The financial situation of the UK’s economy is turbulent at present, to say the least. Contributing factors such as Brexit, COVID-19, and the Ukraine War have resulted in rising inflation and desperate cost of living conditions, which has impacted businesses across the board, no matter their size.
Business owners estimate that their outgoings have risen by 13% since the start of the year, with over 86% of business owners working to keep their costs as low as possible, in an effort to maintain steady prices and offset the additional rises in the face of the cost of living crisis.
In 2022, online sales accounted for 27.1% of all retail sales. This has had a knock-on effect on business. It is suggested that in order to accommodate for this rapid increase in E-commerce, 1.5 billion square feet of warehouse space will be required by 2025. Despite this, there is an alarming lack of warehouse availability, forcing businesses to seek storage solutions elsewhere.
One of the most effective of these solutions is to implement mezzanine flooring at your existing premises. This blog explains the different types of mezzanine flooring that we offer, and the strengths of each, so that you feel better informed when deciding on the most appropriate mezzanine solution for you.
What is Mezzanine Flooring?
The word mezzanine comes from the Italian word ‘’mezzano’’, which means ‘’middle’’. Traditionally, the word was used to describe the lowest balcony of a theatre or the first few rows of seats within that balcony. Similar to its roots, mezzanine flooring describes the intermediate floor between two main floors – or between the floor and ceiling of a building – and is usually not included in the overall floor count.
Typically, mezzanine flooring is installed to maximise unused vertical space, as it provides additional room above and below the space currently used. It can be built free of existing structures, without having to extend your current premises. Mezzanines are particularly popular for industrial settings, as warehouses often have high ceilings and not enough floor space to house the abundance of stock and machinery they own.
Mezzanine flooring is usually made by combining steel, stainless steel, concrete, wood, and fibreglass. There are a variety of mezzanine flooring types, each with different utilities and applications – whether it be for storage, work operations, equipment access, inventory rack access or conveyor access, among many other uses.
Steel Mezzanines
Steel mezzanine flooring is one of the most common decking options for industrial and office buildings. A structural steel mezzanine is built from open web bar joists, hot-rolled structural l-beams, structural l-beam-columns, and tubular columns. They can be decked with an array of finishes and provide a higher amount of column space than any other type of industrial mezzanine.
Of all the mezzanine flooring types, steel mezzanines provide the highest level of moisture resistance, material strength and durability. Because of its high level of strength, steel mezzanine flooring requires the least maintenance, is incredibly cost-effective, and has high levels of functionality, owing to its strong resistance to foot traffic.
Warehouse Mezzanines
Many warehouse managers believe that they are using all of the space that is available to them to its fullest capacity. However, they have clearly not yet considered mezzanine flooring solutions. There’s often a gap between the top of their inventory and the warehouse ceiling, which can effectively double the space available. Crafted from structural steel, our floors are capable of withstanding heavy loads and are designed to support racking, shelving and pallets, etc., providing even more opportunities for storage.
We can provide single-tier and multi-tier structural mezzanine flooring systems for warehouse environments – allowing companies to place administrative areas directly above their main warehouse, so that they can better monitor and oversee their operations as they happen. Our mezzanine solutions also allow them to expand their office storage and workshop/cleanroom capacity without having to change location.
Office Mezzanines
Our expert team is incredibly skilled at creating captivating and functional mezzanine flooring solutions for office environments. Our flooring solutions can help to increase the amount of workspace available in your office, creating two levels where there used to be one. This allows you all the space you need and eliminates the financial burden and office disruption associated with having to relocate to another office.
Fire Protection Mezzanines
Depending on what you are using your mezzanine floors for, as well as the size and configuration of your instalment, you may be required by law to get your mezzanine flooring fire rated.
Fire rating involves applying additional protection to columns, the supporting structure, and edge fascias, as well as adding a fire-rated level suspended underneath the primary floor surface.
Fire-rated fixtures do not prevent or fight fire, but they do arm your mezzanine structure with a protective coat that lasts long enough for you to safely evacuate the building, whilst slowing down the effects of the fire to allow emergency services to arrive.
Mezzanine flooring is the ideal solution to your ever-growing business storage demands and the lack of property available on the market to facilitate this. It is the ultimate solution, as it can be made bespoke to your manufacturing needs, and is cheaper and more flexible than its alternatives.
If you have any further questions regarding mezzanine flooring or are looking to partner with a highly respected and well-experienced mezzanine floor supplier, then please do not hesitate to get in touch! Our team would love to hear from you and would be more than happy to help.