Crown Trade products have been selected for use in the ongoing maintenance programme at the Radisson Edwardian, a contemporary five star hotel in Manchester’s city centre. The products were incorporated because of their high levels of resistance to scuffing, flexibility of colour and low VOC levels.

The hotel’s maintenance team chose Crown Trade Clean Extreme Scrubbable Matt emulsion for use throughout the 14-storey hotel to further extend the redecoration cycle. The Clean Extreme Matt interior coating is designed to resist staining and withstand repeated cleaning. Ideal for areas of high use, it can significantly reduce the need for costly redecoration by minimising wear and tear.

Dean Strudwick, Chief Engineer at the Manchester Radisson Edwardian, manages the team responsible for ongoing repairs. He said: “We are very particular about the coatings that we use. We have a forward thinking environmental policy, which impacts on all of our operations. This means we try to use water-borne, low VOC formulations wherever possible. The Clean Extreme Scrubbable Matt fits the bill as it has a very low VOC rating.

“Lingering solvent odours and slow drying paint finishes put rooms out of action for much longer than we would like, as that costs us money. We’ve found that Clean Extreme Matt dries very rapidly and has very little odour, enabling us to offer the rooms to guests very shortly after repainting.


“The durability of the finish is also crucial, particularly when applied in corridors where heavy bags and suitcases and even housemaids’ trolleys can scuff against the paintwork. Until the Crown Trade Clean Extreme Matt was introduced to the market, there wasn’t a water-borne coating available that combined the really robust durability we needed with the totally sheen-free flat finish we prefer.”

The emulsion has been incorporated into the ongoing cycle of painting and minor decorative repairs programme, which keeps the 263 bedrooms and suites, 19 meeting rooms, spa area, treatment rooms, lift lobbies and extensive corridor space at the standards expected of a five star hotel. In addition to the hardwearing qualities of Clean Extreme Matt, colour choice was an important factor. Matching shades to those already present within the hotel was essential. This was made possible through the use of advanced spectrophotometry and mixing equipment which enables Crown Trade coatings to be tinted to any shade, exactly matching any colour sample presented for scanning.

Clean Extreme Matt was developed for areas of intensive use where wall surfaces will face daily challenges, such as in schools, nurseries, offices, hospitals, leisure facilities and student and housing association accommodation.

The surface retains the ‘newly applied’ appearance, even after repeated scrubbing, as the product has been developed in such a way that the amount of paint sacrificed each time dirt is cleaned off is minimal. Tests have shown that the Clean Extreme Matt offers a 400% increase in resistance to wet scrubbing when compared with the loss in paint film thickness of conventional matt emulsion. In trials, the new product achieved the very highest rating, Class 1 of ISO 11998, which means that less than five microns of paint film thickness were lost after a painted test panel was subjected to 200 simulated cleaning cycles on a scrub testing machine.

In practice, this means that the formulation of the new range offers exceptional durability, dirt resistance and cleanability. Few marks and stains will penetrate the paint surface and most marks can easily be wiped away with water alone.

Email: katie.utting@trianglepr.co.uk