Notting Hill Prep School equipped with noraplan floor covering with attractive inlay concept

United Kingdom (London) | Education | noraplan® stone, noraplan® sentica

Notting Hill Preparatory School Overcomes Urban Landscape Challenges

World renowned noraplan® floor tiles provide aesthetics, acoustics and safety for the first school building developed under a motorway

Notting Hill Prep School in Ladbroke Grove, London is a split site school, with three separate buildings. There was a need to build a new school building, but the constraints of the urban landscape posed a unique challenge - it would need to be built under a motorway.

The first of its kind, Hanson Architects were approached to deliver this unique building. Facing considerable technical challenges, Hanson Architects were able to design and build an independent, acoustically separated structure below the concrete framed Westway, next to the Hammersmith and City tube line.

In 2018 the new school building was officially opened and contains the school’s dining hall, kitchen, music department, art department, administration and gym.

Comfort, aesthetics and acoustics

The look of the floor covering throughout the new building had to be modern and in keeping with the other school sites. With continual heavy footfall, the floor must offer high resistance, durability and functionality. noraplan® sentica was the perfect choice as it is ideally tailored to all of these challenges. Providing a comfortable atmosphere and R9 slip resistance in an understated design, noraplan® sentica enhances the new school building by creating an interior that feels good and performs beautifully.

...read more

Exceptional ergonomics

nora floor coverings are renowned for their ergonomic advantages. Durability and underfoot comfort comes as standard due to the durable elasticity of the rubber, meaning they can withstand heavy and continual foot flow. noraplan® stone tiles were installed throughout the school building to provide walking comfort, shock absorbing properties and lifelong elasticity, ensuring that pressure on the joints and spine is noticeably reduced. Noise reduction is also a key feature of noraplan stone, offering 6-8dB sound absorption to significantly reduce walking noise and provide comfortable acoustics within all the new departments. Strong and long lasting, noraplan® sentica and noraplan® stone will ensure the flooring stands up to the demands of a busy school.

Cost effective with minimal maintenance

nora floor coverings are incredibly wear-resistant, due to the dense, closed surfaces. Coupled with easy maintenance and cleaning, these floors will look as good as new after years of intensive usage and with no coatings required, they are the most cost-effective long term solution. This is why they are used in numerous educational buildings and other public buildings with high footfall such as airports and museums. Optimal safety

For any school, the safety and wellbeing of its pupils is paramount and Notting Hill Preparatory School is no exception. All nora floor coverings are classified as fire-toxicologically safe according to the German standard DIN 53 436. They are free of PVC, phthalate plasticizers and halogens. With numerous sustainability and Green Design certificates such as Blue Angel and BRE A+ rating, nora is a safe choice for schools.Notting Hill Preparatory School adopts a ‘thinking school approach’, committed to developing a passion for learning in all its pupils by delivering dynamic and inspiring teaching. The environment of the new school building has to be conducive to these goals. Due to the talents of Hanson Architects and the quality and design of nora floor coverings, the new school building is one of inspiration and creativity and has been recognised as such by the AJ Retrofit Awards 2018.

Data and facts

Building Notting Hill Preparaotry School, London
Products noraplan® stone, noraplan® sentica
Architect Hanson Architects
Installation Year 2018
Photographer Davide Saibene (Photographer) and Hanson Architects (Architects)
noraplan inlays in school building
noraplan floor tiles provide aesthetics, acoustics and safety for the first school building developed under a motorway

Products

noraplan® stone

Rubber flooring with discreet, non direction scatter design, available in smooth or reflectionbreaking surface.

noraplan® sentica

Rubber floor covering with a changing base colour of harmoniously matched colour components.

More references

Meridiaan College - Het Nieuwe Eemland

Netherlands (Amersfoort)
norament® 926 arago | Education

Pupils run through the magnificent halls. The floor is decorated with elegant, dark slate flags. But are those really slate flags? The answer is no. They are a rubber floor covering made by nora systems called norament arago.

Dilijan International School Of Armenia

Armenia (Dilijan)
| Education

Dilijan College, Armenia, is the 13th member of the United World Colleges (UWC) group. The architectural brief taken on by UK architects practice Tim Flynn Architects was to design an international boarding school for 600 pupils.

The Bob Champion Research and Education Building

United Kingdom (Norwich)
noraplan® sentica, noraplan® ultra grip, noraplan® ultra grip | Education

Designed by Hawkins Brown Architects this new building will provide world class leading research facilities for the treatment of many different types of cancer and other diseases.

How to contact us
Flooring Finder
Room Designer
Find nora on LinkedIn