Designing Effective Wall Protection Schemes
In high-traffic environments – whether public, private, or commercial – interior surfaces are constantly exposed to wear, tear, and impact damage. This affects aesthetics and hygiene, increases maintenance costs, and disrupts day-to-day operations.
Integrating wall and door protection is a smart design strategy that helps maintain the integrity and visual appeal of interior spaces, while cutting down on repairs and redecorations, saving time and budget.
But wall protection isn’t just about durability. With a wide choice of colours, imagery, and wellbeing-focused designs, it can enhance your interior scheme, blending function with form.
Explore our expert guidance below to learn how to design wall protection schemes that balance impact resistance with aesthetics and wellbeing.
Why use Wall Protection?
Typical Causes of Damage
Impact damage and excessive wear and tear can be a big problem in public, private or commercial buildings, depending on what activity takes place in them. We’ve highlighted some typical causes of damage below:
Pedestrians
Shopping Carts
Chairs
Hospital Beds
Baggage
Catering & Linen Trolleys
Wheelchairs & Pushchairs
Vehicles
Commonly affected areas:
Every building is different, but there are some common areas across buildings that are most vulnerable to damage and consideration should be given to adding protection:
Receptions and lobbies
Corridors and lift areas
Wards and bedrooms.
Commercial kitchens
Food serving & dining areas
Manufacturing facilities
Back-of-house areas
Benefits of using wall protection:
Though typically associated with healthcare facilities, wall protection can be used in all building sectors. The benefits of specifying it for new buildings and for refurbishments schemes include:
Increased durability and lifecycle of the building fabric
Reduced maintenace, repair and refurbishment costs
Improved aesthetics and unlimited visual freedom
Compliance with legislation and guidance
Designing for Impact and Wellbeing
Colour Matters
Colour is a powerful design tool that sets the tone and mood of a space. Wall protection products are available in a broad palette – from calming neutrals to energising brights- making it easy to coordinate with other finishes and furnishings.
Options like realistic woodgrain and metallic finishes add texture and warmth, while custom colour matching (including NCS and other systems) allows for precise alignment with your design scheme. For smaller projects, bespoke printed wall coverings offer flexibility, enabling the use of solid colours, patterns, or graphics without the need for large production runs.
Biophilic Design
Bespoke wall coverings allow you to truly enhance interior spaces, without the worry of damage.
For example, there is lots of evidence to suggest that nature aids the healing process. Biophilic design is a design philosophy that aims to reconnect individuals with the natural environment through built spaces. Incorporating natural elements into interior design offers many benefits, from reduction of stress or anxiety to increased levels of productivity, creativity and overall user satisfaction.
Bespoke wall coverings allow you to bring nature in, especially when you can’t use the real trees or plants.
Designing for Dementia
Wall protection can also be a useful tool in designing spaces that support people with dementia.
This could be achieved through:
- Using colour and contrast to help dementia patients identify key features and rooms
- Personalising room entry to make it more relevant and understandable and making key destinations, such as the dining room, bathroom and living rooms, easily visible or identifiable.
- Providing mobilty support in the hallways and bathrooms.
WHITEPAPER SPOTLIGHT
Designing Spaces for Wellbeing: Building a Healthier Future
Explore how design can positively impact mental, emotional, and physical health. This whitepaper covers key principles like natural light, acoustic comfort, and biophilic integration, alongside case studies and standards such as WELL, LEED and BREEAM.
What is Wall Protection?
These products typically offer the following key attributes:
- Homogeneous and through-coloured for long-lasting appearance
- Impact and abrasion resistant to withstand heavy use
- Bacteria and fungi resistant for improved hygiene
- Chemical and stain resistant to maintain cleanliness
- Easy to clean for efficient maintenance
Types of Wall Protection
Integrating Wall Protection into Interior Design
In order to create interior spaces which are resilient and aesthetically pleasing, due consideration should be given to the environment, the type of activity taking place and the anticipated damage, including its source, frequency and severity, as well as overall interior aesthetics.
Protection Elements
- Handrails: Essential in areas with pedestrian access, especially where mobility support is needed.
- Interior Surfaces: Identify vulnerable surfaces such as doors and walls, and select the most suitable protection type.
- Crash Rails: Specify type, position, and duty rating based on trolley sizes and expected impact zones.
- Corner Guards: Choose the optimal type and height to safeguard exposed external corners effectively.
- Material Selection: Match materials to the environment:
- Acrovyn: Ideal for general circulation areas.
- Stainless Steel: Preferred in kitchens for hygiene and durability.
- EPDM Rubber: Suitable for delivery zones requiring heavy-duty protection.
