Pitfodels Wood Care Home, Aberdeen

Pitfodels Wood is one of Scotland’s most ambitious care home developments: a luxury, purpose-built residence with 65 bedrooms set within a woodland conservation area on Aberdeen’s prestigious North Deeside Road. The £13m project was commissioned by Meallmore Ltd, one of Scotland’s leading care providers with over 35 years of clinical excellence. Designed to set a new benchmark for care in Scotland, it combines five-star hospitality standards with 24-hour nursing and dementia care. Spanning approximately 4,000 m² across four floors, the development required a fully insulated underfloor heating screed solution throughout. ATS (Advanced Traditional Screeding) was appointed as the flooring specialist.

The challenge:
During the initial site survey, a critical problem emerged that threatened to derail the entire floor build-up programme. Significant inconsistencies in the existing concrete slab, with deviations of up to 40 mm across the floor, meant that there was as little as 30 mm of available build-up depth in some areas. A standard flooring system, which typically requires 75–80 mm including insulation, underfloor heating and screed, was simply not viable. The solution had to level the floors across four storeys, provide the thermal performance required for the underfloor heating (UFH) system and deliver the strength demanded by a commercial care home — all within an exceptionally tight height restriction.

The Solution:
ATS redesigned the specification from the ground up, putting ARDEX FLOWPLUS at its heart. Unlike traditional semi-dry screeds, which require significant depth to achieve adequate compaction and are impractical to move to upper floors, FLOWPLUS is a liquid cement screed additive that can be pumped, meaning it could be delivered efficiently from ground level to each floor, dramatically reducing labour and handling time on the four-storey build. Traditional rigid insulation boards were replaced with 6 mm FloorQuilt thermal fleece and clip rail underfloor heating was fixed mechanically through the fleece directly into the existing slab. ARDEX FLOWPLUS was then pumped in; its exceptional flow properties allowed it to self-level and fully encapsulate the heating pipework at a reduced depth, achieving a minimum thermal conductivity of 1.8 W/m K for maximum underfloor heating (UFH) efficiency throughout the building.

This approach reduced the total floor build-up from 75–80 mm to approximately 41 mm, entirely recovering the lost depth without compromising performance. The screed was delivered in controlled phases across all four floors, poured in stages to maintain programme certainty and consistent quality throughout. With walkability achieved within 24–48 hours, follow-on trades were back on site quickly — a significant advantage on a development of this scale. ARDEX FLOWPLUS consistently achieved compressive strengths of 30–35 N/mm², well in excess of the specified C25 requirement, with excellent crack resistance and a smooth, level finish across the full 4,000m².

Pitfodels Wood is a landmark in Scottish care provision: a beautifully designed, high-specification home for 65 residents that reflects Meallmore’s ambition and Clark Contracts’ commitment to building excellence. What could have been a programme-stopping challenge was resolved through intelligent specification and the unique capabilities of ARDEX FLOWPLUS — proving that where height is critical and performance cannot be compromised, there is no better screed solution.

“With very limited floor build-up available at Pitfodels, Ardex FLOWPLUS allowed us to deliver a high strength screed at an average depth of 40mm. From an installation perspective, the product is very consistent and easy to work with. It flows well around the underfloor heating and produces a uniform finish across large areas. Although the specification required C25, our testing has regularly achieved 30–35 N/mm² with noticeably reduced cracking. The consistency and strength we’re seeing is why FLOWPLUS has quickly become our preferred liquid cement screed.”

– Matt Smith, Operations Director, ATS

“When we heard about the slab deviations on site, FLOWPLUS was the obvious answer — it’s built for exactly these situations where a semi-dry screed can’t perform. The fact that ATS achieved 30–35 N/mm² at that build-up depth is a real testament to the product, and for a care home environment, that kind of confidence in the floor matters. It’s a great example of what FLOWPLUS and a skilled installer like ATS can deliver together.”

– Andrew Knight, Screed Sales Manager, ARDEX UK