Manchester Airport - Terminal 2

Vast Improvement in Light Reflection - Cutting Round All Joints, Filling & Polishing

Description

Full refurbishment to the white terrazzo tiles in Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport, along with baggage hall and other areas. Work was continuous, (although on certain public holidays we could not work), and all done on nights. Every single joint was cut around and re-grouted, (this involved approximately 130,000 joints!) Existing equipment available for this work, at the time, involved kneeling down and hand-cutting of the joints. Our workshop engineers manufactured accurate mini floor-saws enabling us to cut out jojnts 5 times faster than using traditional machines. The entire floor was subsequently diamond polished and sealed. The program initially proposed was beaten by several weeks.

Summary

Cut & Fill Joints

Grind & Polish

Bespoke Equipment

12,000 m2 - two halls

84,000 linear metres of joints

Close up of manchester airport terminal 2 terrazzo tile

manchester airport terminal 2 departure lounge during terrazzo refurbishment

Before - Failing Joints

Joints in airport terrazzo tile failing in need of replacement

Excessive foot traffic had eroded the top 2-3mm of the existing cement joints. It was decided that the reinstatement depth of 10mm would be adequate, and a colour matched resin infill material was selected. The programme was based around continuous working except bank holidays and busy school holidays.

Cutting & Filling Joints

Joints in floor tiles filled in with resin waiting to be ground flat

Joints were cut to a depth of 10mm in both directions, including along expansion joints. They were filled in with a colour-matched fast setting resin and left 2mm proud. The speed of set of resin enabled us to grind off the excess grout almost immediately, leaving the joints perfectly level with the surrounding floor.

Grinding & Polishing

Operative grinding terrazzo floor in airport

We used a combination of machines for the grout removal and diamond polishing. All the work was done dry with full dust extraction, followed up by a full clean, buff and seal of the areas ready for client handover.