Flooring
For over 20 years, Conslab have been leading the way in the New Zealand Construction industry when it comes to concrete floor slab design and construction. Conslab's approach to floor construction is unique in the New Zealand market. Based on an inherent passion for concrete technology, Conslab offers a full end-to-end solution for concrete floors.
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The Conslab Process
Early Involvement
Getting Conslab involved early in a project ensures the best possible outcome. We will provide advice on how to achieve optimal storage density, vehicle operations and minimise maintenance disruption. Decisions made at this early stage will impact the buildings performance for many years, so it is critical to a successful build. Early engagement also helps to minimise risk exposure and project cost.
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Design
Conslab's Engineering team are experts in concrete floor design, combining the latest in design and materials technology with unrivaled experience in the construction of high-performance floors. A floor designed by Conslab will be fit-for-purpose, durable and cost effective, with each slab specifically designed for the unique demands of the project.
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Build
Conslab's flooring construction team are the best in the business. With many decades of experience at all levels, combined with the latest in concrete placing and finishing equipment, Conslab will build your floor to spec, on time and within budget.
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Maintain
Regular maintenance of concrete floors can increase their service life by many decades, ensuring the efficiency and longevity of your operations. Conslab's Extend division specialise in concrete floor maintenance to give your slab a long and productive life.
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Conslab - Commercial Concrete Flooring Experts
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LOGISTICS & DISTRIBUTION CENTRES
Cold Store | Durable flooring solutions for Cold Storage facilities
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Conslab's design & build solutions for cold stores provide low maintenance durable floor slabs that are built to last.
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Construction of cold storage facilities presents some unique challenges for designers and builders, in particular the concrete floor slab. Although often an overlooked aspect, the floor is critical to the function of cold-stores as it is the platform for all operations. The efficiency of storage, inventory movements, and the avoidance of downtime for maintenance, are critical to profitability and can be severely hampered by poor quality concrete floors.
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Conslab are experts in the construction of concrete floor slabs for cold storage facilities and will work with your project team to minimise risk and maximise the utility of the completed building. We will assist in working through the design and detailing required to prevent cracking and achieve a high-durability finish, minimise joints and ongoing maintenance, and ensure the slab can resist freeze-thaw damage in critical areas.
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Repairs and maintenance to concrete floors are always expensive, a cost which is significantly increased in cold storage environments. Repairs may require re-location of racking and stock, or in the worst case the temperature may need to be raised to allow for repairs as some products such as repair mortars or epoxies cannot be used at low temperatures. This reinforces the critical importance of getting the floor slab right first time.
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Super flat floors for Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) racking
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Maximise storage density by stacking higher and closer – minimise construction risk by using a contractor who gets it right first time.
Developers and tenants of logistics buildings know that a critical measure of a buildings value is how much product can be stored in it. This has led to the continued development of storage systems with ever increasing storage density. One of the key advancements over previous decades is the introduction of Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) racking systems.
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VNA storage systems are a significant advancement in storage efficiency and density compared to traditional racking. Very tall racking (up to 16m) with very narrow aisles (approx 1.7m) require precise control of floor surface flatness and levelness in trafficked aisles, typically specified as DM1 to EN15620 or ConcreteNZ TS01:2021.
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Traditionally VNA floors have been constructed as long-strip pours that are screeded side to side. The downside of this approach is a floor which is full of joints, which are costly and lead to long-term maintenance issues.
In 2014 Conslab pioneered a new approach to VNA floor construction for the James Pascoe Group Distribution Centre.
Conslabs approach advanced VNA floor construction in several ways:
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Use of large-bay post-tensioned slabs to minimise joints and produce a much more durable and cost effective solution.
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Speed up slab construction by approximately 20%
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Mitigate risk of slab-curl by using patented Conslab Rhino-Joints
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Ensure VNA flatness/levelness specifications were met through advanced profiling/surveying technology and precision concrete grinding
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Reduced construction costs approximately 25% compared to traditional design/construction methods
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Since then, Conslab have refined our approach to VNA floor construction over many projects.
