Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Headingley — Taraflex Performance SL in the indoor training centre

Headingley needed a major refurbishment of its indoor training facilities to a standard set jointly by Yorkshire CCC and the ECB. GCP Chartered Architects led the design team and specified Gerflor Taraflex Performance SL, an Olympic-pedigree sports floor that meets ECB guidelines for ball bounce and player protection.

Our role focused on surfacing and safety within the stadium’s high-performance zones — the areas where England and Yorkshire players train — with a fixed deadline ahead of a Test series.

The programme began with over 800m² of sub-floor remediation, including extensive grinding and profiling to create an optimal base for the new finishes.

Inside the indoor training facility we installed 351m² in ‘Mint Green’ — our ECB-approved DuraFlex — complemented by 153m² of Taraflex Performance SL in ‘Clay’.

Taraflex Performance SL is a Sustainable Looselay system, and specifying it in that format meant no adhesives were required on site. That simplified the process considerably and cut both installation time and cost — a significant factor on a project working to a Test series deadline.

As a finishing touch we marked out fresh crease lines, leaving the space fully compliant and match-prep ready, and aligned with the latest ECB technical guidance.

The colour scheme was developed by GCP’s Matt Bonney with specialist input from Yorkshire CCC coaching staff and the ECB, with the stated goal of delivering the most inclusive flooring solution in the country.

Seventeen colour options were tested for contrast against the red, white and pink ball, with consideration given to the three most common forms of colour-blindness — historically, players with red/green colour blindness have struggled to pick up a red ball against a green floor. The process finished with a site review at the Gloucestershire CCC Bristol Cricket Centre under comparable LED-ECB compliant lighting.

To prove compliance with ECB standards, GCP commissioned international testing consultancy Labosport through main contractor CNG.

The two tones at Headingley are two products. The Mint Green is DuraFlex — Gerflor’s Taraflex Performance SL under our own brand, and the specification that carries ECB approval. The Clay is Taraflex Performance SL itself.

Same material, same performance underfoot. The distinction is that the approval sits with the Mint Green specification, which is why DuraFlex is the name on it. DuraFlex was the first of our systems to receive ECB approval, meeting the standard for ball bounce without needing additional roll-down layers over the top.

The same Mint Green and Clay combination has since been installed at some of the strongest indoor facilities in the country: the Square One Cricket Centre at the University of Brighton, Somerset CCC’s centre of excellence, and South Northumberland Cricket Club.

Lancashire CCC took the same DuraFlex system in a different colour, which is the point worth making — the scheme is our recommendation, not a restriction. Whatever tones a venue takes, they are chosen the same way: for contrast against the ball in play, and for the players picking it up.

The facility is where the England men’s team train as well as Yorkshire CCC, and it was handed over on time for the Test series.

The project has since been shortlisted twice: for the CFJ Flooring Awards 2026, and for Best Development or New Facility (Over £500k) at the ECB Business of Cricket Awards.

You can specify your own Gerflor sports floor online with our floor builder, and see the colour and system options before you speak to anyone: gerflorfloorbuilder.durantsports.co.uk

“It was an honour to help raise the already high standards at such a prestigious venue and to deliver it on time for a historic Test series.”

Cristian Durant, Owner and Managing Director, Durant Sports

Every installation we have completed is plotted on our map. Tick Gerflor to see the rest: installations.durantcricket.co.uk