Palace Chemicals has made a significant contribution to the refurbishment of Country Style’s bakery estate. TSJ reports.
Country Style, one of the UK’s largest bakery operations, is putting some of its sites through a major refurbishment programme. The success is due, in part, to a few special ingredients from Palace Chemicals and LATICRETE UK.
When Ian Reynolds, the Owner and Director of TileLife Tile Studios, of Headway Business Park in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was approached by Leeds Tiling Contractor JMA Ceramics to supply floor tiles and ‘all the trimmings’ for a large office refurbishment in Grimsby, he knew exactly where he would be sourcing his adhesives, grout and ancillary product from.
JMA Ceramics had been tasked by Country Style to update offices and board rooms at its factory site in Wickham Road, Grimsby. The project, in total, amounted to a huge 550 sq. metres of tiling, so Ian knew he had no room for compromise.
TileLife was asked to supply the 300 by 300mm light grey, fully vitrified, commercial grade porcelain tiles from the firm’s AVIA range. And that volume of tiles meant a lot of fixing and sealing products would also be required.
The job involved the initial removal of the old carpet tiles before the floors could be levelled and primed in preparation for the laying of the new tiles.
For the preparation, LATICRETE NXT PRIMER was used on all the concrete substrates. This product is a premium water-based rubber primer that penetrates deep into the substrate and maximises bond strength before LATICRETE NXT LEVEL was laid.
LATICRETE NXT LEVEL is a cement-based underlayment used for levelling substrates as required. It produces a flat, smooth, and hard surface for the installation of the finished flooring and can be laid from 3 to 76mm in a single pour.
“Everything about the products from Laticrete UK and Palace Chemicals is great. They are the number one brands for us and the products are so easy to work with,” explains Ian.
“This project was a very big deal for TileLife. It had the potential to really change things in a big way for us, so we knew we had to specify the very best,” continues Ian.
“We’ve used other products, but we’ve just never had any issues with Palace and LATICRETE. They are a globally proven solution, well-known and trusted across the world, and we trust them too.”
Ian said that the added bonus of using products supplied by Palace Chemicals and LATICRETE UK was that, pound for pound, the quality was head and shoulders above the competition.
The majority of adhesive supplied for the Country Style office refurbishment in Grimsby was LATICRETE 335 SUPERFLEX – in both grey and white. The product is a high-performance polymer-fortified cementitious powder. Its slow setting speed was particularly useful for a job of this size.
JMA Ceramics also used LATICRETE 335R SUPERFLEX RAPID, which is capable of taking foot traffic and/or grouting after three hours due to its high early strength.
To finish the job, TileLife supplied its tried-and-tested favourite – PALACE Anti-Mould Grout. This product is a flexible, cement-based grouting compound available in a broad range of colour shades for joints from up to 15mm wide around all types of tile.
PALACE Anti-Mould Grout contains a fungicide which prevents the growth of mould and can be applied using a rubber squeegee or grout float in areas where tiles are fixed to timber or where underfloor heating is installed.
Ian hopes that the problem-free project will lead to his firm’s ongoing involvement in supplying JMA Ceramics with products for the roll-out of Country Style’s site upgrade programme across its other UK sites, which span from Okehampton in Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Country Style is a family run company that has been involved in the flour milling and bakery trade for over 150 years. Since 1960, its business has grown from a single bread shop to several large industrial sites specialising in high volume production of bakery goods, which are supplied to leading retailers and food service operators.
Ian added: “The best part is that with all the supply chain disruption that many UK industries have experienced recently, we’ve never had a problem with supply from Palace Chemicals and LATICRETE UK.”
Charles Clapham, Managing Director of Palace Chemicals, said: “We’re always delighted when our customers take the trouble to share their positive experiences of our solutions. In many ways, it tells us that we’re doing the right thing in terms of product, price, service and reliability – though we never rest on our laurels and we are always looking at ways to improve.”
“It’s fantastic to see our products associated with such a prestigious company as Country Style,’ notes Charles.
Palace Chemicals is the UK’s largest independent manufacturer of tile adhesives, grouts, building chemicals, wood treatments, and decorating sundries.
