What Lies Beneath: Hidden Strengths of Flowcrete's K-Screed Keep Hong Kong Airport Looking Good

Sept. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Now the third busiest international passenger airport in the world, Hong Kong International Airport [HKIA] was built between 1992 and 1998 to an innovative design conceived by leading international architects Foster & Partners.

In the largest screed contract ever awarded at the time, a total of 250,000 square metres of Flowcrete's Isocrete K-Screed was applied. Every day since, the system has stood up to continual high levels of foot and trolley-wheeled traffic in the main passenger terminal building, retail, food and entertainment areas, as well as associated maintenance areas and plant rooms.

The Airport Authority has commented that the flooring has certainly stood the test of time and the decision to opt for the high strength screed back then has paid off with the original floor coverings still looking good today.

Alan Blay, Managing Director of Flowcrete Hong Kong says, “HKIA is an excellent example of the long-term durability and integral strength of K-Screed. Because K-Screed forms such a strong and durable sub-surface, final floor finishes last much, much longer. This significantly minimises the need for costly refurbishments down the line. The added disruption caused by downtime of the area is also eliminated.”

The Isocrete K-Screed, bonded with Polymer 70, was installed at a thickness of 100mm throughout the high traffic site. The work was carried out by ASTEL, Flowcrete’s licensed applicator in Hong Kong. Managing Director David Bowden-Brown says, “This was an enormous project with K-Screed being installed in large quantities at several locations simultaneously. We had up to 12 teams working on the installation any one time. The final levelling and finishing was undertaken by hand in those days, but now this is carried out with purpose-designed machines, producing an even better finished product.”

Subsequent phases of the project included screeding at Cathay City, the headquarters and maintenance terminal for Cathay Pacific, where a number of areas were installed with K-Screed.  

More About K-Screed:
The reduced water content of K-Screed provides added strength and durability, eliminating the cracking, curling and debonding that often occurs with standard sand and cement screeds. The superior impact resistance also protects thinner section floor finishes, such as vinyl, for far longer.

Drying times for K-Screed are only 7 days per 25mm thickness (depending on ambient temperature), whereas standard screeds can take 25 days per 25mm thickness. K-Screed also offers superior compressive strength of +30N/mm2 as compared to 15-20N/mm2 achieved by standard screeds. In addition, K-Screed can take foot traffic just 24 hours after being laid.

K-Screed is suitable for use with a diverse range of final floor finishes including vinyl, carpet, marble, ceramics and various resin flooring finishes.

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Flowcrete Hong Kong is a subsidiary of Flowcrete Group Ltd, a world leader in the manufacture of seamless industrial and commercial flooring with international manufacturing facilities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.

Flowcrete supplies world-class seamless flooring solutions to transform environments across the globe including; decorative seamless resins, waterproof car park deck coating systems, seamless resin terrazzo, durable antimicrobial flooring, corrosion protection, self levelling screeds, underfloor heating and underfloor acoustic insulation.

For more information, please contact: hongkong@flowcrete.com or visit www.flowcrete.com.my