A retail floor sees heavy use every day. At IKEA Hasselt, Glansbeton helped deliver a polished concrete floor designed for shopping trolleys, intensive footfall and the day-to-day operation of a large home furnishings store.
Hasselt · retail floor · 2015
A polished concrete floor for a busy retail environment.
Glansbeton carried out the concrete work for contractor Dilien.
On site at IKEA Hasselt
A large retail floor calls for careful planning. The concrete was placed and power floated in stages, with attention to reinforcement, site access, joints and edge details.
According to our project records, work progressed at around 2,000 m² per day during the installation stages. That figure describes the pace of work, not the total area completed by Glansbeton.
A floor made for intensive retail use
Power floating compacts and finishes the freshly placed concrete as it sets. For a retail floor, appearance matters alongside flatness, wear resistance and a well-planned layout of the floor panels.
Joints need particular attention. The small, hard wheels of shopping trolleys and pallet trucks cross the same transitions again and again.
A Cosinus joint profile for smoother crossings
We used a Cosinus joint profile in this floor. It joins adjacent floor panels and protects the concrete edges where shopping trolleys and other wheeled equipment cross the joint.
Why the wave-shaped edge?
A wheel crosses the wave-shaped joint gradually instead of meeting a straight opening all at once. It stays better supported through the transition. This helps reduce shocks and vibration and limits stress on the joint edges.
The part below the surface matters too
The visible wave is only part of the profile. Its shape below floor level helps transfer loads continuously between the concrete slabs. The profile accommodates the intended horizontal movement and helps limit differences in level under load.
In a retail setting, that means attention to both comfort and durability: a smoother passage for wheels and better protection for edges exposed to daily traffic.
The sub-base, slab layout, columns and protection during construction also influence how a concrete floor performs over time. We consider these details when planning a retail or industrial floor.
This case study covers the IKEA store itself. See our separate project in the Hasselt retail park.
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Polished concrete floor at IKEA Hasselt