Category: Suspended Ceilings

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What type of suspended ceilings should I have?

What type of suspended ceilings should I have?

What type of suspended ceiling should I have? There are many different types of suspended ceilings, and we generally select a good  quality plain faced tile in most cases, which will not bow if there is a bit of moisture, and is nice a bright and no pattern. There are many different types of suspended ceilings and the range of tiles now can be quite baffling. The current trend is to focus on sound performance within the office and this can be dealt with by using a special tile.

The image to the right shows an ‘egg crate’ type of grid system that was quite common a few years ago. It is possible still to get the materials to build this system but it is much more expensive now than the new more conventional suspended ceilings installed today.

Office refurbishment in Bristol for Smurfit Kappa

Why should I have a suspended Ceiling?

Suspended ceilings are used for a number of reasons, they are quick to install and mean that all the services required for offices such as pipework for plumbing and air conditioning, as well as power and data can be hidden out of sight. Access to the services is also much easier than using a traditional plasterboard or MF type ceiling as the ceiling tiles just need to be lifted from the grid.

There are many offices with old fissured tiles, with sagging tiles and a mottled grey look they make the office look very dated. We like to fit nice white clean tiles to give a fresh look.

Why not use a Plasterboard Ceiling

Are strictly a no-no in most offices. You may see them in big shopping centres but usually there are lots of other things hanging from the ceilings to deal with acoustics, lighting and ventilation and the acoustics consideration would have been designed into the scheme. Plasterboard ceilings are fine in houses as they are quick to install and there are other plasterboard surfaces such as the partition walls in houses which need to be plastered and then painted. It is quicker just to skim the whole lot in a house. Most houses suffer from noise problems and noise transmission due to this method of build. New Building Regulations  In offices sound is one of the biggest problems, and sound bounces off hard surfaces..

Advantages in using Suspended Ceilings over plasterboard.

Another advantage with a suspended ceiling over plasterboard is that it does not need any finishing, so no plastering / tape and jointing or painted. It is a finished item. When carrying out a refurbishment project you want to minimise the amount of wet trades as speed is of the essence and you do not really want to wait for plaster to dry. If the area is cold then this will create a problem. The ceiling will also not have to be painted which is one less trade or activity to worry about.

Creating Features in Ceilings

You may have to have some hard surfaces to form thing like a bulkhead, see picture to the right. The construction of this was quite hard as it had to match the radius of the breakfast bar.

Formation of this bulkhead would be pretty hard to do with ceiling tiles.

Breakfast bar curve following bulkhead curve.

Access Problems with Plasterboard Ceilings

We come across problems all of the time where a traditional ‘builder’ has built an office and used plasterboard. We experienced one recently where a builder had sealed the complete ground floor up and had provided no access hatches or any way to get into the ceiling void. It is impossible to add additional voice / data cabling, get access to filters for air conditioning and ventilation units for servicing or if pumps fail, so a complete nightmare and this makes us very angry as these people should not be involved in building offices.

The other problem with this project was that the builder had not designed the offices properly and had missed out providing adequate ventilation to the offices, and completely ignored the law on this (Building Regulations). He was asked to fit air conditioning but completely threw his hands in the air as there was no-way to get anything through the building without destroying the ceiling. As it happens air conditioning was not the problem, no ventilation was provided and so an even bigger problem. At least with a suspended ceiling you would have had a chance to get the pipework through. Another problem is that a building inspector cannot assess the fire protection for the floor above with it all sealed up.

Sound Problems with Plasterboard Ceilings

I am afraid that the title of this section says it all, the other major problem with the project above was sound, it was extremely noisy in the offices, and there is no chance of improving it easily.

Projects with Suspended Ceilings

  1. Project in Reading:
  2. Suspended Ceiling in a Squash Court:
  3. Suspended Ceiling in Corsham
  4. Part of a larger project in Weston Super Mare.
  5. Suspended Ceiling in Bristol -(part of a larger project)
  6. Very large suspended ceiling for a warehouse.
  7. Awkward suspended ceiling in a church in Swindon.
  8. Ceilings in some toilets in Chippenham.
  9. Difficult suspended ceiling for Chippenham Motor Co.
  10. Fire rated suspended ceilings

We have more projects that can be found on the ‘projects’ tab above
If you want to improve sound performance for a space, or want to hide some services, or have any questions about suspended ceiling types please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44

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All Project Categories Dilapidation work Featured Office Refurbishments Partitioning Projects Suspended Ceilings Uncategorized

Extensive Dilapidation Work in Reading

Extensive Dilapidation Work in Reading

Client: The House of God Evangelical Church
Value: £100k

Dilapidation Work

The House of God Evangelical Church needed us to carry out some Dilapidation work in Reading.

