Offering low maintenance, high-style city living, The Wireworks is a five-storey development of one-bedroom apartments and penthouses located in London SE1. Featuring resin floors laid by Ryebrook Resins Ltd, the interior is fresh, modern and practical – ideal for busy urbanites. Rarely used in residential settings, resin is fast becoming the flooring of the future, delivering a hard-wearing alternative that is tough enough to take the knocks of everyday living, is easy to clean and yet still offers enormous creative potential to design a truly innovative look.
Developed by Oakmayne Properties, externally The Wireworks features a unique façade of reflective metallic mesh that is mirrored in the contemporary, uncluttered interiors of the 12 apartments and two penthouses. Softroom, architects on the project, had been impressed by the Ryebrook resin floor laid in the reception area of a nearby office building and immediately saw its potential for use in highly functional living space. Working with main contractors, Lad Construction, Ryeflor MD, a self-smoothing polyurethane screed with a matt finish in dark grey was laid to a thickness of 4mm throughout each kitchen, lounge, bedroom and bathroom. Communal areas and lift lobbies were finished in contrasting beige. Sealed with acrylic polish to minimise scuffs and scratches and to aid cleaning, the floors should remain functional for well in excess of 20 years.
For visual impact, resin certainly competes with traditional materials.
Stunning designs can be created by combining different colours from over 20 vibrant alternatives. Quartz finishes expand creative scope whilst terrazzo allows aggregates such as marble to be added. New developments, like Ryebrook’s Ryeflow Flec, can provide an effective vinyl look-a-like whilst retaining all the advantages of resin.
Maximising efficiencies, Ryebrook laid an entire floor of four flats at the same time, minimising disruption to other contractors. After preparing the sand and cement screed, chasers were cut into the perimeter wall to accurately bond the final finish to the sub-floor. Communal areas were completed towards the end of the project.
