it prevents slips with certain contaminants other than water. With a high level of slip resistance, it reduces the slip risk to less than one in a million, even with muddy water from that clay. It also has good chemical resistance and features Altro Easyclean Technology, making cleaning easier. At 2.5mm it’s tough enough to cope with art props being dragged around the room, as well as the heavy levels of foot traffic, with the added benefit of comfort underfoot. And Altro Classic has a track record for safety and durability going back 60 years, so rest assured, those using this space are in safe hands.

Canteens and cafés

Floors

Unlike schools, many university canteens and cafes are open much of the day, and often into the night. Students in catered accommodation will rely on these at mealtimes and, during holidays, the facilities will be used for conferences and events. This means downtime is a problem. These areas can’t be out of action for long; quick and straight-forward installation over an existing floor, or over new concrete saves time and money.

Altro Wood adhesive-free creates maximum impact with minimum downtime – halving installation time - and no adhesive means no associated odours during - and post - installation. With 12 colour choices, 14dB impact sound reduction and a one in a million slip-resistance reassurance, it offers high levels of comfort underfoot providing a safe, durable and decorative solution for busy spaces. It is ideal for busy public spaces where disruption needs to be minimal.

Walls

For many students, university canteens and cafes replace the family dining room. They should be somewhere you can enjoy a meal; somewhere you want to be. At the same time, with many universities hiring these spaces out for conferences and events, they need to look good for the long-term and be easy to clean quickly.

Altro Whiterock wall designs ensure rooms can dress to impress, without compromising on durability. Natural wood, stone, linen and metal options can be used alone or combined, giving multiple design options. They fit perfectly with Altro floors and can be used with Altro Whiterock or Altro Fortis Titanium 15 to run into adjacent areas. As you expect from Altro Whiterock, the sheets are impact-resistant, impervious and hygienic.

Lecture theatres

Floors

It’s no surprise that the main requirement for a lecture theatre is a calm space with no noise distraction. While students will sit, lecturers stand for at least an hour and often longer, so their comfort is also a consideration. As most lecture spaces are theatre style, the flooring on stairs and in seating rows see most foot traffic.

Walls

As these rooms are theatre style, the walls at the door entrance where students queue to get in, and at the end of the seating rows, are likely to be bumped and knocked by bags, laptop cases and shoes, meaning they need more protection than other areas.

Dense, impervious and resistant to bumps, Altro Fortis Titanium 15 wall sheet is designed to protect these busy, vulnerable areas. Its ten shades, which vary from classic White to bold Cardinal red, run through so, unlike paint or some alternative wall coverings, a scrape doesn’t remove the colour. Use alongside Altro Fortis corner protection, a ready-made piece that protects the areas most susceptible to damage from regular knocks.

Computer/server rooms

Floors

These rooms have a simple function: protect the equipment that’s kept there, particularly if it’s static-sensitive. It’s also not somewhere you want to decorate regularly, so it needs to have a floor that goes the distance and is easy to maintain.

Altro Walkway 20 SD is a static-dissipative floor, reducing static build-up that has the potential to damage valuable equipment – both in terms of cost and how vital it is in the day to day running of the school. There’s also the added reassurance of its fire standards compliance in an area that has a higher fire risk than other spaces. Its 10-year guarantee ensures no disruption to the computer systems caused by repairs to, or replacement of, the floor before this time.

Walls

These rooms are not somewhere you want to decorate regularly: the walls need to be durable, easy to install and maintain and be able to house shelving and racks where needed.

Altro Fortis Titanium 15 provides the impact resistance and cleanability you expect from Altro walls. Racks and shelves can be fitted onto it and into the wall behind, leaving a surface that can be kept clean by wiping. With equipment and shelving regularly banging against the wall, it gives peace of mind that the wall will be protected, reducing the need for ongoing maintenance.

Laboratories

Floors

Laboratories will experience heavy equipment, chemical spillages, dropped glass and trollies of smaller equipment coming and going, resulting in the need for a tough safety floor.

