More than 3,700m2 of high-performance flooring was installed at an Automotive Processing Plant in under a week thanks to IRL and Sika’s quick and easy-to-apply Sikafloor®-235 ESD resin coating.A testing brief for the project was set, requiring a hard-wearing floor that would provide protection against the electrical components work
undertaken across three areas at its Oxford site but also only providing a six-day window for the works to be completed.
IRL Group was selected to carry out the installation and turned to Sika for a product that could deliver the standard of flooring required to the given timeframe. Sikafloor®-235 ESD provided the perfect solution, which saw IRL Group and Sika win the Large Industrial Project of the Year award at the 2017 FeRFA Awards.
Sikafloor®-235 ESD is a decorative and protective dissipative selfsmoothing system for concrete or cement screeds with normal up to medium heavy wear that is particularly suitable for areas with requirements for a low electrostatic charge (body-voltage) and dissipative surface.
While the focus of this project was predominantly centred on installing the Sikafloor®-235 ESD across the three assembly lines, there were other challenges to overcome.
One section of works to a steel mezzanine deck – 500m2 – required all steel panel joints (2,200 metres) to be treated prior to any resin being applied. All joints were filled with Sikafloor 161, including a thixotropic thickening agent; the joints were thereafter over-banded with the Sika Reemat Premium glass fibre reinforcement matting.
This was due to a below storage area for new cars which could not be emptied and meant no resin was allowed to permeate the joints.
IRL Group’s installers worked day and night and to a stringent schedule to ensure the work was not only completed to the client’s full satisfaction but also a day before the
shutdown was due to end.

IRL Group have continued this successful relationship and installed a further 4100 sq metres during the 6 day shutdown in December 2017.

Mark Ollerenshaw, Managing Director of IRL Group, said: “Given the size of the project and the short amount of time given to complete the installation, the ease of application of Sikafloor®-235 ESD was a particularly crucial factor in its specification. This project demonstrates what can be achieved through the combination of the skills and experience of our on-site teams and the excellent working relationship we enjoy with Sika; we made possible, the seemingly impossible.”

Project Leader at the plant, added: “I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to IRL Group and Sika for the remarkable accomplishment associated with the completion of the ESD Flooring to Building 50. Understanding the time constraints that were placed on them, with the additional work thrown in on top, the project was concluded on schedule with the final results outstanding.”