The flooring within and outside sports and leisure venues is probably the most important design elements to consider when creating a new athletic space. This is why Sports England provides stringent guidelines on both outdoor surfaces and indoor flooring.
Of course, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) also regulates how sports facilities are designed and run, and safety rules for venues.
When creating new build sports and leisure developments – or refurbishing existing ones – you may come across the term MUGA flooring. What does MUGA surfaces mean? It’s an acronym for Multi-Use Games Area surfaces.
This can be important to know, as getting your sports flooring right can depend on making sure you match a diverse list of priorities. Not just budget, aesthetics and delivery timescales, but whether you have a flooring type that’s suitable for use, and durable enough.
This article looks at those challenges, and provides insights on choosing MUGA surfaces.
For many sports and leisure venues, creating adaptable and flexible-use rooms and external locations makes good economic sense. You can vary the activities in that area according to current trends, customer interest, and times of the day in order to fully optimise your hours of operation and capacity.
So, for example, you could have five-a-side football, tennis, and basketball timetabled in the same location across the week. Or dance and fitness classes running in a room used for futsal and circuit training. Can you also use retractable seating, and removable equipment in your multi-purpose area? It can all impact on the flooring you specify.
If you have multi-use games areas, it creates a special set of challenges that you need to consider when specifying flooring.
However, the overarching aims are similar to general sports flooring considerations. In particular, has your planned flooring been engineered and installed to prevent injury? This includes managing impact and minimising any slipping risks, for example.
Next, you need to consider sports flooring that improves performance. Consumers have high expectations when they use private or public sector sports and leisure facilities. You need to be sure your flooring is not the thing that lets you down!
When choosing flooring for sports halls or surfaces for outside activities, you need to also consider maintenance and durability. For example, your priority might be to find indoor MUGA surface types that are easy to clean, and which represent a good investment due to their long lifespan.
There are various MUGA surface types, and much depends on the range of activities that will take place in that space, as well as the location.
For example, some multi-use games areas outdoors are covered in artificial grass or safety surface materials specially formulated for external use. While indoors, hardwearing timber sports floors – marked out to demonstrate the diversity of activities that take place there – can be a brilliant solution.
The best way to create the ideal MUGA surface is to call in the experts at the UK’s leading sport and gym flooring specialist, Recreational Coatings.
Our experienced technicians can offer made-to-order MUGA flooring that meets all your space requirements flawlessly. This includes the correct degree of elasticity to support activities such as fitness classes, or hardwearing specialist flooring that can withstand heavy foot traffic for contact sports.
Recreational Coatings is also a supplier of MUGA flooring in specific colours or featuring corporate branding. Perfect for venues where aesthetics matter as much as functionality. Membership levels can fall alarmingly if your users lose faith due to unattractive, scuffed, or tired sports flooring!
As you would expect from a specialist in MUGA flooring, we adhere to the European standard EN 14904; (Multi Sports Floor Systems for Indoor Use).
Contact us to discuss the best MUGA surface option for your site. We provide flooring that can be utilised in multiple formats and ensures a good return on investment.
Please call 0161 484 0111 or email [email protected] for more information on how we can help with your sports and gym flooring needs!