Walls

Laboratory walls will suffer the occasional chemical splash, regular water splashes from the sink, and ongoing bumps from equipment and bags. A wall sheet system to protect the walls in this area makes sense but, as a learning space, there’s no need for a clinical white look.

Altro Whiterock Satins is available in multiple shades: plenty of options to bring a lab to life. It provides the impact resistance and cleanability you expect from Altro Whiterock and resistance to a wide range of chemicals, ensuring the walls retain the intended look long-term.

Sports changing rooms

Floors

Sports changing rooms floor are going to take a hammering: near constant use, mud, studded boots, water, shower gel, bare feet, shoes.  They need to prevent slips, withstand different footwear and heavy traffic, and clean up well.

For showers we recommend Altro Aquarius, a specialist safety floor that offers a one in a million chance of a slip, with both shoes and bare feet and with shampoo, conditioner and shower gel (slider 96). 20 shades mean plenty of choice when creating a new look, or matching with surrounding décor. 

Walls

These walls are splashed with both clean, soapy and muddy water, plus the odd glob of shower gel or shampoo. They need to be durable, impervious to prevent water damage, and it must be easy to remove dirt marks, soap scum etc.

Altro Whiterock Satins is a fully-bonded system that’s watertight and impervious, ensuring water can’t get behind the wall sheet. Its impact-resistance and 20-year guarantee shows it’s a long-term solution. It’s ideal for areas such as changing rooms, which will need regular cleaning and avoids the common problems with tiles: staining, cleaning grout and individual tile failure. Altro Whiterock Satins is available in multiple shades, so there’s a huge amount of design flexibility to create the desired look and feel for this space.

Toilets

Floors

As you would expect, the focus on this area is hygiene. There will be lots of people in and out all day to use the facilities, not always mindful of keeping the area hygienic, so the floor needs to be easy to clean. As there will be regular sink splashes on the floor, preventing slips is also important.

Walls

A hygienic, easy to clean walls solution here is going to keep germs at bay. The walls also need to be robust, standing up to occasional impact. To encourage students and visitors to treat the space well, a high-end look can help.

Altro Whiterock wall designs offer natural wood, metal, stone and linen designs on an Altro Whiterock wall sheet. Fully bonded and with no grout, there’s nowhere for bacteria to hide. As it’s grout-free and impact resistant, it doesn’t present the same issues as tiles, meaning the space is more hygienic and looks better for longer. And when it comes to cleaning, a straight-forward wipe with detergent is all that’s needed, reducing the time needed to clean this area effectively.

Student bedrooms

Floors

Student bedrooms are spaces to sleep, study and socialise, so the demands on the fittings and fixtures are high! Quiet needed for rest and concentration means reducing the noises that come into, or go out of, individual rooms. This is the student’s home during term time, so a domestic look is key, while avoiding the hygiene and cleanability issues associated with carpet. To house the maximum number of students, these rooms can’t be out of action for installation or prolonged repair, so a floor solution that eliminates this issue is ideal.

With 12 wood-look choices, 14dB impact sound reduction and comfort underfoot, plus a one in a million slip-resistance assurance, Altro Wood adhesive-free provides a decorative, yet safe and durable solution. It’s ideal for bedrooms that are also social and learning spaces. With no adhesive, it also has the benefit of minimising downtime – halving installation time - and no associated odours during and post installation.

Disability access ramps

The Equality Act means there is an obligation to make reasonable provision and adjustments for disabilities, meaning that disability ramps may be needed to give a safe, reliable, easy to maintain entrance to a room. The potential for a slip on a ramp is increased by the fact that it’s a sloped surface so this is a key consideration when choosing a floor. A safety floor that can cope with regular wheeled and foot traffic is a must. To support those with visual impairment, the ramp surface should contrast with surroundings so that the change in surface or gradient is clear. More guidance on disability access ramps can be found in Building Regulations Approved Document M and Approved Document K.

Altro Stronghold 30 offers our highest level of slip resistance, so you can rest assured that with Altro Stronghold, users can move independently and safely. Fourteen colour choices make it easy to find a shade that contrasts with the surrounding floor.