We carry out dilapidation work occasionally and is very similar to the general term of office refurbishments. We carry out this work when a client leaves their current building and it has to be put back to an original state. In this case, the state of the building over three floors was pretty bad, but in essence it just needed all of the things that we currently do. Stripping out, new suspended ceilings, dry lining, painting and decorating, flooring work, demountable partitioning, fitting a small kitchen and minor structural work.

As we were doing the work the client asked us to build some new offices on one of the floors and we constructed the walls from demountable partitioning. Some finished photographs are shown below.

Existing state of the building

As you can see from the photographs below the building needed quite a bit of work doing to it, nothing unusual to what we normally do, just quite a bit of it.

Finished photographs.

Unfortunately we did not get to many finished photographs for this project, please find some below.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

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All Project Categories Projects Suspended Ceilings

Suspended Ceiling at Height in a Squash Court

Suspended Ceiling at Height in a Squash Court
DJ Kelly Homes ceiling

Client: DJ Kelly Homes
Value: £3k

Suspended Ceiling

The difficulty with this suspended ceiling project was that all of the work had to be carried out off two mobile towers as the ceiling was for a squash court. The tiles had to be plasterboard tiles for robustness, and the tiles had to be clipped into the grid so that they did not move. The grid was also suspended from rigid hangers rather than wire to make the ceiling as rigid as possible. Many people think that anyone can put up a suspended ceiling but there are only a few that can do it properly, we see many suspended ceiling projects which have sagged and you can see dips in the ceiling.

We fit all our suspended ceilings in with a laser, so the surface is completely flat. We also give advice on certain types of tiles as you can fit a cheap ceiling but the actual tile may not be correct application. In this case a standard mineral fiber tile would not have lasted, and as the squash court was in an outbuilding, there was a chance of moisture getting into the tiles. As soon as moisture gets into the fibers the tile will sag and you will see shadows on the corners of the tiles.

The other problem was that it was a bit dark initially as we were waiting for some temporary lights to be delivered.

Suspended Ceiling Construction Photos

Suspended Ceiling Projects

There are many different types of suspended ceilings and the range of tiles now can be quite baffling. The current trend is to focus on sound performance within the office and this can be dealt with by using a special tile.

Suspended ceilings are used for a number of reasons, they are quick to install and mean that all the services required for offices such as pipework for plumbing and air conditioning, as well as power and data can be hidden out of sight. Access to the services is also much easier than using a traditional plasterboard or MF type ceiling as the ceiling tiles just need to be lifted from the grid.

There are many offices with old fissured tiles, with sagging tiles and a mottled grey look they make the office look very dated. We like to fit nice white clean tiles to give a fresh look.

If you want to improve sound performance for a space, or want to hide some services, or have any questions about suspended ceiling types please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44

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All Project Categories Suspended Ceilings

Replacement of a Really old Suspended Ceiling in Corsham

Replacement of a Really old Suspended Ceiling in Corsham

Client: 5 Ways Business Centre Corsham
Value: £1.8k

The existing suspended ceiling in the corridors of this building were in a fairly typical state. When they were originally installed the people who fitted them used the cheapest possible ceiling tile that you can get and although can look really nice when new, does not have very good properties. The slightest bit of moisture in the roof structure above and the tiles absorb it, and you get a saggging effect in the tile. The sagging is particularly bad visually as can be seen from the photographs below.

On this suspended ceiling new ceiling tiles have been added to, and there was a dis colouration between the new tiles and the existing, which exacerbated the problem of the poor look.

Construction photographs.

As part of this project we also had to arrange for the existing light fittings to be removed, and then refitted after the new suspended ceiling was installed.

Suspended ceiling problems?

There are many different types of suspended ceilings and the range of tiles now can be quite baffling. The current trend is to focus on sound performance within the office and this can be dealt with by using a special tile.

