Gallery / Case Studies

The CLIENT:

• ETS is a leading engineering school located in the heart of Montreal, Quebec.
• Known amongst the five largest schools and faculties of engineering in Canada, ETS welcomes over 4800 students.
• The facility counts 70 classrooms, 100 laboratories, a library and university residence halls on campus accommodating up to 850 students. 
• Founded in 1974, the project covers 400,000 sq. ft. spread out on 6 floors.

The CHALLENGE:

• A vinyl floor with simple maintenance requirements to cover 140,000 sq. ft. of different surfaces (corridors, classrooms, laboratories, amphitheatre, etc.)
• At first, because of the lack of funds, they opted for a basic tile with an epoxy coating. However, ETS wanted a more environmentally friendly solution to promote their green philosophy.

The AB SOLUTION:

• Stonescape was offered and selected as it doesn't contain PVCs nor VOCs and is the greenest tile on the market.
• It was also chosen because of its flexibility, sound deadening and absorption properties, ease of installation and bold new look. 
• PS-30 adhesive was used.

The TESTIMONIES:

• ETS was the first Quebec University to officially take the Environmental shift.
• ETS decided to replace every floor that needs to be changed by Stonescape. They are currently replacing 70 000 sq. ft. of existing tiles by Stonescape.

THE CLIENT

• Norfolk General is a full service community hospital located in Simcoe, Ontario (Norfolk County).
• Its services include: Emergency, ICU, Surgery, Nursing, Diagnostic Imaging, Obstetrics, Rehabilitation Services and several others.
• The facility is a five stories building that houses 121 beds.

THE CHALLENGE

• A floor that covers a broad spectrum of needs within the facility:
  • Stain resistant
  • Comfort for both patient and medical personnel
  • Sound deadening properties
  • Simple maintenance requirements
  • High level of hygiene
• Areas to be covered: corridors, patient rooms, ER and Triage, Diagnostic Imaging, cafeteria, washrooms, reception and other areas throughout the facility.
• The project includes 10,000 sq. ft. of renovated structures and 40,000 sq. ft. of brand new construction.

THE AB SOLUTION

• Oasis was offered and selected as it met and surpassed the requirements of the facility due to the features and benefits that rubber offers as well as the very low cost of maintenance through dry buffing.
• Oasis was also selected as the rolls offered less seams than tile.
• A combination of AD-444 and AD-530SF adhesive was used.

THE CLIENT

• Genesis Healthcare is a long-term care and rehabilitation therapy provider with more than 200 Skilled Nursing Centers and Assisted Living Communities in 13 eastern states.
• Morristown’s facility offers services such as long-term care, short stay care, rehabilitation therapy and revital care. 

THE CHALLENGE

• A large test floor was installed in one of their facilities (502 sq ft) so that Genesis Healthcare could evaluate TecCare versus their current supplier.
• Since all staff and all shipping, receiving and laundry carts must pass through the area, they required a floor:
  • with simple maintenance
  • easy to install and replace options
  • with a “home feeling” and look
  • that withstands heavy traffic
• The area was limited to 3 elevators (two general and one service).

THE AB SOLUTION

• TecCare flooring was installed specifically because of its ease of installation.
• Engineered to be installed over existing floors, its 2500 psi rating means better resistance to indents.
• It was also chosen because of its resistance to scratching, its glued adhesive acting as an effective moisture barrier and quick replacement.
• TecCare is a low maintenance floor with its 0.30mm wear layer.

THE TESTIMONIES

• The facility manager is extremely satisfied with the result and is planning on using it in other parts of the facility.

Location: York (Toronto), Ontario, Canada 
Owner: Humber River Regional Hospital 
Architect: HDR, Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada 
Project Type: New Construction - Acute Care Hospital, Healthcare 
Size: 1,700,000 square feet 
Sustainable Features: LEED Silver Certification being pursued 
General Contractor: PCL Construction 
Flooring Contractor:HRRH_JV (Kent-Leckie Flooring / North Wood Surfaces Joint-venture)

Background: Humber River Hospital is one of Canada’s largest regional acute care hospitals, serving a catchment area of more than 850,000 people. The hospital currently operates on three sites with a total of 549 beds, 3,000 staff, approximately 700 physicians and 400 volunteers. Affiliated with the University of Toronto and Queen's University, the need was identified to consolidate the three facilities into one new facility with the intention of creating a state-of-the-art lean, green, and digital facility.

Challenge:: The design program for the new hospital called for increased total capacity from 549 to 656 beds including 48 critical care beds to meet growing healthcare demands. It also called for more ambulatory care and clinical facilities with the concept of identifying easily accessible “portals of care” into the building and the different clinical areas. As such, this large, new facility required a flooring system that would need to hold up to the high volume of traffic from pedestrians and wheeled hospital chairs and beds. That meant the flooring would need to be not only durable, but also easy to keep clean on a daily basis without undue maintenance demands. Because of the healthcare setting, the flooring could not readily harbor bacteria, mold or mildew meaning that easy decontamination would be needed. From a human perspective, it would need to be comfortable to walk on for patients, staff, and visitors. And of course, the color of the flooring needed to be unaffected by all of the other criteria and needs of the floor. Light colors were preferred to go with the rest of the building design which meant that cleaning would be particularly important. Further, since the hospital would be in this building for a long time, the color had to be stable and hold up as well as the flooring material itself.

Solution: Among the various materials considered and specified for this significant project, AB Pure, was selected and used in 2 different colors across 300,000 square feet of floor. The areas where it was installed included high usage areas such as corridors, patient rooms, emergency rooms, cardiac wing rooms, the cancer center and other critical areas. In addition, 17,000 linear feet of one piece stair tread was installed in six exit stairwells. The treads included a colored insert for the visually impaired to highlight and differentiate the stair edge.

In order to meet hygiene demands, the non-SBR sheet rubber flooring was heat welded along all seams to create a continuous solution without joints that might otherwise promote bacteria growth. Further, along the walls, the edges were flash coved 6 inches up to form a seamless wall base and then were capped. Inside and outside corners were appropriately formed and sealed as well. After installation, an initial cleaning was conducted and maintenance staff was instructed on the set up and ongoing care process to minimize effort and maximize performance.

Results: The new Humber River Hospital will be easy for patients and visitors to navigate, fiscally efficient to operate, and provide a people-friendly work environment. As a result of the hospital’s Lean design work, walking distances in the new hospital for staff delivering care has been reduced by over 17 percent while most of the flooring in that area is brighter, more colorful, and easier to maintain. The new hospital will also adhere to the principles of the LEED rating system, with a goal of exceeding LEED Silver certification. The selected flooring system is helping to contribute to that certification. In addition the new hospital will meet the requirements for Tier 1 of the City of Toronto’s Green Standard. It will be the most energy efficient acute care hospital in North America based on ASHRAE baselines resulting in a greater than 40% reduction in energy consumption.

THE CLIENT

• Grasslands Campus provides primary and specialty care along with rehabilitation and sports medicine, wound care and children’s specialty care..

THE CHALLENGE

• Provide a resilient flooring option that can withstand the daily high traffic demands of a healthcare facility.
• Ease of maintenance, no wax.
• High gloss option.
• Areas to be covered: All general public spaces.

THE AB SOLUTION

• Texas Granite 12” size tiles to provide a seamless look to the floor.
• • AD-610 adhesive was used to provide a firm installation to withstand the heavy traffic and rolling loads of facility.

Architect: Hunton Brady – Orlando, Florida

Project Size: 60,000 sft

Flooring Contractor: Spectra Contract Flooring – Tampa, Florida