Heavy-Duty Pavements | Heavy-duty Container pavement Design & Build solutions
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Conslab's heavy-duty pavements for containers, straddle carriers and reach stackers are durable, low-maintenance and built to last
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Heavy-duty concrete pavements are critical pieces of modern logistics and transport infrastructure. Pavements need to handle extreme loading from stacked containers, straddle carriers and reach-stackers, which often leads to slab failures and damage to slab joints and edges. Well designed and built pavements enable highly efficient storage and movement of containers - poorly designed and built pavements result in significant losses through downtime, reduced efficiency and maintenance.
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Conslab can design and build heavy-duty pavements designed specifically for a project's requirements. From single container set-down areas and devanning canopy's for warehouses, to 5+ high container stacks at rail and port depots.
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Avoiding long-term maintenance can be achieved through careful design to eliminate joints and reduce the risk of uncontrolled cracking. Conslab are experts in the design and construction of Combi Slabs which use high-performance steel fibres and conventional reinforcing to reduce/eliminate the need for movement joints.
E-Commerce | Future-proofed slab designs unlock automation potential
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Optimised e-commerce floor slab design and build solutions maximise e-commerce warehouse efficiency and automation potential
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Demands for e-commerce fulfillment centres and warehouse space has rapidly increased over recent years. Consumer demand for fast delivery of online purchases has introduced new challenges to designers and tenants of e-commerce facilities. Project timeframes are under increasing pressure and fast-tracked construction programs are now the norm. This rapid construction is taking place on sites selected for proximity to consumers, increasing development of brownfield sites with poor or complex ground conditions, introducing additional challenges.
The final layer of complexity is accommodation of automated robotics systems, which are also rapidly developing. E-commerce warehouses currently under construction must be able to accommodate current and future automation systems.
Conslab understand the challenges of building e-commerce facilities, and will work with the tenant, developer and project team to build a floor specifically designed for the sites unique requirements. Some of the considerations on modern e-commerce projects:
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Poor ground conditions - The need for e-commerce facilities to be close to consumers requires developments of brownfield sites which often have complex ground conditions. Low sub-grade modulus, expansive soils, liquefaction potential and differential settlement are common challenges.
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Construction/expansion joints - To maximise the potential for automation and reduce maintenance, Conslab can design slabs with minimal or no movement joints. Joints can interfere with the movement of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and limit changes to racking layouts.
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Flatness/Levelness/Stiffness - Automation systems have varying requirements for floor surface regularity. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) are large racking systems with automated goods movement, these require careful control of floor slab levelness and stiffness to very tight tolerances. Small robots (AGVs) that travel on the floor generally require precise control of the floor flatness, however floor levelness and stiffness is less critical.
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Surface Finish - Abrasion resistance, surface reflectivity (gloss) and friction can all impact the ability of AGVs to operate on a floor. Abrasion resistance is required to ensure the floor does not degrade with high-volume of traffic. Surface reflectivity can be critical to the function of some AGVs which rely on the floor for guidance, too much or too little reflectivity can be an issue. Surface friction is critical to ensure AGVs have enough traction to move the loads they carry.
Balancing requirements for future-proofing and affordability is challenging. Conslab will provide a complete floor slab solution that deals with the unique challenges of each project and achieve the balance between cost and future flexibility.
RETAIL
Beautiful, low-maintenance concrete floors for Retail
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Retailers save on operational, maintenance, cleaning and lighting costs with a beautiful concrete floor slabs by Conslab
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The influence of a concrete floor on retail store performance is often overlooked. Floors are the stage upon which retailors present their products to shoppers, and it plays a big role in setting the feeling of the store. Floor quality also significantly influences operational costs for large-format retailers. Lighting, maintenance and cleaning demands can be significantly reduced by a high-performance concrete floor slab.
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Conslab's design & build solutions for retail building are specifically designed to meet the needs of the retailer.
The advantages of Conslabs approach:
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Superior aesthetics and colour consistency – Through careful management of the concrete mix design and construction process, and application of surface treatments, Conslab produce slabs with exceptional aesthetics to provide a great backdrop to retailer's products.
