Concrete Floor Painting for British Gypsum

British Gypsum is the UK’s leading manufacturer of plasterboard and plaster-based drylining systems. With well over 100 years of experience, they are one of the most well-regarded brands in the construction industry. They were also one of Norris Commercial Refurbishment’s first clients over 30 years ago!

From that first job, Norris Commercial Refurbishment have worked with British Gypsum multiple times over the years at their site in East Leake, Leicestershire. Along with many other repeat customers, a good long-term relationship has been formed through trust and great service.  

Producing plasterboard is bound to produce a lot of fine dust and dirt, which can be transferred throughout work areas. British Gypsum always aims to ensure their work areas are safe. So, when they needed some floors and walkways repainting they contacted us.

Choosing the right concrete floor paint

In concrete floor painting we use two types of paint. Semi-gloss paint, which has a more grippy texture, is ideal for floors in workspaces where dust, water or oil may make the floor slippy. The high-gloss concrete floor paint obviously has more of a shine to it but is less grippy. This is the type you may see in car showrooms etc. 

Clients often come to us requesting high-gloss paint throughout, due to its more attractive nature. But we are always on hand to advise on where this may be less suitable for safety reasons. Some companies add aggregate to the high-gloss paint, keeping the shiny appearance but adding grippiness. This process can cause problems in itself, as once aggregate is added, the raised particles trap dirt, defeating the object of having a lovely shiny floor!

For this job at British Gypsum, we worked with the maintenance manager to identify the areas with more and less slip risk, so the correct paint could be used in the correct places, maximising both site safety and appearance.

Many companies we work with have colour schemes which match not only with the site we’re working on but also their sites across the country, and sometimes the world. British Gypsum is no exception to this, and we were easily able to match the floor paint colours with their colour scheme.

Concrete floor painting in a safe environment

Working on busy, active sites means great communication is needed between our team and the customer’s site staff. Our process engineers had regular meetings with the site foreman at British Gypsum both before and during the project, keeping everyone on track with what was happening.  

The Norris Commercial Refurbishment team are all health and safety trained and, for this and all jobs, they arrive on site kitted out in all necessary PPE. On arrival at British Gypsum, the team received their site induction, an expected process when working in a busy industrial environment. On this site in particular, there is a high volume of forklift truck traffic, with zebra crossings at specific locations along their gangways and walkways. 

Time is of the essence

For a company such as British Gypsum, production time is crucial. With two production lines working throughout the day to produce plasterboard, there is a huge effect on profit and productivity if the process is held up. 

Although at times it’s necessary to take possession of an entire site or area, it’s not something we expect, and we are used to working on occupied premises. Working through the night or weekends is not unusual when we quote; it’s simply part of what we do.  

‘When we tell the maintenance engineers that we work around their production, we see them visibly relax. We’re here to take away the hassle, not create headaches for the people running these sites.’ John Norris, Managing Director, Norris Commercial Refurbishment

Another concrete floor painting success

The team from Norris Commercial Refurbishment were able to work efficiently with and around the British Gypsum to complete this concrete floor painting project for them. We look forward to being back on site with them in the future.

If you have an enquiry regarding concrete floor painting for your organisation, our team are happy to answer any questions and create a quote based on your requirements. 

Get in touch with our friendly team today!