CASE STUDY O2 BE IN LONDON
Our case study this issue shows how Kerakoll products made a splash in the Intercontinental Hotel, Greenwich.
The riverside InterContinental® London - the O2 hotel - stands out in the buzzing Greenwich Peninsula, with 453 luxury rooms, 17 metre swimming pool, a beauty spa, 20 meeting rooms and a ballroom for up to 3,000. Spectacular Canary Wharf views are best enjoyed over cocktails in Eighteen Sky Bar, one of several dining destinations in the new hotel. The O2 arena is steps away and the Emirates Air Line zips over the Thames to ExCeL London. The Thames Clipper and the Jubilee line offer fast links to London’s West End and London City Airport.
When Balfour Beatty, the main contractor for this new hotel development, appointed Chiltern Contracts Ltd as the tiling contractor, they quickly involved Kerakoll in site meetings and consultations with both contractors and the architects, G1 Architecture & Interior Design for the choice of the tiling systems.
Karl Beeden, the Kerakoll representative selected the products knowing that time constraints to the project meant that it was crucial that over 16,000m² of tiling needed to be carried out without a hitch.
The first area to be considered was the swimming pool, where glass mosaics and 800 x 400 x 10mm porcelain tiles were specified. H40® Eco Tenaflex was chosen to tile both of these, primarily as it is totally stable even when in constant contact with water.
It is also extremely high
grab, is easily adjustable and has a pot life of four hours, all of which helped when installing both the mosaics and the heavy porcelain tiles to the walls.
Fugabella® Eco Porcelana 0 – 5 in Jasmine and Bahama Beige was used to grout the tiles and Fugabella® Eco Silicone, in the same colours, was used to seal joints. The Fugabella® collection of grouts has natural antibacterial protection from NHL and very high
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levels of mechanical resistance, colour consistency and water repellence, all of which are very important for a swimming pool area where the grout is under sustained attack from chemicals in the water.
The client had asked the architects and designers to create an astrological pattern, to be replicated across the floor of the reception lobby, common areas and communal washrooms. They chose River White granite tiles inlaid with brass to achieve this.
Before tiling, the floor was prepared using one of two self-levelling compounds: Keratech® Eco R10 is used in thickness up to 10mm. It sets extremely quickly and is ready for tiling approximately 12 hours after laying. Both it and the second compound, Keratech® Eco R30 form a very smooth, even finish and are suitable for use in areas of high foot traffic. Keratech® Eco R30 is used in areas where the original substrate is more uneven as it can be laid in thicknesses from 3 – 30mm, but is equally rapid drying.
H40® Eco Marmorex was specified as the adhesive for the granite. It is a pure white rapid set adhesive, which locks in excess mixing water and prevents stains from forming on the surface of delicate natural stones. It can be used as a solid bed in thicknesses up to 15mm, which also helped with the laying of the large 610 x 610 x 15mm granite tiles. The floor was finished with Fugabella® Eco Porcelana 0 – 5 grout in pearl grey to match the tiles and Fugabella® Eco AM low modulus silicone, which has been developed specifically for use with natural stone to prevent picture framing and staining.
The walls of the washrooms were tiled with Jura Beige limestone fixed with H40® Eco Tenaflex, chosen for its high grab properties and grouted and sealed with the Fugabella® Eco
grout and silicone that was used throughout the hotel to install the natural stone.
Granite was again chosen for the Eighteen Sky Bar, located on the 18th floor overlooking Canary Wharf and the London skyline. This time the tiles were black Star Galaxy in the same 610 x 610 x 15mm size as tiles in the lobby. Kerakoll proposed H40® Eco Rapid as the adhesive due to the fixing time constraints. This grey adhesive is ready to grout after only three hours. Fugabella® Eco Porcelana 0 – 5 and Fugabella® Eco AM were then chosen for the grouting and siliconing for the same reasons as with the River White granite.
The Clipper Bar has a 270° view across the Thames to London from floor to ceiling windows and an oval bar in polished Carrara marble. The front of the bar was tiled with hexagonal Carrara marble mosaics which were fixed with H40® Eco Tenaflex for its high grab properties and adjustability, both important when installing mosaics on a curved bar front.
For the floor, the designers specified Norwegian Blue Pearl Granite cut into equilateral triangles and laid to form hexagons with smaller Carrara hexagonal inserts at the corners of each tile: the whole forming a grid of interlocking hexagons. The surface was first levelled using Keratech® Eco R10 to ensure that it was perfectly flat. H40® Eco Rapid was then used as the adhesive for the floor tiles to allow the tiling to be completed on time. The same Fugabella® Eco Porcelana 1-5 grout and silicone were used to finish both the bar front mosaic and the floor tile installation.
The project proceeded to plan and finished on time with both client and architect very satisfied with the end result.
www.kerakoll.co.uk www.tomorrowstileandstone.co.uk
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