Altro - Education

Integrated solutions for education

For over 60 years, Altro has worked with education experts to create spaces that inspire curiosity and creativity while promoting calm and wellness.

We believe that learning environments are some of the most important places there are and the way they function is just as important as the way they look.

Schools and universities need inspiring, durable, attractive and hygienic wall cladding and flooring products that can cope with the demands of growing up; cater for the creativity of the classroom and withstand the attention of everyone who uses the space, year after year.

We understand just how important the right environments are for successful learning, which is why our products are designed to deliver safety and stimulation in equal measure.

Schools have many different areas, all with diverse needs. From classrooms and corridors to faculty lounges and science labs, each area demands its own unique requirements but the need for lasting value is always there.

Altro is a perfect fit for these spaces because our floor and wall products offer:

• Long-term durability

• Reduced maintenance

• Impressive value

• Safety and hygiene

• On trend colour palettes

• Easy to clean

We know that learning environments play a vital role in nurturing and fostering young minds, but just as importantly, they must stand up to the rigour of daily use.

How interior finishes can impact learning

Emotions brought about by color can influence a student’s work or study habits. Studies show a direct link between colour and feelings, certain colors promoting positive and others negative. The right colour helps denote a rooms purposerelaxation, studying, collaboration, test-taking and more.

When it comes to flooring colour selection, there is no silver bullet. Looking at the effects of colour and translating that into the learning space’s purpose can serve as a guide on what colours fit where.

• Promote learning, while not overpowering students with neutrals, by using greens and blues as the base of classrooms and libraries.

• Add splashes of bright colour to areas that demand attention (chalkboard, smart board) or should stand out (doorways, restrooms, stairwells).

• Incorporate bold colours within a neutral palette by using it as accents and way-finding.

• Common areas should be more vibrant than classrooms and libraries. Additional colour welcomes conversation and excitement.

• Welcome visitors by showing school spirit - incorporate school colours and/or logos

into reception areas and halls/ theatres.

• Young children thrive in environments designed with bright colours, so keep students’ ages in mind. More colour can be used with this demographic than older students - without worry of over-stimulation.

• Neutrals – Clean, pure, restful, and noninvasive.

• Earth tones – Stability, approachable, warm, and soothing.

• Red – Bold, releases adrenaline, elevates blood pressure and heart rate.

• Orange – Energy, warmth, and joy.

• Yellow – Alertness and optimism. Can cause eye fatigue in large areas.

• Green – Balance, restful, healing, and nature.

• Blue – Calming, lowers blood pressure and heart rate.

• Turquoise – Refreshing, relaxing, and invigorating.

• Purple – Promotes creativity, spirituality, and perception.

• Pink – Soothing, affectionate, and happiness. Can stimulate energy.

Inherent in everything we do and see, colour influences every day life through our productivity, communication and emotion.

Enhancing student and staff wellbeing using design

The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and nature. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularised the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984). He defines biophilia as “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” It has since been expanded to include all forms of the natural environment, from plants and trees to rocks, sand and earth.

The benefits of biophilic design are clear. Studies have shown that exposure to nature and natural images can help with the healing process, reduce absenteeism, increase productivity and improve mood.

In educational settings, biophilic design has the capacity to reduce stress levels whilst increasing focus and productivity. In fact, research shows that optimising exposure to daylight alone can increase the speed of learning by 20-26% (Wells & Evans, 2003). It can also improve attendance by an average of 3.5 days/year and test scores by 5-14%. Features such as green walls and wood look flooring can enhance a learning space visually, improve air quality which helps concentration and reduce distracting noise to improve acoustics in education spaces.

In educational settings, biophilic design has the capacity to reduce stress levels whilst increasing focus and productivity. Biophilic design, a strategy of implementing nature into the environment, can help.

The impact of noise on students and teachers

While at school children are exposed to various types of noise including external, environmental noise and noise generated within the school itself. Research has shown that noise has detrimental effects upon children’s performance at school, including reduced memory, motivation, and reading ability.

