Sitting on the southern edge of Manchester’s retail heartland, an imposing quartet of grey stone and glass towers are amongst the latest additions to the city’s impressive skyline. Little wonder some locals have dubbed this part of Manchester Manc-hattan.

Deansgate Square’s tallest tower reaches 64-storeys and the development houses more than 1,500 stylish apartments and penthouses. It also boasts one of the most luxurious health and fitness complexes in the region.

Without specialist knowledge, integrating leisure facilities alongside luxury accommodation in high-rise buildings can be an unhappy marriage.

TVS Group was approached by acoustic consultants, Fisher Acoustics and the main contractor, Renaker Build, to recommend a specialist acoustic floating floor and sports flooring, capable of isolating residents from unwanted noise that might be transmitted during the use of health and fitness facilities.

“The project involved work across a wide range of facilities, from fitness areas to a sports hall and studios for yoga and spinning classes,” says TVS group sales director, Andy Roberts. “TVS was selected because of its dual ability to address acoustic requirements and specify, supply and install high quality sports flooring solutions.

“Acoustics were a key element of the project and we needed to meet stringent criteria to guarantee satisfaction for both residents in adjoining apartments and leisure users involved in different activities,” he added.

The prestige nature of the project at Deansgate Square also meant that TVS would have to deliver bespoke flooring and acoustic wall materials that integrated seamlessly with the colour themes already chosen for the various fitness areas.

Sports hall and fitness studios
Designed to be used for a variety of fitness and sports activities, the spacious sports hall and adjoining fitness studios needed flooring that would be both shock-absorbent and offer the perfect grip rating for excellent aerobic performance and user comfort. A seamless polyurethane flooring system, TVS PU-Sport, was chosen as the perfect solution with all the various colours custom produced to match the designer’s vision for the new facilities. Free-flowing zone markings were then added to separate activity spaces within the studios and heavy duty Sportec Style tiles were installed in the free weights zone to provide maximum impact resistance. TVS even supplied paint finishes for the impact resistant walls that would match the flooring perfectly.

With all sports halls, reverberation and acoustic issues are a concern, and large, open spaces can result in flutter echoes - a series of rapid, repeated reflections caused by soundwaves bouncing around between parallel reflective surfaces. This is unpleasant for users and can even make communication difficult between individuals and staff.

To combat this, TVS was able to install its clever, custom-sized and colour-matching TVS Absorb Sport Panels. “The panels are a proven way of reducing reverberation and with special impact-resistant layers are the perfect choice for cost-effective acoustic control in sports halls where ball sports are likely to be played,” explains Roberts. “They’re also easy to install and can be cleaned in situ if necessary.”

Acoustic floating floor
For the High Intensity Interval Training facility and separate Yoga Studio, another flooring solution was required to offer maximum acoustic protection to residential properties below. Here TVS installed a specialist Dry RESi Floating Floor system to dramatically reduce impact and airborne sound transmission. Acoustic Dry Floating Floors are a lightweight alternative to concrete-based systems and feature an air gap below and special isolators that help to cushion impacts and suppress structural noise. They are also quick to install and offer outstanding performance over the lifetime of a building.

Finally, TVS decoupled all the different elements of the fitness and health complex from one another ensuring that, even when every activity area was in use, there would be nothing to distract users, whether involved in high tempo training or the calm and tranquillity of a yoga class.

“From an aesthetic point of view alone, the health and fitness facilities at Deansgate Square are amongst the best in the north-west, and as a company which prides itself on its wide range of flooring colours and finishes, this project really pushed the envelope,” reflects Roberts. “The project has also been an excellent opportunity for different parts of the TVS Group to work together to deliver acoustic and flooring perfection.”

Find out more: www.tvs-group.co.uk | Tel: +44 (0) 1706 260 220