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Badminton hall

A dedicated badminton hall, or a hall where badminton is the sport that matters.

Usage class
Large Arena / Multi-Purpose Hall
Governed by
Badminton
Sports scored
5

Badminton is rated very suitable on eight of KTL's nine systems, so the suitability matrix cannot choose for you. What chooses is BWF Grade 1 International Elite, which exactly three systems carry, and the grade does not follow KTL's own designations: it sits on the portable they describe for non-professional use, and not on the one they designate for professional basketball.

The badminton row is almost flat. KTL rate badminton very suitable on eight of their nine systems, and only FlexiPRO 21 with an elastic covering drops a level, to suitable. Score the nine columns across the five matrix rows this page uses, badminton, multiple usage, volleyball, table tennis and pickleball, and seven of the nine tie at 14 points out of 15, every one of them losing the same single point on volleyball. Widen it to badminton, pickleball, table tennis, volleyball, basketball, handball and multiple usage, which is closer to what a hall this size actually books, and six of the nine still tie, at 20 out of 21. Either way the grid has not told you which floor to specify.

What discriminates is BWF Grade 1 International Elite, and exactly three systems carry it: Multiflex Advanced V2, PRO II V2 and Portable PRO. KTL are a member of the Badminton World Federation, but membership is a company statement and the grade appears on three system pages only. Of the six systems without it, three carry a FIBA licence, WF73-07 on Portable PRO Summit V2, WF73-06 on FlexiPRO 12 V3 and WF73-03 on PRO III, and all nine carry an EN 14904 class. Five FIBA licences exist across the range in total, and the other two sit on badminton-graded systems. For a hall that intends to host sanctioned badminton, those three graded systems are the shortlist.

The grade does not follow KTL's own designations. It is not on Portable PRO Summit V2, the portable they designate for professional basketball and other fast ball games in large sport and event arenas, and which is class A3 where Portable PRO is class A4. It is not on PRO III, the tallest fixed system they make, whose thicker batten they say gives it the ultimate level in stability, and whose designed-for line names badminton at the highest level in words identical to PRO II V2's. It is not on FlexiPRO 12 V3, the high load glue-down they designate for large arenas and name badminton in as well. It is on the portable KTL describe for non-professional use, on the 64 mm batten system rather than the 76 mm one, and on the standard load system they designate for multi-purpose halls and studios.

Between the three, the load case decides, and KTL define both classes. They set the Large Arena class at ball games and racket games at the highest level, telescopic seatings on floors, stage floors, and exhibitions and shows. They set the Multi-Purpose Hall class at ball games, racket games, a wide range of sports, standard load such as transport of equipment, and cultural events. Both classes name racket games, so what separates them is the seating, the staging and the exhibition traffic, and the load that comes with it. Multiflex Advanced V2 is standard load and appears on KTL's recommended list for the hall class and not for the arena class; PRO II V2 and Portable PRO are high load and appear on both. So the question to settle before the load class is signed off is not what badminton does to a floor, since both classes cover it. It is whether seating, staging or exhibition traffic ever crosses the floor, and what the heaviest wheeled thing in the building is.

Two absences should travel with the enquiry. FIBA is licensed per system and the number is published, while BWF appears only as the words Grade 1 International Elite, with no certificate reference, issue date or stated scope anywhere in the document. And no friction or slip resistance value appears at all. Every candidate is declared compliant with EN 14904 and the class letter is all KTL publish, so for badminton, where a floor that is too slick and one that is too grippy fail in opposite directions, the class letter is not a specification. No shock absorption, vertical deformation or ball rebound value is published either, only the class letters.

The manufacturer’s own ratings, filtered to this room.

Read straight from their matrix at render time, so nothing here can drift from what they publish. The systems we would put forward are marked.