External noise was found to have a significant negative impact upon performance, the effect being greater for the older children. The analysis suggested that children are particularly affected by the noise of individual external events. Test scores were also affected by internal noise, background levels being significantly related to test results. Negative relationships between performance and noise levels were maintained when the data were corrected for socioeconomic factors relating to social deprivation, language, and special

educational needs. Linear regression analysis has been used to estimate the maximum levels of external and internal noise which allow the schools surveyed to achieve required standards of literacy and numeracy.1

Hard interior surfaces including floors, walls and ceilings are a major acoustic issue; as a hard surface they can reflect rather than absorb sound. This causes noise to bounce around, overlap, echo and reverberate. Reverberation causes noise to prolong and echo in the environment, meaning it takes longer before the sound stops. These sound reflecting surfaces cause noise to travel down corridors into other rooms and extend considerable distances. The resulting lingering sound can affect students and staff over larger areas.

1. Faculty of Engineering, Science and Built Environment, London South Bank University, Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, United Kingdom. shieldbm@lsbu.ac.uk

Recent research suggests that noise can have a negative impact on the ability of a student to learn. Not only does it affect students but also staff, causing higher levels of stress and fatigue.

Australian

standard 4586 &

safety flooring

Reduce the risk!

Slips and trips

Surprisingly, a huge 55% of all accidents in education are caused by a slip, trip or fall.

These accidents affect staff and students alike; causing broken bones, considerable personal distress and a significant amount of time off to recover.

Employers and organisations have a duty of care to every employee, student and visitor within their establishment. As regulations become increasingly demanding and society ever more litigious, it is essential that you provide and maintain a safe environment for everyone.

Why safety flooring?

• Smooth flooring can be easy to clean but not slip-resistant when wet.

• Ceramic safety flooring can be slipresistant but the texture and grout can make it difficult to clean.

• Altro safety flooring provides excellent slip-resistance; the smooth surface makes it easier to clean, while the integral roughness of the aggregates provides slipresistance, even with spillages.

Why Altro safety flooring?

Altro slip-resistant safety flooring is a modern solution, meeting the highest standards of safety and hygiene.

• Slip-resistant, even when wet, throughout lifetime of floor.

• Impervious surface, grout-free.

• Coves to wall joints for rounded corners.

• Incorporates Altro Easyclean Technology for improved cleanability.

• Resilient surface, comfortable underfoot, contributes to reduced ambient noise levels.

• Homogeneous and heterogeneous options available in high quality PVC, which have aggregates throughout the wear layer of the floor, to guarantee long-lasting performance.

Being responsible for the management of public and private buildings and facilities is a huge responsibility and we’re here to make it easier. Buildings must comply with health and safety regulations and provide a safe and healthy environment for all who enter a building.

A one stop shop for all areas

With intense competition for the best staff and students, schools and universities have found that facility design can be a major factor in recruiting the best and brightest minds. This has caused a shift away from traditional materials and design to a more modern, sophisticated look.

With a multitude of different area types, schools and universities require a variety of flooring products to suit the diverse needs of their facility. They require attractive, durable, low maintenance flooring solutions for common areas, classrooms and student housing yet need robust slip-resistance in wet environments, kitchens and heavy industrial areas. This is where

Altro can deliver more than the competition. Our large portfolio of flooring products covers all of these areas and more.

Specify one supplier for the whole school! Altro floors, walls and doors are perfect for:

• Cafeterias

• Hallways and corridors

• Labs

• Bathrooms

• Kitchens

• Student accommodation

• Classrooms

• Offices & reception spaces

• Communal areas

Bathrooms & Kitchens!

Bathrooms and kitchens can spell danger in any environment. Water, fat, cooking oil, flour, milk, food particles and the occasional chopped carrot – all can end up on floors and walls.

Altro’s integrated safety flooring and hygienic wall protection system provides long-lasting safe and hygienic surfaces for wet, dusty and greasy conditions.

Bathrooms

Bathrooms can be a dangerous area in the school, with water on the floor being a real hazard. Students and faculty need to be protected from slipping. Altro safety flooring is the ideal solution, providing peace of mind while requiring very little maintenance. Combined with Altro Whiterock wall cladding, the two products form a fully sealed, watertight system with no grouted joints to clean. Choosing the right flooring in these high-traffic areas is critical for visual impact and wayfinding, as well as controlling longterm maintenance costs.

