A Leicestershire based family firm that created a ‘world first’ in sustainable flooring is celebrating major successes just three years after launching.
Abacus Flooring Solutions, based in Coalville, is celebrating its third birthday, having already received multiple awards and seen its turnover grow from nothing to £1.5m in three years.
It was an entirely different picture just a few years ago when husband-and-wife team Nick and Amanda Megson sold their house and drove down the M1 from Yorkshire to Leicestershire to launch their new resin flooring business.
Apart from the few possessions that fitted in their car, they arrived with an absolute conviction that their new venture would be a success.
Three years down the line, the confidence of this innovative duo has been proven – business is booming and there is an industry ‘first’ under their belts.
Nick, the firm’s managing director, said: “I can’t believe it’s already been three years since we launched. But I’m also gobsmacked by the amount of rapid success we’ve seen in that time. It’s just gone through the roof.
“At 61 years old, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life, and we are only going to get bigger and better from here.”
Abacus Flooring Solutions began with three key factors – expert knowledge, bags of enthusiasm and the courage to go all out when it came to faith in their business idea.
The real ‘X-factor’ lay in Nick’s knowledge, gained from a long history in the resin flooring industry.
Nick had already spent more than 30 years in the flooring sector and had served on the board of the Resin Flooring Association (FeRFA). He had also been an industry ambassador for sustainability and recycling for many years, so knew the industry from the ground up.
Flexing his eco credentials, he set about shaping the future – not only in the flooring industry, but potentially in a broad range of other industry sectors.
Nick invented a unique, sustainable flooring process which he named Abaplas. It has since received a UK patent and is anticipated to transform waste plastics recycling.
Abaplas is the world’s first resin flooring system that contains 100 per cent recycled waste plastic, rather than harmful silica sand.
“Abaplas is set to revolutionise resin flooring across the world,” said Nick.
Silica sand, also known as industrial sand, is a harmful carcinogenic material that is generated through mining and quarrying. It is currently used in many building products, including mortars, cements, asphalt and adhesives.
By entirely replacing this traditional silica base with a non-harmful white powder, created from waste plastic, Nick has achieved a unique and sustainable solution that both removes the carbon footprint created by silica mining while also creating a large-scale use for plastic that would otherwise have ended up in landfill.
Developing the new eco method has been a labour of love.
Nick said: “We carried out so many tests that it seemed as if it would never happen. However, we finally achieved the fantastic result we have today, and it is being embraced by some top-of-their-game firms.”
The world’s first resin flooring using 100 per cent recycled plastic was installed in the enormous VIP Visitor Centre auditorium at JCB’s global headquarters in Staffordshire.
Abaplas flooring has since been used in warehouses, medical facilities and football stadiums throughout the UK, including the Royal Box at Wembley Stadium, where Nick ground-down the old Wembley seats to produce the plastic bulking agent for the floor.
Nick’s invention has led to him receiving a Green Apple global environment award along with a host of other awards and plaudits. He has even set up another business, Abaplas Recycling Limited, which handles all the plastics recycling.
With other uses for his unique process continually being developed, Nick said: “Research has uncovered many uses for our 100 per cent recycled plastic, in things like our primer coats, scratch coats, self-smoothing screeds, repair compounds – and even things like tile adhesives.”
He added: “It could turn the plastics recycling industry completely on its head and really make major strides in helping to save the planet. And that’s no small thing to have achieved in just three years of business!”
For more information, visit www.abacusflooringsolutions.co.uk.