Suitability by system for badminton hall
SystemBadmintonMultiple usageVolleyballTable tennisPickleball
Multiflex Advanced V2A4 · 52 mmVery suitableVery suitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
PRO II V2A4 · 64 mmVery suitableVery suitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
Portable PROA4 · 44 mmVery suitableVery suitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
Portable PRO Summit V2A3 · 44 mmVery suitableVery suitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
FlexiPRO 12 V3A4 · 39 mmVery suitableVery suitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
PRO IIIA4 · 76 mmVery suitableVery suitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
Multi Clip SystemA3 · 32 mmVery suitableVery suitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
FlexiPRO 21 + hard coveringA4 · 26 mmVery suitableSuitableSuitableVery suitableVery suitable
FlexiPRO 21 + elastic coveringC4 · 26 mmSuitableSuitableVery suitableLess suitableSuitable

Three squares very suitable, two suitable, one less suitable, a bar unsuitable. The manufacturer’s own ratings, filtered to this room. A sport with no row in their matrix is marked as such rather than left blank.

What we would specify.

The badminton grade at the load class KTL define for a hall

Multiflex Advanced V2

EN 14904 A452 mmStandard loadFIBA WF73-02BWF Grade 1

BWF Grade 1 International Elite, EN 14904 class A4, FIBA 2020 Level 1 licence WF73-02, area-elastic, 52 mm, standard point, area and rolling load, rated very suitable for badminton. KTL designate it for multi-purpose halls and studio usage, with the focus named as ball games, badminton and gymnastics, and they name it on their own recommended list for the Multi-Purpose Hall class. They do not name it for the Large Arena class, whose load case they define as ball games and racket games at the highest level plus telescopic seatings on floors, stage floors, and exhibitions and shows. The arena class covers racket games too, so the three loads that separate it from the hall class are the seating, the staging and the exhibition ones. If nothing of that kind crosses this floor, its standard load class is the load case KTL themselves define for the room rather than a compromise. It goes on levelled concrete or an existing wood or synthetic sports floor and carries their even subfloor requirement, so levelling is a separate scope item.

  1. 1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + site game lines
  2. 22 millimetres. Solid hardwood 2-strip parquet, 22/20 mm
  3. 29 millimetres. MFA battens + integrated elastic layer
  4. Levelled concrete slab

52 mm system height

The same grade with high load capacity and level correction

PRO II V2

EN 14904 A464 mmHigh loadFIBA WF73-01BWF Grade 1

BWF Grade 1 International Elite, EN 14904 class A4, FIBA 2020 Level 1 licence WF73-01, area-elastic, 64 mm, high point, area and rolling load, rated very suitable for badminton, and one of the five systems KTL name for their Large Arena class. Specify it where the hall also takes telescopic seating, staging or exhibition traffic on the floor, or where the existing slab is out of level, because KTL make its shoe system to be combined with their wedges or other shims instead of a levelling screed. The raised range is one place the catalogue contradicts itself: the height table gives 86-144 mm and the system text gives 84-144 mm, so no threshold detail should be drawn against either until KTL confirm which is right. On a level slab with nothing wheeled on the floor it is 12 mm more build height than Multiflex Advanced V2 for load capacity a shuttle will never test.

  1. 1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + site game lines
  2. 22 millimetres. Solid hardwood boards, 22x130 mm
  3. 41 millimetres. PRO II LVL battens + integrated shock pads
  4. Uneven concrete or subfloor

64 mm system height, 86-144 mm on wedges

The badminton grade when the courts have to come up

Portable PRO

EN 14904 A444 mmHigh loadBWF Grade 1

BWF Grade 1 International Elite, EN 14904 class A4, area-elastic, 44 mm, high point, area and rolling load, rated very suitable for badminton, and the only one of the three graded systems that is portable. It lays over concrete or an existing sports floor, the panels connect on KTL's flexi-lock clip system, which they describe as fast and easy installation, and it carries no even subfloor note. Three things belong in the enquiry before it is chosen. It holds no FIBA licence, so one floor cannot cover sanctioned badminton and sanctioned basketball. KTL's designed-for line for it reads multi-purpose usage for a number of sports on a non-professional level, which sits oddly against an elite badminton grade. And because the grade is published with no reference and no stated scope, whether it still applies to a floor struck and relaid in another building cannot be answered from the catalogue. It is also listed in three wood species, hevea, beech and maple, against six on the fixed batten systems.

  1. 1 millimetres. 7-layer UV coating + printed design/lines
  2. 22 millimetres. Solid hardwood panel, 22 mm
  3. 12 millimetres. Plywood backing, 12 mm
  4. 10 millimetres. Elastic foam strips, 10 mm
  5. Existing concrete or sports floor

44 mm system height

And what we would not, with the reason.