Examples of Wall Protection Schemes
The following illustrations show examples of wall protection schemes, tailored to different settings and impact protection requirements.
LIGHT OR MEDIUM DUTY
For corridors with pedestrian movement and waiting areas with lightweight trolleys in occasional use.
Waiting Areas:
- Corner guards to mid-wall height
- Rub rails at mid-wall height
- Push plates on doors
Corridors with pedestrian movement and occasional trolleys in use:
- Corner guards to mid-wall height
- Handrails at mid-wall height
- Push plates on doors
Corridors with more frequent trolley movement:
- Corner guards to mid-wall height
- Sheet protection to mid-wall height
- Handrails at mid-wall height
- Kick plates and push plates on doors
HEAVY DUTY
For circulation areas susceptible to frequent damage from pedestrian and wheeled traffic such as trolleys, wheelchairs and beds in hospitals.
Corridors with regular trolley traffic and pedestrian access; impact damage expected at low-wall level
- Corner guards to mid-wall height
- Handrails at mid-wall height
- Crash rails at low level
- Kick plates and push plates on doors
Corridors with regular trolley traffic and bed movement, where some pedestrian access is still expected.
- Corner guards to mid-wall height
- Hand/crash rails at mid-wall height, crash rail at low wall level
- Half face protection to the doors
Corridors with regular trolley traffic and bed movement; impact damage expected at multiple levels
- Full height corner guards
- Crash rails at two or more levels
- Full face door protection
SEVERE DUTY
For distribution or circulation areas with regular heavily laden trolleys.
Corridors with trolley traffic; impact damage expected at mid-wall height
- Corner guards to mid-wall height
- Crash rail fitted on brackets to keep wheeled traffic away from the wall at mid-wall level
- Full face door protection
Corridors with trolley traffic; impact damage expected at multiple levels
- Full height corner guards
- Crash rails fitted on brackets to keep wheeled traffic away from the wall at two wall levels
- Full face door protection and door frame protection
In delivery areas and some other back of house areas, severe duty EPDM rubber products may be required.
- Full height corner guards
- Severe duty EPDM Rubber crash rails
- Full face door protection and door frame protection
Meeting & Exceeding Legislation for Wall Protection
- Approved Document M and BS 8300 set standards for inclusive design and visual contrast.
- Health Building Notes (HBNs) detail specific requirements for healthcare settings, including infection control and durability.
- Approved Document B and HTM 05-02 Firecode outline fire safety classifications for wall linings.
Relevant Legislation & Guidance Documents
There is a large amount of legislation that applies to Wall Protection. Below is a comprehensive list of that legislation and a brief summary of each.
The Equality Act 2010 (incorporating the Disability Discrimination Act 1995): covers a swathe of requirements to counter discrimination of any person for any reason. Within the built environment the Act states that there must be “equal access to premises for all” regardless of disability, age or gender.
BS 8300-2:2018 Design of an accessible and inclusive built environment – Buildings. Code of Practice. BS 8300-2 gives detailed guidance on different aspects of building design, including handrails, horizontal circulation, and surface finishes. All of these items can assist disabled people to find their way around the building safely.
Building Regulations Approved Document M draws on BS 8300 for guidance to ensure buildings are accessible and user friendly. The main objective of these regulations is to enable everyone regardless of disability, age or gender, to travel around the building without discomfort or risk.
Health Building Note (HBN) 00-04: This building note offers guidance on the design of circulation and communication spaces within hospitals and other healthcare facilities. It also provides information on specification and installation of doors and handrails.
Health Building Note (HBN) 00-09 This building outlines the key phases of a project – from initial concept through to post-project evaluation – with a focus on infection control. Thoughtful building design plays a crucial role in preventing and controlling infections by creating spaces that are easy to clean and maintain. It is essential that these considerations are integrated into the project from the outset.
Health Building Note (HBN) 00-10 Part B: Walls & Ceilings This document outlines the policy and performance requirements for walls & ceilings in healthcare facilities.
Building Regulations Approved Document B Volume 2 lays down guidance regarding fire safety in buildings other than dwellings. Since we’re talking about Wall Protection, we’ll be focusing on the guidance for wall coverings (linings).
Here’s the link to the latest version (2019 edition incorporating 2020, 2022 and 2025 amendments and highlighting forthcoming changes in 2026 and 2029):
Health Technical Memorandum 05-02: Firecode provides information on fire safety in the design of new healthcare buildings and extensions.
Useful blogs & articles
To help make this complex information more digestible, we’ve created a series of articles that break down key requirements and offer practical guidance to help you create compliant wall protection schemes.
