London-based stone specialists Szerelmey now offer a raised floor system that gives the visual appearance of a hand-laid monolithic stone floor without the need for wet trades on site, so the floor can be used straight away.

The system uses a large format, tongued and grooved calcium sulphate board containing a high proportion of recycled material.

The boards have good acoustic properties and are durable. Stone or other hard floor finishes are pressure applied off-site.

The boards can be recessed to allow under floor heating to be fully incorporated within the system.

The boards are delivered to site and are installed so they interlock to produce a monolithic structure, with the design incorporating a joint between the tiled finish for in situ grouting, leaving the floor looking hand laid – which floors don’t when the stone is fixed into individual raised floor trays. Szerelmey describe the difference in visual quality as like the difference between carpet tiles and broadloom carpet.

Service access points are easy to incorporate, making the system ideal for environments such as reception areas, foyers, atria and lift lobbies – exactly where a high-quality stone floor is desirable.

Mark Walden, Design Manager at Szerelmey, says: “What is so special here is that the floors meet the visual expectations given by traditional flooring methods of laying hard finishes on a solid substrate but without the programme constraints of using wet trades and more traditional methods of construction.

“On-site logistical problems are minimised by prefabricating as much of the building components as possible off site, meaning a much speedier installation.”

The system can be seen in the new BBC building in Portland Place and has been adapted for Stanhope’s New Court Development in London EC2.