Category: NEWS

The very smooth and shiny finish of polished concrete floors tend to give people the impression that they’re slippery too. Nothing, however, can be further from the truth. Polished concrete floors are completely safe to walk on. The reason? They are subject to rigorous slip resistance tests. It’s a procedure that we are very strict about, in order to guarantee that all our products are slip resistant and absolutely safe.

How is slip testing on polished concrete floors done? Read and discover the details, one of which may surprise you.

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Concrete is everywhere. Just look at our roads, buildings, dams and bridges. Today, it is the single most widely used material in the world. Its impact on our everyday lives is hard to ignore.

So we decided to collect 10 fascinating quotes about concrete, all of which will put how we view concrete in the proper perspective – be it music, dreams and even bad weather.

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When a central business district building in Erina, on NSW’s Central Coast, needed some nurturing, the owners decided to turn their commercial headquarters into a chic retail hub. Their first port of call for the iconic Platinum Building’s make-over was well known flooring and wall specialist, Honestone.

The company’s director, Rick Hendriks, said for the discerning property owner, nothing matches the natural beauty of a stone or terrazzo floor. Terrazzo, as well as stone, has been used since Roman times to produce high performance commercial floors,” Mr Hendriks said. “It is still used in today’s largest shopping centres and institutional buildings. The Platinum Building is a perfect example of how functional and stylish the finish can be. Unfortunately at Platinum the floor has never received the right care after having been installed with original construction many years ago. It was Honestone’s role to rectify the situation and ensure a prefect finish.”

S J Skipper & Associates chairman of body corporate of the Platinum Building, Steve Skipper, said they were very happy with the results. The reputable corporate group said they would opt for the Honestone profile any time.

“The job hit expectations – a definite yes there,” Mr Skipper said. “Overall we were really pleased with the results.Would we recommend Honestone? Yes.”

Honestone stripped the existing Terrazzo flooring throughout the 645 metre square area on three levels, over two buildings. Once the terrazzo had been restored, Honestone used diamond polished pads and treated the floors with a high performance impregnating sealer from Aqua Mix.

So too, Honestone was integral in the revamping of City Link Plaza in Morriset St, Queanbeyan. The project was instigated after the plaza’s representative, Doug Chown, was shown the reputable skill-base and expertise Honestone could demonstrate, to revive yet another 650 square metre retail hub.

Mr Hendriks said Honestone representatives were requested to visit site to demonstrate the wall and flooring specialist’s ability to rejuvenate the existing mall terrazzo flooring.

“The mall flooring was in terrible neglect after years and years of mismanagement,” Mr Hendriks said. “I believe the property had ‘then been’ recently been purchased by Trinity Funds Management, and they were remodelling the entire mall to improve its vacancy rates. Doug had been appointed as the on-site property manager and who we met for our site sample. Within four hours we had demonstrated to Doug sufficiently our capability with stunning results. As soon as Doug had our proposal approval from Trinity, we were down there for stage 1. The overnight transformation was simply amazing.

“Our crews worked diligently throughout the night to make the area look like a new floor had been installed. Firstly we had to strip years and years of sealer, then we diamond polished the beautiful underlying insitu terrazzo and protected the floor with an impregnating sealer. Doug was left with a maintenance schedule he still uses to this day. The mall looked brighter, cleaner – just amazing. I think we surprised ourselves with this one. The job was completed over another two stages.”

Mr Hendriks said Honestone had fitting materials for a plethora of environments including the commercial industry, just like the Platinum Building and City Link Plaza, the hospitality industry, manufacturing, and commercial spaces, offices, architectural residential projects, and many more. He said the company had fitting experience with rejuvenating old worn flooring as well as utilising new materials on existing surfaces.

To find out about how Honestone can enhance your space, why not contact us today?

 

Related Tags: Terrazzo Floors Sydney

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When style gurus Fanuli Furniture, on Military Road at Cremorne, wanted to create the perfect finish to their showroom, they chose to integrate a look that was in sync with the trend setting company’s modern and classy appeal.

The perfect solution came from renowned wall and flooring specialists, Honestone.

The company’s director, Rick Hendriks said, “Director Fabio Fanuli contacted us after being highly recommended by another architectural finishes company, Axolotl, as contractors specialising in producing concrete wall finishes to existing substrates.

“The family owned Fanuli Furniture was remodelling its lower level showroom to create and update its modern decor and appeal.

“After an initial meeting with Fabio Fanuli and designer Bradhly Le, we produced samples, indicating various colour shades and texture variations for some existing ceiling beams and new columns yet to be built.

“The idea was to produce a concrete basement feel to showcase Fanuli’s fine Italian furniture.”

Job done in just a week

Mr Hendriks said Mr Fanuli was so impressed with the finishes, the family decided to extend the light grey, concrete colour panDOMO Wall finish to all the walls, beams and part of the display floor as well.

“After preceding trades completed plastering, electrical works and requiring a fast turnaround to allow for a scheduled re-opening, Honestone brought in two of its skilled crews to have the job done in only one week.”

Mr Fanuli said he was overwhelmed by the tasteful and voguish polished cement finish Honestone had created in the 220 square metre space.