Suspended ceilings are used for a number of reasons, they are quick to install and mean that all the services required for offices such as pipework for plumbing and air conditioning, as well as power and data can be hidden out of sight. Access to the services is also much easier than using a traditional plasterboard or MF type ceiling as the ceiling tiles just need to be lifted from the grid.

There are many offices with old fissured tiles, with sagging tiles and a mottled grey look they make the office look very dated. We like to fit nice white clean tiles to give a fresh look. There is a further description on one of our blog posts which can be seen by clicking this link.

We have been supplying and fitting suspended ceiling systems as part of our main refurbishment projects for a number of years, if you are not sure on what can be done please give us a call.

Please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44.

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All Project Categories Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Suspended Ceilings Visuals

Office Renovation and Fitting out an existing space in Trowbridge

Office Renovation and Fitting out an existing space in Trowbridge

Client: Sea Terra Trowbridge
Value: £12.5k

Office Refurbishment

This project involved the office fitting out of an existing office space in order for the company to occupy. The existing office looked quite dated, but the position of the space and the structure suited the customer well. As the office was going to be busy with lots of noise on the phone a suspended ceiling was essential, as well as providing CAT 2 lighting which is needed when working on computers.

Space Planning and design work.

The space was quite small, there was also a requirement to fit a certain number of people inside the office and so a basic space plan was required.Moving on from a basic space plan we applied some colours to the layout as well so the customer had some idea what could be done by using different carpet colours. There is a difference between basic drawing work and space planning, please click on the link for more of an explanation.

Final photographs.

Luckily the office space was empty so it made fitting the suspended ceiling much easier. The original space was just an old shop with a plasterboard ceiling and old fissured (squiggle pattern) tiles which made the space look really dated. The lighting was surface mounted tubed light fittings which are not allowed under the Visual Display Regulations, so they had to be changed anyway to CAT2 at the very least as the customer was using computers.

The project included the installation of a new suspended ceiling, new CAT 2 lighting & electrics,  new flooring, decoration and furniture. The ceiling was slightly tricky as the existing space had arches located centrally within the space.

Suspended Ceiling

Suspended ceilings are almost always used when carrying out an office refurbishment as existing ones can look tired. We have a bit more information on suspended ceilings on the following link if you would like to have a look, please click this link. The choice of the suspended ceiling is almost always price versus performance. It is possible to have a plasterboard ceiling but the problem with this type is that it is very hard to get services over the ceiling with access problems, and the hard surface of the ceiling lets the sound bounce around. The mineral fibre tiles that are generally used offer good sound absorption properties, and can easily be taken out to get to any cabling that you may wish to run over the grid system.

We also install all our ceilings with a self leveling laser to so the ceiling is completely flat. Some builders try and put ceilings in and we do often have to put them right, it is important to get the supporting wires tensioned properly as well as centering the grid system properly so it looks evenly balanced in the space.

The furniture chosen was a beam system type of furniture which allows cables to be hidden in an integral beam that joins the leg frame uprights together.

Please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44 for more information about this project or any requirement you may have.

Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Office Refurbishments Suspended Ceilings

Wall Removal to Enlarge and Refurbish an Office Space

Wall Removal to Enlarge and Refurbish an Office Space

Client: Kingsley Pike Estate Agents
Value: £13k

This Design and Refurbishment project including supplying and fitting two steel beams to support the three floors above the shop, and to remove a structural wall and so needed some design work in order to carry out the refurbishment of the space.

The effective use of space was very difficult to achieve due to the small space in the office, however we still had to produce drawings to satisfy Building Control and to determine exact positions of voice, data and lighting positions. The project included electrical work, decorations, air conditioning, construction of step, flooring, lighting design and carrying out the work in 7 days. We had to carry out a complete design and refurbishment of the existing space.1703 kingsley pike 11-10-05-Model

Design and Refurbishment work

We spent some time working out what was needed in the space and what we could get in. The beam was calculated, as the back wall to the shop needed to come out to widen the office space, the issue was that the wall held up the 3 floors above. One of the main problems was that the main beam was 6 meters long and it took 4 people to lift it into the shop from the main high street. The delivery vehicle had to leave the beams on the pavement whilst everything was prepared.

Construction Photographs

Completion photographs.

