Terrazzo specialist Diespeker & Co has completed works at City University for the refurbishment of flooring and stairs in the entrance to the Tait Building on Goswell Road.

The refurbishment is part of a £3.5 million capital works framework contract won earlier this year by ISG. The construction arm of ISG has been stripping out the ground and lower ground floors prior to remodelling and reconfiguration.

City’s history dates back to the 1800s, and it became a fully-fledged university in 1966. The Tait Building, which houses the School of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences, School of Health Sciences and the Oliver Thompson lecture theatre, opened in 1974.

Diespeker provided flooring, along with treads and risers for the ground floor entrance of the Tait Building. Part of the architect’s specification was for a high number of brass insets for the treads.

“These are corduroy strips, which act as a warning to partially sighted people of potential physical hazards, such as a staircase,” explained Diespeker MD, John Krause. “This element of the project accounted for around one fifth of the budget.”

After the terrazzo was laid, it was then drilled to accept the studs on the underside of the corduroy strips using a template. The strips were secured using chemical fixings.

Diespeker supplied and installed approximately 50m² of terrazzo in a range of different colours from the company’s comprehensive standard range. The sheets of terrazzo were manufactured by the company’s Italian partners and delivered to the London factory. Diespeker’s Italian machinery handled the final stages of cutting to size, the addition of slots and all stages of polishing.

Project cost: £50K