The availability of an almost limitless systems area that, at any given time and in any given position, allows access to electric power supplies, telephone and data cables, connections to other machines, air-conditioning, pipes for hot or cold water, or any other type of fluid, not to mention various security systems, is indispensable when ensuring that an area is perfectly served. It can be changed whenever necessary to meet new needs without any further cost, while leaving aesthetics unaffected and systems operational.

It is important to stress that the concept of flexible space is by no means limited to large companies with hundreds or thousands of operators. Nowadays even small firms with a handful of employees can no longer do without modern, flexible and efficient organisation systems. In the past various attempts were made (and some are still in operation) to avoid the use of access flooring. These involved various types of flat cables hidden under the layer that covered the floor. The specific nature of the cables, their cost and limitations imposed by the useful sections of power supply cables, the difficulty of connecting cables both to one another and to equipment means this system pales in comparison to the benefits offered by access flooring. Other attempts have been made using perimeter channels or elements installed in false ceilings. However as foreseen, these methods were completely insufficient.

It is easy to understand how the advantages offered by access flooring to computer centres and offices could be directly transferred to countless others sectors such as scientific laboratories, medical research rooms such as TAC, RMS and radiological departments, doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries in general, control rooms, conference halls, television studios and cinemas, industrial production departments, photographic and photocomposition studios, the restructuring and converting of disused buildings, museums, banks and shops.

Wherever work is carried out using electronic or electric equipment that must be connected to a power-supply or other systems, access flooring can also be used with undeniable advantages in these fields. If this type of work is prone to change because of developments in technology, access flooring becomes a necessary and irreplaceable asset.