General Refurbishment and Fit out Work

If you need any advice or are thinking of an office refurbishment project please give us a call, we would love to talk to you, on 01380 738844

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All Project Categories Mezzanine Floors Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Office Expansion in Corsham for Coombe Castle

Office Expansion in Corsham for Coombe Castle

Client: Coombe Castle
Value: £48k

Office Expansion in Corsham

This project consisted of converting a storage unit in to office space in order to provide some much needed office expansion. The project would involve fire protecting a mezzanine floor as this is required by Building Regulations if you have offices above, steel work and a suspended ceiling.  Ventilation had to be put round a chiller and fire sensors had to be installed within the chiller as it could not be moved to fit the fire protected board. Office windows had to be installed to match the rest of the building.

Upstairs needed a complete office fitting, so a suspended ceiling, dry lining the outer walls, decoration of the outer walls,  some fire rated partitioning to create a fire barrier between the offices and warehouse, as well as demountable partitioning within. Full electrical work including CAT2 lighting, 3 compartment perimeter trunking, flooring and new windows were also required. As always we follow our process, so the first step is to understand what the client wants, and then to assess what they have by taking photographs, and drawing everything.

Existing Space Photographs

It is a bit difficult to see from the photos, but essentially we had several areas to deal with. Underneath the mezzanine and on top of it was the main area, but included absolutely everything we do.

Building Regulations

It is crucial to consider Building Regulations when looking at layouts for offices. In particular fire ratings and Building Regulations which is a legal requirement. This particular project needed offices to be fitted on top of a mezzanine floor and so this is why it had to comply to the law.

If you need more information about Building Regulations, we have written a few things here.

Construction and finished photographs.

Office Expansion?

If you have a problem with your existing office space and need it altering as you are running out of space then Cre8tive can help. Please give us a call on 01380 738844.

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All Project Categories Suspended Ceilings

Suspended Ceiling in Melksham sub station

Suspended Ceiling in Melksham sub station
Other rooms had prismatic panels

Client: Melksham Sub Station
Value: £4k

We were called in to look at Melksham sub stations‘ meeting room and staff room as there were a few problems with the inside of the room. The existing ceiling at the sub station was just exposed to the roof. As well as looking unsightly, the rooms were generally noisy as any sound bounced off the hard surfaces of the roof without being absorbed. The sub station also lost heat through the roof space, so the requirement was to install a new ceiling in a couple of rooms which would solve these issues. Instead of the usual CAT2 louvred lighting we fitted LG3 indirect/direct fittings which reduce any shadow around the edge of the room. A suspended ceiling was the obvious answer.

Choosing the right suspended ceiling tile is important to get the right balance between how the ceiling will look, its performance, (often related to sound and insulation), and of course cost. Cre8tive usually presents some options with some recommendations which then the customer can chose the right combinations to the budget that is available. In this instance we did not believe in presenting the cheapest tile for the cheapest price, which is what many companies do, but for not very much more they got a massively different look to the ceiling. The client also spent a bit more money in getting the correct lighting sorted and ended up with exactly what they wanted.

Construction and finished photographs

Not sure what Suspended Ceiling to have?

There are many different types of suspended ceilings, and we have selected a good quality plain faced tile in this case, which will not bow if it gets a bit of moisture, and is nice a bright. The lighting was important, as traditional CAT2 lighting creates shadows around the walls, we chose LG3 which throws light back into the diffuser producing less shadows around the edges of the walls.

There are many different types of suspended ceilings and the range of tiles now can be quite baffling. The current trend is to focus on sound performance within the office and this can be dealt with by using a special tile.

Suspended ceilings are used for a number of reasons, they are quick to install and mean that all the services required for offices such as pipework for plumbing and air conditioning, as well as power and data can be hidden out of sight. Access to the services is also much easier than using a traditional plasterboard or MF type ceiling as the ceiling tiles just need to be lifted from the grid.

There are many offices with old fissured tiles, with sagging tiles and a mottled grey look they make the office look very dated. We like to fit nice white clean tiles to give a fresh look.

