BAL products were used extensively in the £45 million redevelopment of Tate Britain.

The redevelopment included the Gallery’s Millbank Project, embodying the Tate’s commitment to providing a cultural experience appropriate to a world-class museum.

As a major addition to the museum’s former layout, a large opening through the floor of the main entrance rotunda allowed a new staircase to be inserted. A further 2,000 m2 of flooring included geometric design that extends through the lower level of the museum; the canteen, public areas and lower rotunda.

Stonework specialists Szerelmey completed two packages in the Grade II listed building’s south-eastern quadrant, on staircases and flooring, involving both new build and restoration work.

BAL adhesives and other products were used extensively at Tate Britain, including BAL Thickbase (single-part self-smoothing levelling compound), BAL Prime APD (acrylic primer for walls and floors) and BAL Supercover Rapid Flex (fast-setting flexible adhesive).

Richard Piggott, Business Development Manager at Szerelmey, said, “We have worked with BAL on many of our projects over the years and they continue to provide the excellent support, knowledge, attention to detail and highly skilled team that’s needed on such detailed projects like the Tate Britain.”

Szerelmey used BAL adhesives, having long experience of working the company. In particular, it valued the support given by the BAL team: one of BAL’s expert Product Support Technicians visited Szerelmey to demonstrate the correct use of BAL Stone & Tile PTB

BAL Stone & Tile PTB is a C2F floor adhesive available in white and grey; both were used for the Millbank Project, where it was used to fix 1,800 m2 of agglomerate stone in white, grey, dark grey and black.

The areas tiled included the flooring, skirtings, dados and reveal. It was also used for the stone treads, risers and stringers on both the southwest staircase and the rotunda.

BAL Single Part Fast Flex is part of the BAL ‘Go Greener’ family: for every 1 m2 tiled, 1 m2 of Peruvian rainforest is protected through a donation to Cool Earth.

Both white and grey variants were employed at Tate Britain, where it was used to fix 235 m2 of kitchen walls with ceramic tiles and 175 m2 of flooring with porcelain tiles.

The redevelopment of Tate Britain, with extensive use of BAL tile adhesives, won The Tile Association Award 2014 for ‘Best Use of Tile within the Leisure or Hospitality.