National Space Centre, Leicestershire

National Space Centre, Leicestershire

Contractor: Bradbury Flooring
Type of works: supply of Torso and Palatino carpet tiles.

Based on previous experience of dealing with Desso’s designer products and customer-focussed service, Bradbury Flooring has installed Torso and Palatino carpet tiles at the award-winning National Space Centre in Leicestershire.

The National Space Centre is the UK’s largest attraction entirely devoted to space. The centre needed a flooring solution that would provide an aesthetic backdrop to the dramatic educational and interactive displays.

The flooring also needed to be hardwearing enough to withstand the heavy foot traffic the centre receives each week, from families, tours and school groups. With these considerations in mind, Torso carpet tiles were selected in a Dark Charcoal colourway for the Gallery and one of the main visitor areas. The Special Effects stage area has been installed with Palatino carpet tiles in a Dark Black.

“We selected both carpet tile products from Desso based on our previous experience of working with the company,” explains Robert Watkins of Bradbury Flooring, “We use Desso for a lot of projects because the service is reliable and there is always a good range of products to choose from.”

The look of the carpet tiles was of paramount importance to the centre’s manager, Graham Law, “Many of the displays are interactive; light and sound play an important part in our visitors’ experience,” he said, “because of the nature of the attraction we needed a floorcovering that would enhance the appearance of the displays. The chosen solution has created a floor that gives the illusion of depth – ideal for an attraction that is devoted to space.”

Torso is a cut-pile floorcovering that is available as both carpet tiles and broadloom. It is tufted in a combination of light and dark tones that provide depth to the colour and create a soft appearance. Meanwhile Palatino carpet tiles have been installed on the Special Effects platform. This cut-pile carpet tile was selected in Black to complement the Grey Torso throughout the rest of the centre.