Recycled rubber flooring featured in several athletic settings
July 7/14, 2014; Volume 28/Number 2
By Louis Iannaco
Lebanon, Pa.—For two days in May, the team at Regupol America showed off some high-profile installations of its Aktiv recycled rubber sports flooring, a product designed with “fitness for a purpose.” Stops included the Horsham Athletic Club, Villanova University, Lancaster Mennonite High School, Franklin & Marshall College and others, as well as the Regupol America plant itself.
Aktiv is constructed for maximum comfort underfoot and designed to absorb the shock of training impact. It can also be customized by color, measurements and marketing, is made of 65% post-consumer recycled tire rubber and 35% post-industrial ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber, features a five-year warranty, is GreenCircle third-party certified and qualifies for LEED credits.
The first stop on the tour was the Shane Victorino Nicetown Boys & Girls Club in Philadelphia. The facility, located in an impoverished area of the city, is 105 years old.
Victorino, the all-star centerfielder formerly with the Phillies, along with the support of his charitable organization, the Shane Victorino Foundation (SVF), has developed a long-term relationship with the Boys & Girls Clubs in his native Hawaii. Since 2005 he has called Philadelphia home, so he was pleased to bring his philanthropic passion to the local community.
Regupol, the inventor of recycled rubber flooring for sports and athletic surfaces, teamed with partner companies Robbins Sports Surfaces, Abacus Sports Installations and the Sika Corp. to supply a full-system flooring solution for the new facility.
“We’ve been supporting the Boys & Girls Club for years, and the fact that this facility was in nearby Philadelphia left no question,” said John Aten, vice present of sales and marketing, Regupol America. “We were happy to support them however we could.”
Regupol contributed more than 9,100 square feet of Aktiv to the facility and 2,300 square feet of Regupol Shock Padding for the cushioning under the gym floor, a total value of more than $34,000.
“It was a great project,” he said, “and a great application—a cross between sports and commercial flooring. It’s a durable, green product, so architects are interested in it also. The floor will last forever. The top is synthetic, and underneath is Regupol padding.”
The contractors did the job correctly, Aten noted, as they did their due diligence when it came to moisture mitigation, “which was a difficult task as all the trades were working simultaneously to get the job done on time.”
In the gym…
As an athletic facility that caters to high-end, corporate clientele, the Horsham Athletic Club in Horsham, Pa., had a series of major decisions to make regarding its new 46,000-square-foot facility. One of the most important ones made by owner/general manager Doug Steinly was to use Regupol’s Aktiv Series in several of the most highly utilized and abused areas of his newly introduced club.
“Nobody really enjoys working out, so we do our best to make people comfortable while they are here,” Steinly said. Aktiv does just that, he noted, providing clients with a comfortable surface that absorbs the shock of training impacts and reduces the potential for stress and injury.
Steinly not only wanted a comfortable floor, but one that was versatile as well. A combination of Regupol’s Aktiv Core and Aktiv Strength Series runs seamlessly through the space, underneath cardio equipment, weight and sports training areas, and even the Kid’s Club. In total, 16,000 square feet has been installed throughout the facility.
Utilizing a handful of colors over several areas of the building allowed Steinly to provide his members with an attractive floor that not only matches the overall aesthetic of the space but is shock absorbent, problem and maintenance free, and slip resistant.
According to Aten, the Horsham job was about “fitness looking to be economical, but with color added to create visual interest. The color scheme varies by intensity and, as 20% to 25% of our flooring is custom made, it’s another way of bringing design into a space.”
At Villanova University, Regupol’s AktivPro custom rubber flooring is featured in the school’s football/Olympic sports training room, as well as its basketball training room. It is highlighted by an inlaid system utilizing the school’s colors—gray, white and blue. Both jobs comprise a total of approximately 8,000 square feet of Regupol flooring.
“We worked with the people at Villanova to get it right,” Aten said. The installation includes a solid rubber school logo laid into the floor. The AktivPro system used is new and includes a proprietary adhesive.
Apparently, after the flooring was installed in the school’s football/Olympic sports training room, Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright liked it so much he had to have it for his floor, too, Aten said. “They’re thrilled with the system, its look and the installation team we provided. The whole package together gave them the confidence to specify AktivPro on future projects.”
The multi-layered system was installed last summer and features a 3⁄8-inch underlayment. Regupol products will once again be featured at Villanova soon as the university has committed to the flooring company for its next project, a new 8,000-square-foot building the school will be adding to its athletic facilities.
Day two of the tour featured a stop at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., the 13th oldest institution of higher education in the U.S., which boasts a robust NCAA Division III athletic program fielding 27 teams and a new outdoor Olympic-rated racetrack. Indoors, despite the health of the athletics program, the locker rooms used by the football and lacrosse teams were hardly desirable.
Built in 1961 as part of the Mayser Physical Education Center, the rooms featured an outdated epoxy floor, less than ideal for athletes. F&M turned to Regupol, choosing Aktiv for its high performance. “Aktiv achieves color through a mixture of black recycled rubber and colored EPDM, in this case ‘Devil Blue,’” Aten said.
Though the recycled content makes up the majority of the material, the floor presents the optical illusion of appearing more blue than black. The surface covers a total of 2,100 square feet and includes a 6 x 16-foot custom cut logo displaying F&M’s team name—the Diplomats.