School kitchens

Commercial kitchens are some of the toughest environments for floors. Constantly exposed to grease, liquids and food, the floors in a busy kitchen can be a safety hazard. Thankfully our Altro Stronghold 30 flooring product offers superior slip-resistance even in greasy or wet conditions. With over 50 years of experience in commercial kitchens, Altro has products, accessories and knowledge that are uniquely tailored to create a total kitchen solution.

Labs

Floors and walls in clean facilities are consistently exposed to aggressive chemicals. Antiseptics such as Betadine™, Chlorasept™, Rifampin™, DuraPrep™ and Methylene Blue™ as well as industrial cleaners. These chemicals can cause havoc on many surfaces if allowed to sit.

One poor cleaning job out of the 250 that occur each month can lead to permanent staining of the floor. Altro floors and walls have been designed with superior stain resistant technology to combat the various staining agents found in these areas. Even with this, it is still very important that maintenance teams are well educated on how to properly care for the floor and walls in a facility.

Steps to reduce staining:

• Select interior finishes that incorporate enhanced stain defense technology, like Altro.

• Specify colours appropriate for the application area.

• Use manufactured recommended cleaners.

• Train maintenance staff on proper care and cleaning procedures.

• Make critical staining areas in a darker colour.

Altro offers a complete floor and wall solution. It’s an integrated solution, which means it fits together perfectly to provide a hygienic, watertight surface. This doesn’t just offer the best possible protection against bacteria and contamination; it makes cleaning easy too.

Whether it is a full-scale university medical research lab or an introduction to chemistry class, science laboratories can be a harsh environment for floors and walls. With resistance to a multitude of chemicals and substances, Altro’s high performance flooring and wall cladding products are designed to meet the demanding needs of school labs.

Adhesive-free floors

No adhesive means no tacky areas and trafficking glue through the building. The build can be planned in stages without being held up by drying times. And when the flooring has come to the end of its long and useful life, taking it up and replacing it could not be easier, plus there is no cost and time-consuming “making good” of the subfloor to worry about.

No adhesive means there are no odours. Environments such as schools and universities have many people using them; and shutting down shop or installing noisy extractor fans is not an option.

Our adhesive-free flooring is durable and can tolerate medium to heavy-duty traffic. Altro adhesive-

free floors hold as effectively as Altro floors installed using adhesive. In fact, this has been tested with a 900kg drilling rig with caterpillar tracks so a patient on a trolley will be no problem at all!

Altro adhesive-free floors hold as effectively as an Altro floor installed using adhesive: no rucks, no movement. It achieves optimum installation results and conformity to our 10 year guarantee.

Our adhesive-free floors harmonise perfectly with other Altro floors as well as Altro Whiterock, meaning we can help you create the look and feel you want, throughout. And at the end of its life, adhesive-free floors can be re-used elsewhere or recycled.

With no DPM and no adhesive required, installing adhesive-free floors means your installation can be completed quickly, letting everyone get back to normal with minimal interruption. With adhesive-free floors there is no waiting time. Just lay, weld and walk on the same day.

Altro Suprema™

Typical applications:

• School, kindergarten and university corridors, stairs and classrooms.

• Student accommodation.

• Communal areas.

• Offices & reception spaces.

• Toilets & changing rooms.

Design-led Altro Suprema features a 33 stylish colours available in a choice of chip or plain designs, that have been developed with input from industry professionals to reflect contemporary and diverse design and interior trends.

This non-sparkle, low-gloss safety flooring is smooth to touch yet ultrasafe. It achieves a sustainable P3 slip rating guaranteed for the life of the product.

It incorporates Altro Easyclean technology, designed for low maintenance and a lasting attractive appearance, saving you time and cleaning costs. And it has superior stain, abrasion and scratch

resistance, so you can use light colours with confidence.

Altro Suprema is suitable for hightraffic spaces like busy classrooms, corridors, entrances and critical hygiene areas.

