Style Timber Floor was engaged by leading Australian developer Frasers Property to produce custom timber flooring boards for their new development Ed.Square in Edmondson Park, NSW.

During the development of Ed.Square, Frasers Property sought to deliver a more premium finish to the apartments, terraces and townhouses that would make them stand out in the crowded residential market. The idea was to provide timber flooring across all the residential units; however, the developer also wanted to know whether buyers would pay more for this premium offering.

A market study was conducted by Frasers Property to properly assess the viability of timber flooring in their development, instead of just the standard tiles and carpet. The response from these focus groups revealed that potential purchasers would be happy to pay a premium for timber flooring as opposed to tiles.

Following this, Frasers Property enlisted Style Timber to provide the timber flooring for all the apartments, terraces and townhouses at Ed.Square.

“When the architect approached us, they had actually been looking at using timber-look tiles. They asked us if we could produce timber boards in their existing colour palette and their required budget and we were happy to produce customised boards for this project. One thing that we really pride ourselves on is our desire to go above and beyond what our clients require, and are open to customisation for whatever our clients need,” said Tilly Cefai from Style Timber.

HDR Architects commented: “As the architects for the Edmondson Park town centre, we worked with Frasers on the selection of materials for the apartment interiors based on our three interior looks, ‘modern white’, ‘urban black’ and ‘natural earth’. In reviewing floor finishes we had all the typical options for apartments but one of the drivers for our client was they hadn’t done a timber floor on a project before. This was a great opportunity as we felt a timber floor gave the warmth we were after and the timeless finish.

“The Style Timber range had a range of timber board widths, a number of colours to choose from and they were also able to produce two new colours to meet our existing colour schemes.”

To match the colour schemes of the new development, Style Timber developed two new colours – Pebble Grey and Moschino Oak. The selected boards are 190mm wide, which is the perfect fit for apartment living and small spaces. The timber boards are wide enough to actually make the space look bigger but also small enough so that they don’t look out of proportion.

Timber flooring was offered as an upgrade option to all buyers at Ed.Square – they could choose from timber, tiles or carpet. The results of the focus group showed that approximately 70% preferred timber flooring, even if it cost a little more.

“The timber adds to the quality of the finishes. Frasers have spared nothing to make this project as inspiring, beautiful, well finished as any project you would see anywhere in Sydney. The timber complements these finishes,” Cefai concluded.

Style note:

In apartment living, designers tend to instinctively go with light flooring for many reasons such as a small space, contemporary finishes, clean lines or brightness. However, darker floors can still create a slightly more sophisticated space, while still being contemporary with the option of using clean and minimal lines in furnishings, and sometimes allowing for greater options when styling, without making a space look smaller.