INNOVATIVE CUSTOM-DESIGNED FLOORING FOR BOWMANS HEAD OFFICE SUPPLIED BY KBAC
KBAC Flooring supplied a variety of flooring products for the innovative custom-designed flooring specified by leading interior designers, Design Effect International (DEI), for the new Bowmans head office in Sandton.
Bowmans is the anchor tenant of Building 3, the final skyscraper in the prestigious 11 Alice Lane precinct in Africa’s largest and most vibrant legal and financial urban districts. The towering glass-façade building is regarded as the crowning jewel of the precinct.
Dave Keefer, Business Development Manager of KBAC, says for the new Bowmans offices KBAC supplied:
- Interface Composure and Heuga 727 carpet tiles with six colours from the Composure range and four from Heuga 727 combined for the specified custom designed flooring covering over 2 600m2;
- Belgotex Needlepunch carpet tiles covering 11 000m2 (of which close to 2 200m2 is in a custom design in the offices’ passageways);
- The Vanguard Collection of luxury vinyl tiles (blending two colours from Vanguard’s Woodlands, and two colours from Vanguards Plantation ranges) to cover 500m2; and
- Belgotex Needlepunch carpet tiles applied as skirting for a length of almost 6 500 metres.
Dee Hutchison, Design Principal at Design Effect International (DEI), says aesthetics and service ability in high-traffic offices were dominating influences in the flooring specification for the offices.
“Regarding the choice of colours, it was also important to be pre-emptive: to know which colours would be popular for office flooring in future. So we did extensive research, investigating the findings of global ‘thought leaders’ on future colour preferences to determine the colour palette we specified for the Bowmans flooring: a monochromatic base with accents of colour. Knowledge of interior design trends, coupled with learning and research, are premier core values for Design Effect,” she stated.
The colour of the flooring also had to be suitable for the unusually high levels of sunlight that stream into the building.
Client considerations regarding cost and sustainability led DEI to opt for KBAC’s Interface carpet tiles which are produced by an international pioneer and leader in ‘green modular flooring’.
“The flooring design was for an environmentally responsible company and DEI’s respect for the natural world in any event motivates all our specifications,” Dee explained.
To maximise serviceability, DEI selected Belgotex Needlepunch flooring because of the flooring’s durability and minimal maintenance texture that preserves its attractive appearance. The two Vanguard Collection ranges supplied by KBAC are both heavy-duty commercial LVTs with thick 0.55mm thick wear layers – also important for durability. Vanguard Woodlands, furthermore, features fibreglass reinforcement to cope with the constant staff movement in the offices.
Design Effect’s decision to specify extensive custom-designed flooring would not have been practical or possible without close collaboration and exhausting hours of consultation with the supplier, DEI’s Justin Cooper, stated. “We believe in the power of teamwork and in this regard the impressive knowledge of the flooring we wanted for the Bowman offices, installation expertise, and – above all – the integrity of KBAC Flooring were absolutely crucial elements for what resulted in an end-product highly praised by Bowmans,” Justin added.
(Written by Jan de Beer for KBAC Flooring.)
Dee Hutchison of Design Effect International pictured in the Bowmans offices for which her company handled the interior design. Also pictured: various sections of the Bowmans offices where KBAC Flooring products were installed.
