Smooth liquid screed floors for the restoration of Wigan Civic Centre

Clockwork Screed was sub-contracted by developer Capital & Centric to install flooring for the first phase of the restoration of Wigan Civic Centre.

About the project

Wigan Civic Centre is a 32,000 sq ft brutalist style building that housed council staff for decades after it opened in 1970. Since moving council affairs to the Town Hall and Life Centre, Wigan Civic Centre has been empty.

Planning permission was granted at the beginning of 2024 for the creation of a development of offices, break-out spaces, a gym, mini cinema and roof terrace. The renovated space will be a hub for startups, co-workers and small businesses. The intention is to keep the brutalist concrete façade to celebrate the building’s history and impact when it was first opened. It is expected that the project will be completed in March 2025. 

Sustainability is a key factor in the development. Any materials in the derelict site that can be reused will become part of the new interior. This will save a significant amount of embodied carbon. The plan is for the building to be accredited BREEAM Excellent (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology). There will be a substantial amount of greenery, along with secure cycle storage and EV charging points to encourage users to choose environmentally friendly ways to commute to work.

As a company that is committed to operating as sustainably as possible, Clockwork Screed is always keen to be involved in green builds and restorations. Over our many years of trading, we have invested in innovative sustainable technologies. Our unique mobile screeding plants batch-produce the amount of liquid screed needed on site and pump it directly to where it is needed. This means we produce hardly any waste, and the job can be completed by a single team which uses fewer carbon miles. Our work is also closely involved with renewable heat technologies such as heat pumps, along with energy efficient underfloor heating systems.

Clockwork Screed’s liquid floor screed installation for Wigan Civic Centre

Clockwork Screed was tasked with supplying and installing liquid floor screed across all three floors of Wigan Civic Centre.

We used Cemfloor C25 liquid screed. The C25 grade means that the concrete has a strength of 25 newtons after 28 days, making it strong enough to support heavyweight structures.

Cemfloor is a cement-based, self-levelling liquid floor screed. It excels at covering large floor areas without joints. This made it the ideal choice for the expansive floors of Wigan Civic Centre as we were able to install large 150m² sections of Cemfloor liquid screed, leaving fewer joints than would have been produced by other screeds. Cemfloor creates no surface dust after curing which avoids delays and reduces labour costs, and it is compatible with all cement based floor adhesives.

As a self-levelling and self-compacting floor screed, Cemfloor is very quick to install when compared to traditional sand and cement flooring applications, which also could not be laid as flat or thin. These benefits, in addition to the reduced drying times compared to other screeds, allowed us to complete the work within 3 days, whereas a sand and cement screed would have taken a minimum of 9 days.

We poured 450m² of Cemfloor liquid screed per day at depths ranging from 30mm to 60mm. By using a high performance, fast drying liquid floor screed we reduced our time on site and produced a strong and durable flooring. This resulted in significant cost savings for the client. Using our mobile screed factories, we were also able to reduce the number of vehicle movements on site by 90%, thus minimising our environmental impact.

Speak to us about your floor screed project

Clockwork Screed works on a vast range of commercial and residential floor screeding projects. If you need a reliable floor screed installer, get in touch.