A NEW CHAPTER IN HISTORY
Bradite’s floor treatments have been well and truly put through their paces on an exciting aviation museum rebuild project.
Bradite’s 2K Floor and Wall EW99 specialist coating was recently specified as part of the rebuild of the Gatwick Aviation Museum. Located north-west of Gatwick Airport in the Surrey village of Charlwood, this aerospace museum houses a unique hands-on display of British designed aircraft ‘from post-war to cold war.’
Now run as a charitable trust, the museum began in 1981 when local businessman and aircraft enthusiast, Peter Vallance, transformed a run-down battery farm to house his growing collection of aircraft, parts, models and memorabilia. However, as the collection grew, most of the aircraft had been stored outside for more than 20 years, a situation which had been causing space and maintenance problems.
To ensure the heritage of this significant collection, a new structure has now been built to house a number of historic aircraft, including Gloster Meteor T.7, De Havilland Venom, De Havilland Sea Vixen, Hawker Hunter T.7, Hawker Harrier GR.3 and English Electric Lightning F.53, plus the Blackburn Buccaneer S.1 which will soon be moved into the new building.
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH
THE NEW Demolition of the old building, including asbestos removal, was carried out, with the rebuild scheduled for completion within 10 weeks. When it came to the floor treatment, the application of a high performance non-slip coating was imperative: this would allow visitors to get up close to the aircraft safely and ensure the floor itself could withstand heavy traffic during the museum’s busiest times.
32 | CLEANING & MAINTENANCE
To meet these requirements, Bradite’s 2K Floor and Wall EW99 was specified, and supplied by the Horsham branch of Brewers. This two-pack water-thinned, epoxy coating and finish paint is designed for application to floors, walls, structural steel and machinery. Delivering a tough, hardwearing film, EW99 is easy to clean and decontaminate, and it can be used with a low-slip additive for extra performance in projects such as the Gatwick Aviation Museum.
Ashley Colella, the museum’s manager, explains the progress of the rebuild and Bradite’s contribution: “First, we applied a thinned base coat of Bradite’s EW99 that was watered down. Then we applied two coats of EW99 mixed with aggregate to
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