Saying what was rejected is half the value of a specification. Several of these are rated very suitable for the sport and are still wrong for this room.

  • Portable PRO Summit V2

    EN 14904 A3, 44 mm, High load

    EN 14904 class A3, area-elastic, 44 mm, high point, area and rolling load, FIBA Level 1 licence WF73-07, rated very suitable for badminton, and no BWF grade. Quote that certificate carefully: KTL give this one as FIBA Level 1, without the 2020 designation that appears on their other four licences. They designate it for professional basketball and other fast ball games in large sport and event arenas, and it is the only system they list with synthetic turf as an underlay. On a badminton brief it is the portable without the badminton grade, and Portable PRO, the portable they describe for non-professional use, is the one that has it. It is also class A3 where Portable PRO is class A4, on an otherwise identical three-layer stack at the same 44 mm.

  • FlexiPRO 12 V3

    EN 14904 A4, 39 mm, High load

    EN 14904 class A4, area-elastic, 39 mm, high point, area and rolling load, FIBA 2020 Level 1 licence WF73-06, rated very suitable for badminton, and KTL name badminton in what it was designed for: large arenas and multi-purpose usage including ball games, badminton and gymnastics, and concert and event arenas needing high loading capacity, for example heavy loads from retractable seatings. There is still no BWF grade on it, while Multiflex Advanced V2 has one. The full glue-down of the boards to the plywood is what gives it that stability and that load case, and neither is what a badminton hall asks of a floor.

  • PRO III

    EN 14904 A4, 76 mm, High load

    EN 14904 class A4, area-elastic, 76 mm, raisable to 96-156 mm on KTL wedges, high point, area and rolling load, FIBA 2020 Level 1 licence WF73-03, rated very suitable for badminton. KTL describe it as designed for arenas and multi-purpose halls including ball games, badminton and gymnastics at the highest level, which is word for word what they say about PRO II V2, and PRO II V2 is the one that carries the badminton grade. The thicker batten is the stated difference between them, and it makes PRO III the tallest system in the range, which a retrofit hall notices at every threshold.

  • Multi Clip System

    EN 14904 A3, 32 mm, Standard load

    EN 14904 class A3, area-elastic, 32 mm, standard point, area and rolling load, rated very suitable for badminton, with no FIBA licence and no BWF grade. It is the lowest solid hardwood build in the range and the simplest, floating on a foam underlay with x-clip end joints, and it is the only system whose designed-for field KTL leave empty. Their usage table marks it for multi-purpose hall and studio use and not for a large arena, and their own recommended systems list names it under Studio and Yoga only. This page's room is a large arena or multi-purpose hall, so it sits outside the usage class before certification is even discussed.

  • FlexiPRO 21 + hard covering

    EN 14904 A4, 26 mm, High load

    EN 14904 class A4 as an area-elastic subfloor with a 2-4 mm non-resilient covering, 26 mm excluding the covering, which is the lowest floor height in the range, high point, area and rolling load, and rated very suitable for badminton. But KTL supply the birch plywood subfloor only, so the surface a player actually feels is outside KTL's supply, and the class holds only with a covering inside that thickness band. No FIBA licence and no BWF grade. With no friction figure published anywhere and the wearing surface coming from someone else, the property that decides a badminton floor would be left entirely unspecified.

  • FlexiPRO 21 + elastic covering

    EN 14904 C4, 26 mm, Standard load

    EN 14904 class C4, combi-elastic, 26 mm excluding the covering, standard point, area and rolling load. It is the only system in the range KTL do not rate very suitable for badminton, sitting one level down at suitable, and the only combi-elastic build: the resilient 6-9 mm vinyl or PU covering gives at the point of contact, under a foot that has to stop and push back. Worth naming because of KTL's own synthetic recommendations. For the Multi-Purpose Hall class they recommend FlexiPRO 21 with a vinyl, PU or lino covering; for the Large Arena class they recommend the same with Weathertex added and an exception noted for basketball and squash. Neither recommendation distinguishes the resilient covering from the non-resilient one. Their badminton ratings do. Its strengths are elsewhere: it is the only system in the whole matrix rated very suitable for tennis.

