Run by the trade association for the contract flooring industry, the Contract Flooring Association (CFA), and its official magazine, the Contract Flooring Journal (CFJ), the awards celebrate the industry’s best products and installation successes across a number of categories, as well as special achievements.
This year’s awards were held at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire, with guest speaker, celebrity Church of England priest, broadcaster and one half of 80’s synth-pop duo The Communards, the Reverend Richard Coles, regaling the audience with the story of how he went from pop-star to pulpit.
The Adhesives Manufacturer of the Year award recognises both the range and performance of F. Ball’s adhesives, which include products for decorative floorcoverings, including textile, resilient and wood, and features specialist products, such as temperature tolerant, pressure sensitive and tackifier adhesives. The winner is voted for by readers of the Contract Flooring Journal, with F. Ball winning the accolade every year since 1997.
Each year, F. Ball invests heavily in research and development to enhance its range to help flooring professionals meet increasing customer expectations, facilitated by on-site laboratories at its Staffordshire headquarters.
Most recently, advancements in adhesives technology have enabled F. Ball to create Styccobond F58 PLUS, a fast-track, fibre-reinforced, vinyl adhesive for Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVTs). Its fast-drying formulation enables LVT tiles and planks to be secured from just five minutes following application of the adhesive, allowing for a much speedier installation time.
Installation awards categories
There was also recognition for F. Ball in various installation awards categories, celebrating projects showcasing excellence in flooring that involved partnerships between manufacturers and flooring contractors.
Together with MacGregor Flooring and Forbo, F. Ball won in the Flooring in Public Spaces category, for the painstaking recreation of the linoleum flooring design on board the Waverley Paddle Steamer, the last seagoing paddle steamer in the world, in Glasgow, as part of restoration works.
F. Ball and Westcotes Flooring were amongst the recipients of the award for Flooring in Sports and Leisure Installations for the installation of rubber floorcoverings around the perimeter of Slough Ice Rink, as well as in spectator areas and changing facilities. Owing to the nature of the facility, background heating wasn’t possible, so the working environment was a constant ten degrees. Contractors required the heavy-duty properties of F. Ball’s Styccobond F73 PLUS to make areas resistant to water and freezing temperatures.
The award for Flooring in Visitor Attractions also went to F. Ball, along with Flooring Matters SW Ltd, Altro, Heckmondwike and Polyflor. The winning project was part of the creation of an indoor children’s play area modelled on a real-life street, called ‘Bear Town’, in Devon, with the overall result needing to be as safe as well as realistic as possible.
Commenting on the awards success, F. Ball sales director, Darren Kenyon, said: “Winning Adhesives Manufacturer of the Year is always special because the winner is chosen by readers of CFJ, the people who use our products. This year is particularly significant because we’ve been officially recognised as the leading manufacturer of adhesives for the contract flooring industry for 25 years running. Thank you to everyone who voted for us.
“Winning three installation awards was also really satisfying because they are based on results achieved using our products.”
Innovation award
There was also acclaim for F. Ball at this year’s Flooring Innovation Awards, run by The Stocklists magazine, the winners of which were announced at The Flooring Show in September. The company’s virtual site visits received the gold award in the Technology category. You can read more about this here.