The Chinese Association of Tower Hamlets

The Chinese Association of Tower Hamlets (CATH) in East London runs a busy community hall that's used by people of all ages throughout the week. They came to us wanting a waterproof, durable floor that could cope with high foot traffic, with the quality and warmth of a wood-look finish.

Beneath the surface, the hall had a mix of old flooring to deal with: glued-down LVT in some places and laminate in others, across around 59m². Old LVT adhesive can be stubborn, so our team brought in a mechanical floor stripper to lift it cleanly, then took up the laminate and removed all the old flooring from site.

With the old layers gone, we prepared the base properly. Around 30m² of the subfloor needed a feather finish to smooth out dips and leftover adhesive, and in one area we fitted new plyboard to give a solid, level surface to work on. Getting this stage right is what stops imperfections showing through a new vinyl floor.

We then laid Forbo Eternal Wood sheet vinyl across the hall. It's a commercial-grade vinyl with a realistic wood design, and because it's laid as sheet rather than planks, there are far fewer joints for water and dirt to get into. That makes it easy to clean and well suited to a hall that hosts everything from classes to community events.

We surveyed the site in early November, and the installation ran from 27 to 29 November 2025, with the project signed off in early December. The hall was back in use with very little disruption to the association's programme.

It's the kind of community project we really enjoy: a space that matters to a lot of people, a floor chosen to last, and one team handling everything from stripping out the old flooring to the final finish.

Interested in flooring for your community space? Get in touch with our commercial team for a quote.