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In-house concrete polishing/grinding - Conslab provide a full range of concrete enhancement services, including concrete grinding/polishing. By building slabs and performing the grind/polish process we can control all variables which influence the final look.
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High gloss – Through specialist placing/finishing techniques and surface treatments, we can produce floors with high levels of gloss, which reduces lighting demands for retail spaces.
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Elimination of joints – Joints are the most common location for slab maintenance issues. By designing slabs without joints we greatly reduce the potential for ongoing maintenance costs and disruption to operations.
INDUSTRIAL
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Food & Beverage | Hygienic, easy to clean concrete flooring solutions​
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Conslabs Design & Build solutions for Food & Beverage facilities are easy-to-clean, hygienic and durable
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Food and beverage manufacturing environments require functional and durable flooring. Floors must maintain hygiene requirements, be non-slip, and easy to clean. In some instances they must also resist aggressive chemicals and regular soaking for cleaning which can damage conventional concrete floors. Meeting these requirements often involves the use of floor coatings, which pose challenges in themselves. Poorly applied coatings fail early and are costly and disruptive to reinstate.
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Conslab provides the full-package solution for construction of food & beverage manufacturing facilities, combining our expertise in the design & construction of concrete floors with our specialist team of floor coating applicators. We can assess the specific requirements of any food & beverage manufacturing project to determine if coatings are required, and if so which type meets the needs of the project.
By using Conslab to design and construct a floor, then provide coatings, developers can be sure that the slab substrate is compatible with the applied coating, eliminating the interface risk of dealing with separate flooring and coating contractors.
Manufacturing | Optimised concrete floors for manufacturing facilities
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Design & Build concrete floor slabs specifically designed for any manufacturing environment without compromising on quality
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Modern manufacturing facilities contain highly speclialised production equipment, which is optimised for performance.
Optimised manufacturing facilities need optimised floor slabs, with specifically designed slabs for each area of the facility.
Conslab work with engineers, architects, builders and tenants to provide tailor made flooring solutions in manufacturing facilities. Slabs are often required to accommodate complex plant and services layouts, pits and drainage details, withstand aggressive chemicals, be suitable for applied finishes and coatings, all while being cost effective and durable.
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Our team of concrete experts know that there are no one-size-fits all solutions for manufacturers, and will provide design options which balance performance and cost, so that the project team can make informed decisions about the best solution for their facilities.
Agriculture | Durable concrete floors for Agriculture supplies
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Cost effective concrete flooring solutions which stand up to the tough demands of the Agricultiral industry
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Structures used for agriculture supply products such as fertiliser and animal feed are exposed to a range of conditions with the potential to damage concrete. Fertilisers when combined with the humidity in air forms compounds which are highly aggressive to concrete and can cause rapid deterioration of concrete slabs and storage bins.
Extreme concrete cracking, spalling and reinforcing corrosion are commonly found in fertiliser storage facilities, even those built quite recently. Bulk storage of fertiliser and animal feed is also a challenge when designing concrete floors due to the heavy bulk load from the stored products, as well as a need to resist damage from loaders scraping floors to move the material.
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The specific requirements of any concrete floor are unique to a given site and application. Conslab designs and builds concrete floors for agricultural facilities with a focus on key performance requirements:
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Chemical durability to resist damage from aggressive chemicals from fertiliser, chemicals or effluent – this requires slabs which limit the ability of aggressive chemical to enter the concrete through cracks, joints and the concrete surface. This is achieved through design of seamless slabs without joints, limiting crack widths to very small diameters and using concrete mix designs with low permeability.
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Low maintenance through elimination of joints, high quality construction and durable design.
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Strength to deal with heavy bulk storage loads
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Resists damage from loaders scraping material off floor slab
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Cost effective and efficient to build
As experts in concrete design and construction, Conslab work with our clients to produce the most durable and long lasting solutions possible within the clients budget. Conslab floors are long lasting and easy to maintain, ensuring minimal disruptions to operations once a new building is complete.