Article
Rapid school refurbs with fast fit flooring
Time is of the essence in education refurbishments, preventing disruption to the daily goings on of our schools and colleges. Here, flooring is a crucial consideration, with careful time and preparation needing to go into a successful installation. To speed up installs, specifiers should be considering faster fit solutions, like adhesive free flooring, helping to turn around refurbs faster and more efficiently. In this article, Lewis Cooper, Education Senior Marketing Executive, from Forbo Flooring Systems, will discuss the options available on the market.
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efurbishments within schools and colleges can often be difficult to complete, with work having to be conducted outside of academic hours – usually during school holidays or over weekends. As such, when looking to replace flooring, timing is everything, ensuring the new solution is installed in a timely manner and allowing staff and students to return undisrupted.
Whilst sheet flooring is the traditional choice for this exact reason, offering fast install and leading aesthetics, there are other alternatives available – like adhesive free planks and tiles.
Saving time using adhesive-free alternatives
Traditionally adhered flooring isn’t always the best solution where speed is concerned, with uplift of the existing flooring, subfloor preparation and drying times (which can be as long as 48 hours) all needing to be accounted for when planning work schedules.
In comparison, adhesive free flooring is a fast to fit and dependable solution that can, in many cases, be laid directly onto a variety of subfloors, or even over existing flooring – often without the need for lengthy subfloor preparation. Through the omission of traditional adhesive or tackifier, the time it takes for an install to be completed can be reduced by over 50%, a massive time saving. Adhesive free flooring solutions can also be walked on and furniture returned as soon as the floor is laid, avoiding the drying times associated with adhered products, as well as minimising disruption.
14 Autumn 2025 issue 4181 Long-term performance
However, it’s not just the installation that must be considered. The durability of flooring across its entire useable life is also critical – especially so in busy, high traffic areas like education environments. To meet this requirement, Forbo’s Fast Supply Fast Fit family of adhesive free flooring is designed to prevent lifting and movement throughout its lifespan, engineered for dimensional stability to eliminate the potential for rucking. Every product in the range can be fitted using a double-sided contact tape (supplied with the flooring) that holds the floor covering firmly in place once installed.
Prioritising end user wellbeing
As well as the more functional benefits of adhesive free flooring, there are a number of health and wellbeing positives too. By removing the need for adhesives, adhesive- free flooring minimises the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and unpleasant aromas, especially if a low-VOC floor covering is selected. All of this helps to create a better indoor environment and contributes to the positive wellbeing of students and staff.
Material Circularity
Sustainability can also be catered for by adhesive free solutions, facilitating a circular economy. Further down the line, when flooring comes to the end of its useful lifespan, it can be easily removed and replaced or reused elsewhere – due to the lack of adhesive residue on the backing of the floor coverings. The uplifted flooring can even be repurposed through manufacturer take back schemes.
Contributing to material circularity means less waste and a lower whole lifecycle
environmental impact. This is an especially important consideration for educational projects, with schools and colleges under increasing pressure to reduce their environmental impact and strive for net zero targets.
Forbo’s Fast Supply Fast Fit Collection
Forbo’s Fast Supply Fast Fit flooring is the ideal solution for faster education refurbishments. Made up of three sheet vinyl collections, Eternal Next (design vinyl), Modul’up 19 dB (acoustic vinyl) and Surestep Fast Fit (safety vinyl), it caters perfectly to the education sector.
This range of products allows specifiers to choose from a wide variety of solutions to find the ideal one for their requirements. Each of these ranges are stocked and available locally in the UK, ensuring fast delivery, can be installed using the same double sided contact tape over various subfloors, including existing flooring. All of this makes the collection perfect for projects with tight deadlines or where downtime has to be kept to a minimum, such as weekends or half-terms and school holiday periods, helping to cut installation time by as much as 50% and costs by 30%.
All three collections also come available in
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