Manchester Science Partnership

Forbo Flooring Systems’ high quality, digital printing capabilities has brought a flooring design to life in the main social space of Manchester Science Partnerships’ (MSP) Greenheys building. The custom A to Z map of Manchester helped The Sheila Bird Group to create a real focal point to the space. This engaging feature, combined with the use of Forbo’s durable Eternal vinyl products, led to the project being Highly Commended in the 2014/2015 Fly Forbo competition.

As one of the UK’s leading science park operators, MSP wanted its events and community space on the park to have the ‘wow’ factor, to help its group of scientists, innovators, investors and entrepreneurs to connect with one another.

With help from Chris Naughton at The Sheila Bird Group, a multi-use focal point for the community at MSP was developed: “The interior of MSP’s Greenheys building has a lot of exposed brick and so we wanted to retain the industrial feel of the building within the space, but also install a completely unique floor covering to inject a stand-out feature in the area,” commented Chris. “Therefore, we created a custom A to Z map of Manchester which pinpointed the various MSP buildings dotted around the city in different colours. By doing this, visitors to MSP’s Greenheys building would be able to immerse themselves into the map and orientate themselves through the city by just looking at the floor covering.”

Forbo’s digitally printed Eternal vinyl offers a new dimension in colour and design. Indeed there really are no limits to what can be created – thanks to the exceptional colour clarity and print capabilities. This is in addition to the product retaining the full performance specification of the Eternal core collection; durable, high quality and easy to clean and maintain.

Thomas Renn, Associate Commercial Director, MSP concluded: “Our events space really does have the ‘wow’ factor, thanks to the combination of a brick wall backdrop, colour pops of purple, contemporary furniture and Forbo’s products. It’s the first thing visitors to the space comment on and love to share pictures of on social media. The installation of the A to Z map on the floor is a very clever idea – it helps our visitors to locate themselves within Manchester and connects MSP to the rest of the city.”