The problem
Institutional buildings need coatings that deliver fire, hygiene, and durability performance — not a colour off a chart — but most painting is bought as a product and a price, with no specified system behind it.
Our approach
Coating System Specification for Institutions
Coating system specification for institutions by Coralex Painters — matched preparation, primer, and topcoat selected to the building's fire, hygiene, and durability duty against recognised standards, and delivered as a documented system.
The Challenge
An institutional building asks more of its coatings than a colour. Structural steel needs fire protection that delivers a rated resistance period. Clinical and high-contact surfaces need a finish that resists microbial growth and survives repeated cleaning. Public corridors and high-traffic areas need durability that holds up to years of wear. Each of these is a performance requirement, met by a specified system — and none of them is met by choosing a paint off a chart and a contractor on price.
The problem is that painting is routinely procured as a product, not a system. A single named topcoat tells you nothing about the preparation it needs, the primer it must sit on, the film build that delivers its rated performance, or whether it meets the fire, hygiene, or durability standard the building actually requires. An institution that buys a product instead of a specified system has no way to know whether its corridors will wear, whether its clinical finishes will perform, or whether its steel is protected to a defined fire rating — and no document to prove any of it.
The Coralex Painters Solution
Coralex Painters specifies a coating system for each setting in the building, matched to the duty that surface carries and referenced to recognised standards. Where structural steel needs fire protection, an intumescent system is specified to a defined resistance period against BS 476, EN 13501, and ASTM E119. Where surfaces are clinical or high-contact, an anti-microbial system tested to ISO 22196 is specified for hygiene performance. Where corridors and public areas take heavy wear, a durable system is specified for the traffic. Each system is a matched chain — preparation, primer, topcoat, and film build — not a single product.
That system is then delivered to the specification rather than approximated. Preparation is graded to ISO 8501 so the substrate meets the standard the system assumes, and dry-film thickness is verified to ISO 2808 so the rated fire, hygiene, or durability performance — which only exists at the specified build — is actually installed across the surface, not just where it was laid on thick. The institution receives a defined system per area, selected against named standards and proven on handover. This is the specification discipline Coralex has brought to institutional buildings across Accra since 1984.
Documentation & Process Specification
Each institutional commission is delivered with a full system specification per area: the named system and why it matches the duty; the standard it meets — fire (BS 476 / EN 13501 / ASTM E119), hygiene (ISO 22196), or durability; preparation graded to ISO 8501; primer and topcoat with batch records; and dry-film thickness verified to ISO 2808 to confirm the rated performance was built. The estate inherits a documented, standard-referenced specification it can maintain, audit, and reorder — not a finished surface of unknown performance.
Typical Engagement Profile
These engagements run on institutional buildings where performance is specified, not assumed — hospitals, universities, and government and public estates — coordinated with the design team, the estates function, and safety or infection-control officers where the system carries a fire or hygiene duty. They are performance-led and standard-bound, the kind of specification-first institutional delivery Coralex Painters has run across Accra for four decades.
Outcomes
- A matched coating system specified per area, not a product chosen on price
- Fire, hygiene, and durability performance referenced to recognised standards
- Rated performance verified by film build, not assumed from the product name
- A documented, standard-referenced specification the estate can maintain and audit