“The area needed attention to stand out and it does!” he said.

“The finish exemplifies beauty.

“Rick Hendriks and his team were very professional.

“Everything was on time and the finished result has come out beautifully.

“We get lots of comments from clients and have recommended Honestone very highly.”

To find out about how Honestone can enhance your space, visit the website www.honestone.com.au or telephone (02) 4353 0055.

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When internationally recognised Crawford Architects’ Sydney branch wanted to create a remarkable urban design, with a flooring solution to match their prowess, they had to make serious choices. Being so reputable, with a proven track record in the planning and design of a wide range of development types, detail was of utmost importance.

They chose to work with flooring and wall solution specialists Honestone, in conjunction with builders Belmadar Pty Ltd. Valuing collaboration and seek in-sync partnerships, the group went all out when it came to renovating The Briscoe and Company Iron Merchants Building, vacant since the 1970s, in Wattle Street, Ultimo. The Building has a strong historical background, and still exhibits and retains many important and interesting historic elements.

Crawford Architects’ Paul Godsell said these elements can be divided into two categories – (a) the shell, and (b) its contents.

“The shell of the building is essentially a 3-storey Romanesque detailed federation brick warehouse,” he said.

“The floor structure consists of significantly sized timber columns at 3 meter centres, with beams, joists, and an elaborate array of herringbone strutting”.

“The contents (b) consist of an original stair and hydraulic goods lift”.

Perfect marriage between flooring solution and building’s character, heritage and design.

In light of taking on board Honestone to give the floor an exceptional finish, Mr Godsell said the company chose a unique flooring solution to meld perfectly with the building’s character, heritage and design.

“The historical Iron Merchants ‘use’ of the building was the catalyst for the selection of the lobby flooring. It needed to be robust, look indestructible, look like it belonged to part of the original building,” he said.

It needed to be easy to clean, and needed to be able to be applied to original slabs

“After from looking like the ‘bees knees’ – the Pandomo ticked all these boxes, and has proven a winner with the client, Crawford Architects, not to mention all the visitors/members that are blown away when they enter the lobby.

“Honestone’s director Rick Hendriks said his highest priority was to create a stylish refurbishment of an old iconic Sydney building. He said the client was supplied with numerous samples to rectify the existing concrete floor, and after intense consolation, the appropriate product was selected.

He also said that the turnaround of pricing and rapidity of installation were of utmost importance.

To find out more look at samples on our website www.honestone.com.au or call (02) 4353 0055 or visit the showroom by appointment at 10/22 Reliance Drive, Tuggerah, NSW, 2259.

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Flooring and wall surface solution specialist, Honestone, has cleaned up at the internationally renowned Decorative Concrete Council Awards 2013 in the United States.

The Australian company won the Overlays Under ¼” > 500SF section as well as second place in the Vertical > 5000SF for the outstanding work performed at St Barnabas Church in Broadway earlier 
this year.

The Awards are part of the reputable American Society of Concrete Contractors, who strive to “enhance the capabilities of those who build with concrete”.

Church nurtured back to life

The Anglican church, which Honestone helped beautify, was burnt to the ground on May 10 in 2006.

Six years on, the Church was rebuilt and recently re-opened its doors to the community.

The church was nurtured back to life with the help of architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, Buildcorp Contracting NSW and subcontractors including Honestone.

Honestone director Rick Hendriks said his team of experts came on board three months prior to project completion to ensure the best, timely, and professional seamless floor and wall solutions were utilised.

The job was so perfectly achieved, it has now gone down in history as a dual award winning project.

“As our first ever entry into this international competition, we are totally floored by the result – pardon the pun. What an awesome way to finish the year!” Mr Hendriks said.

“Our Honestone team has worked extremely hard this year to achieve some stunning results, and to now be recognised by our industry peers as the best, makes me very proud of the people we have.

“To come away with a first and second place, it just goes to show, Australian decorative concrete skills are up there with the world’s best.

“The presentation night is at the World of Concrete in Las Vegas in February 2013, which we are very excited to be attending.”

In interpreting the intricate level of work achieved, Mr Hendriks said, “We wanted to incorporate a true representation of the warm and holy nature of the church and worked with a white Ardex panDOMO Floor-Plus seamless polished cement finish for several areas, including the upstairs worship space, the stairs to the alter and a beautifully curved feature wall,” Mr Hendriks said.

“Spanning some 200 square metres, we also used a subtle light-grey polished cement for the lobby floor of the church, which was in tune with the serene nature of the space.

Mr Hendriks said his team, as always, took extra steps to ensure seamless project management and an outstanding final result.

“We used three different skill sets of our highly trained crews over an eight week period to perfect the project.

“The project involved many intricate processes too, such as blending wall products to the flooring, working with curvatures, and technical details such as lining up corners and levelling various planes.

“No one has done anything like this in Australia on one project, which in total encompassed 600 square metres of flooring and 280 square metres of walls.

“We are very proud of the final aesthetics Honestone was able to contribute to the church, coupled with great functionality of a well gripped surface for the congregation.”

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