IKEA, Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s lovers of cost effective, flat-packed Swedish furniture will be able to browse IKEA’s latest outlet with a robust, on-brand floor from Flowcrete Asia underfoot.

IKEA’s fourth store in Hong Kong is in the Tsuen Wan area of the city, located in the CWD Building’s 8 ½ shopping mall. It offers customers not only a spacious showroom displaying furniture and home furnishings but also a children’s playroom and food court.

The iconic furniture retailer knew that it needed a build-up for the 4,000 m² floor area that would facilitate a functional and safe site for both staff and customers while creating an overall look and atmosphere that reflected IKEA’s global brand and the high standards to which it is held.

In order to achieve the desired outcome, a combination of flooring materials was required to ensure that the final surface would be up to the task at hand. The project began by applying the rapid-curing screed system Isocrete K-Screed. This semi-dry cementitious screed incorporates proprietary additives to produce an early drying, high strength screed layer. The earlier drying time of Isocrete K-Screed enabled the flooring project to be completed much faster than a traditional screed system would allow.

The screed was then coated with the seamless epoxy system Flowshield SL with a Flowseal UV Matt sealer. The self-smoothing system Flowshield SL creates a decorative, hard wearing finish, ideal for environments that require a level, easy to clean surface.

The floor finish was chosen in a sleek, light grey colour as it complemented IKEA’s globally recognised image and interior design scheme and it contrasted effectively with the black signage on the floor to aid customer’s navigation around the store.

The seamless, impervious and level nature of Flowshield SL enables the store’s cleaning regime to quickly and easily wash away any dirt or contaminants, keeping the store looking fresh and unblemished.

While often overlooked, the floor plays a crucial role in the design of large-scale retail environments, as it is the largest surface in the site and it provides the back drop on which the products are displayed. This means that if it is unsightly, unclean or unattractive it will quickly put off customers and will have a negative impact on the store’s profitability.

This three-part flooring specification meant that IKEA could rest assured that the finish underfoot would maintain an attractive and effective surface for an extended period of time despite heavy foot traffic, impacts from dropped items, frequent cleaning, wheeled equipment, point loading from displays, spillages of Swedish meatballs as well as the unavoidable scratches and scrapes from moving furniture.