If you want to improve sound performance for a space, or want to hide some services, or have any questions about suspended ceiling types please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44

Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Mezzanine Floors Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings Toilet Refurbishment

Office Refurbishment with a Mezzanine Floor in Gloucester

Office Refurbishment with a Mezzanine Floor in Gloucester
New stairs

Client: Scott Law
Value: £160k

Mezzanine Floor installation

Cre8tive Interiors completed an office refurbishment fit out project in Gloucester. The original building consisted of an occupied warehouse with a split level floor and block walls which needed to be converted to offices. We are calling this project a refurbishment project, it involved taking an industrial unit and changing it (refurbishing it?), and then fitting out the inside to provide a complete office space by fitting a mezzanine floor inside. So it is probably a mixture between a refurbishment project and a fit out project.

The offices had to include toilets, reception area, new staircase, kitchen, boardroom and further offices as well as full integration of electrics, data and air conditioning. The project was also run under the Construction Design and Management regulations, so adherence to Health and Safety was paramount. All activities had to have risk assessments carried out as well as method statements for the type of work. Cre8tive was also Principle Contractor for the work, and this meant that there were some things that the client wanted to do within the time frame on site which we managed to do.

Pre-construction Photographs

All of the internal walls, ceilings, toilets and electrics would have to be stripped out including the spiral staircase and small room above it. The two units had a gap inside joining them which would need to be blocked up. The block walls inside would have to be modified. In the end it was easiest just to rip it all out and start again.

Construction Work

The following photographs show the stripping out as well as the construction and finished photographs. The photographs show the sequence of events and all of the work that goes into creating offices over a mezzanine floor. Complete network cabling, power and data, heating and cooling with air conditioning, flooring, external windows, there are many things to manage and get to work properly which is what we do at Cre8tive.

We used demountable partitioning for the offices upstairs and downstairs for a few reasons, the first is that is is easy to reconfigure if you want to change it, and one of the other main benefits is that it can be leased and treated as a ‘moveable item’ as well as the mezzanine floor. The mezzanine floor itself is fully self supporting and not fixed to the fabric of the building so is also ‘demountable’. It could be unbolted and then re bolted in the car park outside if needed.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Office Refurbishment

This particular project was more complicated that many that we do in that it involved the mezzanine floor. If you need any advice or are thinking of an office refurbishment project please give us a call, we would love to talk to you, on 01380 738844

Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Design Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Completely New Design of the Existing Office Space in Bristol

Completely New Design of the Existing Office Space in Bristol
Bespoke MD's desk

Client: Smurfit Kappa
Value: £65k

Office Design and Refurbishment in Bristol

Our client wanted a complete redesign refurbishment of the existing office space. The first task was to come up with some ideas and some colour schemes, the director wanted an adventurous new scheme, so we focused upon creating a more spacious effect through introducing new concepts of Lighting, Suspended Ceiling, Partitioning, new Air Conditioning systems, Flooring and Furniture in order to create a more relaxed office environment that mixes bold contemporary colour and natural materials.

Design and Drawing work

In working out what needs to be done, we need to know what is there. A detailed drawing showing positions of electrics and the walls was produced. The new layout required a few designs, and in particular the Director wanted to have a meeting end on his new desk, so we had to design a desk and get it made particularly for him.

Colour scheme / Design

As this area was a completely separate area from the upstairs directors suite, we thought that the whole scheme could be different. The room was completely separate from the rest of the building, so when you walked in, there was a different feel which was modern, had a blend of the traditional timber partitions, along with some stripy carpet, and the middle solid carpet was a very high quality cut pile carpet which felt soft and luxurious underfoot. One of the main requirements was that the Managing Director wanted a meeting end on his desk and it was not possible to get one to fit from standard product ranges. We therefore had to get one made..

Existing space

As you can see from the photographs the whole area needed completely stripping out and replacing.

Stripping out and building photographs

I always like this phase as the office transforms, from a very dull space to something new. We do get an immense level of satisfaction in carrying out office refurbishment projects for this reason.

Final photographs

As you can see from the final photographs, Cre8tive were successful in carrying out a complete redesign and office refurbishment of the customers existing space.

Why Demountable Office Partitions?

  1. Demountable partitions are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts, we can also lease elements of office refurbishments. Anything that can be moved.
  2. We mainly lease Demountable Partitions as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of movable items is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions in an office as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

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Not sure what to do?

Please give us a call and we can help with any aspect of interior office fit out, along with space planning and design work.

01380 73 88 44