Secondary schools

Classrooms

Floors

Secondary school classroom floors have to deal with feet and furniture. A lot of feet and furniture. Around 30 pairs of feet regularly come, go, or rest on the floor; add to that 30 bags, 30 chairs and many table legs and it’s clear that the floor needs to be tough. We know that classrooms can’t be out of action for long, with most building work restricted to the school holidays, so another challenge for these spaces is reducing installation time. 

Altro Cantata is a soft-look adhesive-free floor, available in multiple shades from subtle naturals to beautifully vivid, plus wood-look options. It offers 14dB impact sound reduction and comfort underfoot. Installation is half that of a traditionally adhered floor: you can weld and walk the same day, even over fresh concrete. There are no rucks or movement when down, a promise backed by a ten-year guarantee. At the end of its life the entire floor can be uplifted and reused or recycled.

Walls

In a space where there are a lot of students, finding room for group work can be difficult. Taking the workspace from the table and onto the walls, can solve the issue, plus, getting students up out of their seats can break up lessons and help spark creativity.

The Altro Whiterock Whiteboard is ideal for brainstorming. It works just like a dry wipe board and can be cleaned easily once the work is finished with. As needed for a well-used classroom space, it has the durability you expect from Altro Whiterock. 

Art rooms

Floors

No surprises here. Art room floors contend with a lot of contaminants, such chalk dust and muddy water from clay work. It needs to be easy to sweep up and clean up, without pupils 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 one in a million, even with that muddy water. It also features Altro Easyclean Technology, making it easier to clean up after a clay session! 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 from budding artists, 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, they’re in safe hands.

Walls

Why should a space that’s all about creativity be a blank canvas? Art rooms walls can set the tone, inspire and showcase. At the same time, they need to be able to cope with the bumps expected in a busy creative space, and handle the odd spatter and settled paint and chalk dust by being easy to clean.

Altro Whiterock Digiclad is a custom print option utilising UV cured inks onto an Altro Whiterock sheet from a photographic image or art design. It means the entire wall space can feature inspirational artworks or photography, or even work by pupils past and present, making the room represent the school in unique way. Wipe-clean Altro Whiterock Digiclad is durable, with hard-coat technology providing scratch-resistant properties, ensuring the walls look good for the long-term.

Craft Design Technology (CDT) rooms

Floors

A CDT room floor will regularly be covered with sawdust, so it needs to be easy to sweep and clean, without pupils slipping. On top of this, it needs to house heavy equipment and will see regular wheeled traffic, as well as the expected heavy footfall.

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 one in a million, even with sawdust, plus it has good chemical resistance. It also features Altro Easyclean Technology, making it easier to clean up after classes. At 2.5mm it’s tough enough to cope with heavy equipment, as well as regular feet and wheels, 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, they’re in safe hands.

Walls

CDT room walls will regularly be knocked, scuffed and bumped. It’s a working space and should look like one but regular painted walls will end up with chunks missing, paint flaking off, scratches, scuffs and more. A freshly painted wall will soon look as though it was decorated years ago. Not the look you want.

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.

Kitchens

Floors

Prepping and cooking hundreds of meals, all to be served within an hour, or less, means school kitchens have to operate efficiently and quickly, without compromising on safety. As staff work to get multiple dishes ready, there’s no time to worry about oil splashes or food debris on the floor causing accidents. Once prep and service are over, clean-up and advanced prep for the next day means there’s no rest for staff feet, so a floor solution that can take the burden of a day spent standing will be welcomed.

Altro Stronghold 30 is a specialist safety floor with our highest rating for slip and reduces the risk of a slip to one in a million, even with contaminants such as greasy water, oil and food debris. Its 3mm thickness offers comfort underfoot and also provides impact sound reduction, muffling the impact of dropped pans and trays.

Walls

School kitchen walls are regularly spattered with sauces, juices and grease and knocked with tins, pans and trays. They need to be easy to clean and impact-resistant, two things that tiles are not.

Altro Whiterock hygienic walls system has been a market leader for over 35 years. Grout-free, impervious and resistant to impact, it ends the issues associated with tiles, plus is backed with up to 20 years’ guarantee and ongoing technical support from Altro and is fire-compliant. Altro Whiterock White is Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) approved and is made from a high-quality, food-safe PVCu polymer that can handle temperatures up to 60°C, supporting the required hygiene standards. For a classic look there is Altro Whiterock White but if your kitchen can be seen from the adjacent hall, there is Altro Whiterock Satins and Altro Whiterock Chameleon, both designed to create a lasting impression.

Science labs

Floors

Science labs experience dropped experiments, amongst other mishaps, with the floor taking the brunt. Add to these trollies of scientific equipment coming in and out of the lab, plus students rocking back and forth on stools, and you’ve got the need for a tough safety floor.

Walls

The walls in science labs will suffer the occasional chemical splash, regular water splashes from at least one sink, and ongoing bumps from equipment and bags. A wall sheet system to protect the walls in this area makes sense but, as it’s a school and not a work-place lab, there’s no need for a clinical white look.

Altro Whiterock Satins is available in multiple shades, plenty of options to bring a science 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 take a hammering: near constant use, mud, studded boots, water, shower gel, bare feet, school shoes. They’re a melting pot of different contaminants, trodden in by both shoes and bare feet. 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. More than thirty shades mean plenty of choice when creating a new look or matching with surrounding décor. 

Walls

These walls get splashed with both clean, soapy and muddy water, plus the odd glob of shower gel or shampoo. There’s bound to be the odd thrown bottle of shower gel or hairbrush too. The walls need to be durable, impervious, to prevent water damage, plus it should 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 can cope with what’s thrown at it. 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.

Storage areas

Floors

A floor in this space needs to be consistently functional. It might have to withstand the weight of PE equipment or shelves full of files, and cope if benches or chair stacks are dragged across it. In case of spills, stains should be easy to clean, and those walking in and out of the room need to be protected from slipping.

Walls

Walls in storage spaces will get damaged and no amount of repainting is going to keep them looking good for long.

Dense, impervious and resistant to bumps, knocks and scrapes, wipe-clean Altro Fortis Titanium 15 wall sheet is designed to protect walls. Its ten shades run through so, unlike paint or some alternative wall coverings, a scrape doesn’t remove the colour. If there are any corners within the storage space, there’s Altro Fortis corner protection, a ready-made piece that protects the areas most susceptible to damage from regular knocks.