Blackfriars Circus, London

Blackfriars Circus is a prestigious new development by Barratt Homes, in the London Borough of Southwark. It contains 336 studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments together with more than 40,000 sq. ft. of employment and retail space in five buildings, including the 27 storeys high Conquest Tower.

In the basement, for the use of residents, is a fully equipped 300sqm gymnasium that includes a high performance acoustic subfloor incorporating recycled rubber InstaCradles.

InstaFloor have developed flooring systems for fitness studios and gyms that solve the acoustic issues associated with these facilities and provide robust floor structures that cope with the loadings of fitness equipment and the impact from free weights.

Environmentally friendly InstaCradles, manufactured from recycled rubber crumb and having a 60 year guarantee, provided the necessary acoustic performance and stable platform for this demanding project. The versatile cradle system was accurately adjusted to ensure a level floor at the required height, overcoming any uneven areas in the structural floor and avoiding the need for messy levelling screeds. The battens were overlaid with 18mm gypsum fibre boards and finished with vinyl tiles.

The acoustic subfloor system enabled all services to be conveniently installed in the void and created a durable flooring solution. The floor system was isolated from the main building, preventing low frequency noise generated by the use of fitness equipment from transmitting into the structure.