What we add that the catalogue does not.

  • Require the BWF certificate as a document before anything is signed. KTL publish FIBA licence numbers per system but give BWF only as the words Grade 1 International Elite, so ask which system build and which wood species the grade was issued against, and have it confirmed in writing. Until the document exists, the grade is a line on a catalogue page.
  • Request the EN 14904 friction result and write it into the specification. Surface friction is the property a badminton player feels first, and no friction or slip resistance figure appears anywhere in the catalogue. Ask for the test report against the chosen gloss level and wood species, and treat it as a safety specification rather than a preference.
  • Slab moisture and a damp-proof membrane are ours to specify. KTL's moisture story is entirely board-side, customised moisture content and back-lacquered boards, and the catalogue says nothing about the slab. On a Thai ground-bearing slab, measure slab relative humidity before ordering and specify a surface damp-proof membrane against the reading.
  • State the destination climate on the purchase order. KTL supply boards at a moisture content suited to the climatic conditions of the area, so the order has to name the city and say whether the hall is air-conditioned continuously, intermittently or not at all. A naturally ventilated hall and a conditioned one are different specifications of the same floor.
  • Specify the flatness tolerance and scope the levelling to the system chosen, because the three candidates differ. Multiflex Advanced V2 goes on levelled concrete and carries KTL's even subfloor requirement, so a levelling screed is a separate scope item. PRO II V2 is specified over uneven concrete, its shoe system taking the deviation on wedges or shims instead. Portable PRO lays over concrete or an existing sports floor with no even subfloor note at all.
  • Specify low gloss. KTL offer low gloss, semi-gloss, glossy and super-glossy at order stage, and a badminton player tracks a shuttle up into the overhead lighting and then back down to the floor, which is exactly the sightline a glossy surface throws glare into. The coating is factory applied, so gloss is settled on the order. KTL publish no maintenance or refinishing regime at all, so ask them in writing what changing the gloss level after delivery involves and what it does to the ten year coating warranty.
  • Set the courts out against the chosen build height before the floor is ordered, and on a new build get that decision in front of the slab pour. A dedicated hall is a dense line set, and the marking and anything let into the floor have to be coordinated with a system that is 44 mm to 64 mm deep across the three candidates. KTL publish no perimeter or edge detail at all, so ask for the perimeter and skirting detail for the chosen system before the set-out is fixed. On a fixed floor the game lines go on over KTL's factory coating with no site clear top coat afterwards, so the set has to be right at handover, and KTL publish nothing on refinishing, so ask them what changing a line set later involves.
  • Choose the wood species under the hall's own lighting, not from a swatch, and check which species the chosen system offers. A shuttle has to stay visible against the floor for a whole rally, and KTL publish only the six species names with swatch photographs and no hardness, stability or colour data. Portable PRO is listed in three species, hevea, beech and maple, against six on the fixed batten systems. Ask for a graded sample of the shortlisted species and view it in the room, or in the closest lighting you can get to it.

What we would put to the manufacturer.

Before anybody signs anything. These are gaps in the published data, not doubts about the floor.

  • Does a BWF certificate exist as a document, and what does it cover? The grade appears on three system pages as the words Grade 1 International Elite, and nowhere as a reference, an issue date or a stated scope. Ask which system build and which wood species it was issued against.
  • Does the grade travel with a portable floor that is struck and relaid in a different building, on a different slab? Portable PRO is the only graded system that is meant to be lifted, and the catalogue says nothing about what the grade is tied to.
  • How does Portable PRO hold BWF Grade 1 International Elite while KTL's designed-for line for it reads multi-purpose usage for a number of sports on a non-professional level? One of the two statements governs on a sanctioned badminton brief and the catalogue does not say which.
  • Which wedge raise range for PRO II V2 is correct? The height table states 86-144 mm and the system body text states 84-144 mm, and a threshold detail cannot be drawn against both.
  • What are the shock absorption, vertical deformation and ball rebound values? Only the EN 14904 class letters are published, so a tender that asks for numbers has to be answered from the test reports rather than from the catalogue.

If this is your room, tell us the sports and the heaviest thing that will ever cross the floor.

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