Commercial drivers for shorter lead times have led to an increasing imperative to keep as much stock as possible on site for immediate despatch across all industrial sectors. Sustainable production levels also rely on space-efficient storage facilities for raw materials or components. 

Rather than maximising the footprint of the warehouse, the trend is for maximising the available space within warehousing facilities, which usually means the installation of VNA racking systems. 

Designed to maximise the value of the property asset by utilising the full height of the building with minimal space lost to aisles, VNA warehouses often use automated order picking and rely on the smooth operation of specialist vehicles to navigate the facility.

For VNA layouts to be viable, the floor of the warehousing facility must comply with DM (defined movement) flatness specifications to enable VNA equipment to operate efficiently and safely, which requires a flooring specification that can be precision-levelled within an exacting tolerance. The floor must also provide a seamless, crack-free surface. This ensures that VNA racking is stable and secure and allows specialist equipment to move smoothly and efficiently through the aisles. 

CCL’s SURFACE system

CCL’s SURFACE jointless flooring system has been used to help deliver these advanced environments as part of both new build and refurbishment warehouse projects. Low maintenance and able to cope with heavy loads, the floor is custom-designed by CCL’s experts in a process that includes geotechnical engineering and preparation of the substrate using laser-controlled levelling devices. The use of a laser screed in the slab construction process then provides accurate distribution of the concrete, resulting in an ultra-flat and level floor surface. 

The system can be specified simply as a joint-free, crack-free system; alternatively, additional benefits of laser screeding and specialist polishing can be added to the design process to meet the project’s specific needs. All processes involved in installing any CCL SURFACE floor can be applied to a slab on grade construction or refurbishment of an existing floor with an overlay.

Jointless and crack-free

Joints in a concrete floor create an impediment for the smooth operation of sensitive warehouse equipment and are the most vulnerable areas in the flooring structure. 

To avoid weak spots, productivity issues and onerous maintenance, CCL’s SURFACE system is cast as a single monolithic slab, making it completely joint-free. Thanks to meticulous preparation of the subgrade surface and positioning and stressing of the post-tensioned tendons to meet the specific requirements of the project, the system also provides a crack-free solution, leveraging the inherent crack-resistance benefits of post-tensioned concrete. As a result, the warehouse operator can be confident of smooth vehicle movements, reduced floor maintenance and an extended service life.

Perfectly flat and precision polished

Precision flatness can only be delivered using specialist laser screed equipment, operated by an experienced team. CCL’s equipment can cover up to 2500m² of floor per day, making installation of a precision levelled floor fast and accurate, even for buildings with a large footprint. 

Specialist polishing techniques can be specified as part of the SURFACE flooring installation to provide a dust-proof, abrasion-resistant and resilient finish, without the need for any sealants or coatings, which can sometimes peel or delaminate. This provides an ideal ‘clean’ environment for a number of specialist industrial environments, including sectors with a need to store ‘white glove’, pharmaceutical or organic items, for example. It also offers a hard-wearing and abrasion-resistant solution to ensure resilience from constant use by forklifts and automated equipment. 

Strong and seamless

As the specialist demands on our built environment become increasingly prescriptive, flooring systems need to respond with flexible solutions that can be tailored to meet the needs of equipment, regulatory requirements and end users. Flooring technology that leverages the strength and durability of post-tensioned concrete, while providing a seamless, low-maintenance floor suitable for VNA layouts and vehicles will become an increasingly important solution for the industrial sector.