NATIONAL INDOOR ARENA CAR PARK |
The National Indoor Arena, Birmingham operates two multi-storey car parks serving City Centre venues, which form part of the NEC Group. As part of a phased improvement plan, Ryebrook Resins was contracted to resurface the uppermost three decks of the North car park. After appropriate preparation, a hard-wearing, elastomeric waterproof, five-layered system was installed.
The resulting waterproof surface offers excellent stain resistance and, being easy to clean, will remain looking smart into the future. The new floor is safer for motorists and pedestrians with yellow lines clearly segregating the red parking bays from the main grey circulating areas and noise levels have been minimised thanks to the slip resistant finish reducing tyre squeal. Due to a busy events schedule, Ryebrook Resins was under pressure to complete the car park, yet despite one week of poor weather the project was finished on time.
The top two exposed decks had previously been laid with an elastomeric waterproof membrane that was now leaking and required replacing. Saving the client time and money, Ryebrook undertook a rigorous 3-day test to assess the condition of the existing membrane, concluding that it was unnecessary to remove the old finish and that the new surface could be laid directly onto it.
The National Indoor Arena North Car Park, Birmingham
To prepare the area, floor planing initially removed all thermoplastic lining material before the two top deck areas could be shot blasted and the edges diamond ground. Next, existing expansion joints were levelled off and stainless steel elastomeric joints were mechanically fixed to the car park slab before being embedded in resin. The five-layered system consisted of a primer, an elastomeric membrane, a flexible polyurethane layer that had quartz aggregate wearing course applied whilst it was still wet and finally, a top u/v resistant seal in the specified colours.
The lower deck presented a problem in that it was a plain concrete surface, heavily tamped to 10mm. To remove the tamp and level out the surface prior to laying the new floor Ryebrook utilised a Bobcat planer, followed by a 3-phase BEF floor plane before finishing the surface with a Esuge twin-headed diamond grinder, prior to applying the system.
