Porcelain Tiles For Wellness & Leisure

A growing focus on looking after our health and wellbeing, and making the best use of relaxation time, is driving growth in the wellness and leisure sectors.

It is reported that UK gym memberships have reached a record high in 2026, with up to 18% of the population prioritising fitness and joining for the social scene, as well as the physical and mental health benefits associated.

The UK spa industry is also seeing rapid growth with new treatment innovations and premium self-care experiences, alongside a buoyant demand for residential swimming pools driven by the quest for healthier lifestyles, at-home leisure and higher-end home improvements.

As a result, we’re also seeing increased demand for specialist porcelain tiles as the surface of choice for these increasingly design-led facilities.

Whether for restrooms, changing rooms and shower cubicles, for reception, bar and restaurant areas, or for treatment rooms and swimming pool surrounds and liners, porcelain tiles provide safe, strong and sustainable surfaces, that are hygienic, easy to clean and durable.

What’s more, with such a wide variety of porcelain tile designs, sizes, finishes and formats, wellness and leisure business operators can find the right tiles to represent their brands, deliver consistency in their corporate identities and create the right ambiance within their facilities.

Whether for a modern industrial vibe, a luxury, polished marble scheme, a wood-look and wellness theme, or a more traditional mix of patterns and natural stone-effect finishes, there are appropriate products to suit all manner of desired directions.

The Minoli product portfolio now comprises over 600 tile designs, including more than 3,000 different colours, sizes, finishes and formats, many of which we hold in plentiful UK stock, ready for prompt delivery to site. As such, no matter the market positioning of the brand, our expert teams can work with a company’s chosen designer or internal function to select, source, stock and supply floor and wall tiles to convey and uphold the brand style and identity.

Also, with matt and grip finishes available for floors, with slip resistance ratings ranging from R9 – R11, designers, architects and specifiers can select from various ranges with the technical and safety qualities required to fulfil the briefs for both public-facing and private, residential projects.

A prevalent design direction in wellness and leisure environments is the use of warmer, earthy colour palettes, creating sensory spaces to promote relaxation and well-being. Here, wood-look designs have an important part to play, and natural stone and concrete-effects can bring greige, taupe and tan tones, with a serene and subtle smoothness.

By way of example, the new Nyra Series has been specifically designed to give shape to the idea of promoting well-being through architecturally designed spaces. With a stone-effect surface, Nyra is not an imitation of a natural material, but an original surface developed with a biophilic approach and design sensitivity. The aesthetics are sophisticated, with textures, veins and decorative details which present a stone-effect that does not exist in nature and has been designed for authentic and multisensory spaces.

Another increasingly important requirement and preference for companies is to lessen the environmental impact and improve the sustainability of both the materials used in the construction and fit out of their premises and the performance of the final built environment, and this continues to drive the trend for more responsible choices.

Porcelain tiles are manufactured to energy and water-efficiency criteria and are environmentally friendly due to their long-lasting and recyclable characteristics. Production is considered ‘zero waste’, based on the use of natural and reusable materials, plus they are hygienic and do not contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, PVC, plastics or petroleum derivatives, which is particularly important when specifying for wellness, restaurant and bar areas.

The manufacture of porcelain also uses abundantly available, natural resources efficiently and Minoli’s preferred production partners have achieved the total recovery of process water and production scrap, significant gains in heat retrieval from factories, plus have diverted nearly all waste back into a circular recycling process.

Take for instance the recently launched Minoli ReStone and ReConcrete Series. Combined with other essential natural raw materials, selected sizes of each contain over 60% recycled content, so helping create a virtuous system that promotes the reuse of the component elements, reduces consumption and respects the environment.

For leisure locations and wellness providers, porcelain tiles provide a range of suitable surfaces, from modern, luxurious and contemporary designs, through to those offering more formulaic and practical décor schemes.

For wet rooms, saunas, swimming pool surrounds and liners, aside from aesthetics, an important consideration when designing these areas is the technical qualities of the materials used. Porcelain tiles and extra thick 20 mm pavers are extremely durable and high load bearing when laid correctly.

Because porcelain tiles are vitrified under enormous pressure in kilns during production, they are an extremely dense material and have near zero porosity. This makes them impenetrable by water and highly resilient in extremely hot and cold temperatures, or thermal shock conditions as they are known.

They are also impervious to oil and dirt, making them very hygienic, and resistant to the chemicals commonly used in swimming pool maintenance and general cleaning. What’s more, porcelain tiles will not shrink, split or splinter, warp or show wear and they are better suited for use in humid and wet areas as they will not rot or attract algae.

Another vital attribute of porcelain tiles and pavers is slip-resistance. There are various measurement classifications relating to the barefoot slip resistance of surfaces where water is present including ramp, pendulum and microroughness tests, and The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) recommendations have recently changed to a new standard. Whilst it is not possible to directly translate the R-Ratings into the single angular values attained in the latest EN-16165 – Annex A guidelines, it is generally regarded that tiles with R11 ratings are suitable for pool surround surfaces, wet rooms and for exterior settings*.

All 20 mm thickness pavers in the Outdoor By Minoli Collection have textured surfaces with a minimum R11 slip-resistance rating, as do some indoor specification tiles with structured or grip finishes, which are particularly suited for use in showers and wet rooms, or indoor and outside pool applications.

If you’d like to talk to our team about options for a forthcoming wellness or leisure project or to order samples of our extensive collections, please do get in touch. We’d gladly discuss your needs on the phone, arrange a time for a design consultation at one of our showrooms or, for our corporate clients, arrange a meeting with your account manager.

• Outdoor Product Enquiries – 01865 778225 /outdoor@Minoli.co.uk
• Minoli Oxford – 01865 778225 / showroom@minoli.co.uk
• Minoli London – 020 7474 2934 / thesurfacewithin@minoli.co.uk
• Corporate Clients – Please contact your account manager directly / developers@minoli.co.uk

* Please note: Minoli rely on the availability and accuracy of technical product information from our production partners. If a specific material specification is required for a project, advice should be sought about the individual products and their suitability and safety. Our teams can access and provide technical information regarding slip, breakage, temperature and chemical resistance, where made available by the manufacturer.