Combine with our extensive range of Altro wall cladding:

• Altro Whiterock for areas requiring a hygienic surface.

• Altro Whiterock Chameleon and Altro Whiterock Satins to add colour and impact.

• Altro Fortis wall protection for busy areas that need extra protection.

Altro Orchestra™

Typical applications:

• School, kindergarten and university corridors and classrooms.

• Student accommodation.

• Communal areas.

• Offices & reception spaces.

For areas where comfort and sound reduction are important, Altro Orchestra has been engineered to create the ideal environment to learn and live. Low residual indentation facilitates the flexible use of equipment and furniture. At the same time, the integrated impact sound insulation system cuts impact sound by up to 15dB.

It offers comfort underfoot making life easier on the feet of students but particularly hard-working staff who spend countless hours on the move.

With a palette of over 40 colours and designs varying from calming neutrals reflecting tones of nature,

to vibrant shades, Altro Orchestra allows you to create the right atmosphere every time.

Combine with our extensive range of Altro wall cladding:

• Altro Whiterock for areas requiring a hygienic surface.

• Altro Whiterock Chameleon and Altro Whiterock Satins to add colour and impact.

• Altro Fortis wall protection for busy areas that need extra protection.

Altro Aquarius™ & Altro Pisces™

If safety flooring isn’t cleaned properly, a hazardous level of dirt and contaminant build-up can accumulate on the surface, potentially increasing the risk of a slip to as high as one in twenty. In a wet environment, the effects of a slip or fall could be devastating.

A build-up of bacteria on floors or walls can lead to mould growth, the effects of which range from exacerbating allergies to respiratory problems.

Altro Aquarius and Altro Pisces deliver slip resistance of up to one in a million with water and common contaminants including shampoo and conditioner.

Take your pick between our two safety flooring ranges – 2mm Altro Wood Safety or 2.4mm Altro Wood Adhesive-Free.

Both give the functional performance you would expect from an Altro safety floor and provide sustained slip resistance for the lifetime of the flooring (PTV ≥36). The thicker option provides comfort underfoot and 14dB sound reduction.

Whether you want to create warm and homely aesthetics, or transform a space into a cool contemporary feature area, our wood ranges can help you make your design vision a reality.

Altro Wood™ & Altro Wood™ adhesive-free Altro Whiterock™

Altro wall sheets provide high durability and low maintenance costs making it an excellent long-term investment for you. The system’s panels can be fully bonded on to a variety of suitable substrates. It’s a complete wall protection system of compatible wall sheets and doorsets. And it’s also designed to be compatible with Altro safety flooring.

Create the right impression with your chosen photographic image or art reproduced onto wall sheets. From school logos to calming landscapes, Altro Whiterock Digiclad is a great choice for feature walls in foyers, classrooms and corridors.

Altro Walkway 20/VM20™

Altro Walkway 20 is our hugely popular, hard-wearing flooring. The range has 30 colours and shares its colour range with Altro XpressLay; so you can combine use of both ranges when you need traditionally adhered and adhesivefree safety flooring in adjacent areas. Altro Walkway 20 is easy to cove and weld. It achieves PTV ≥ 36 on the pendulum test giving sustained slip resistance throughout the lifetime of the product. It also includes abrasion resistance, PUR cleanability, and superior chemical and stain resistance.

Altro XpressLay™ & Altro Cantata™

With no DPM and no adhesive required, installing adhesivefree floors means your installation can be up and ready quickly, letting everyone get back to normal with minimal interruption. With adhesive-free floors there is no waiting time. Just lay, weld and walk on the same day. The build can be planned in stages without being held up by drying times. And when the flooring has come to the end of its long and useful life, taking it up and replacing it could not be easier, plus there is no cost and time-consuming “making good” of the subfloor to worry about.

Altro Stronghold 30/K30™

Altro Stronghold 30 achieves Altro’s highest rating for slip resistance (PTV ≥55, R12) and is designed to minimise risk in areas exposed to grease, oils and fats for the lifetime of the flooring. As well as helping to keep staff safe from slips, it also helps reduce their fatigue, thanks to its 3mm thickness which provides noise reduction and comfort underfoot.