Improving acoustic clarity in a specialist healthcare environment
Any new school has a blank canvas to design the teaching space to provide the very highest standards for the children, and for this academy, flexible space was vital. Working with architects, Nightingale Associates, and contractors, Eric Wright Group, Style was specified to sub-divide space, with a total of 10 DORMA Variflex moveable walls being […]
Any new school has a blank canvas to design the teaching space to provide the very highest standards for the children, and for this academy, flexible space was vital.
Working with architects, Nightingale Associates, and contractors, Eric Wright Group, Style was specified to sub-divide space, with a total of 10 DORMA Variflex moveable walls being chosen as the most suitable option. This is Style’s 35th installation for Eric Wright Group, with a relationship spanning over 12 years.
Offering a solution that allows multiple use of the classrooms, the 57dB Variflex offered outstanding privacy, enabling concurrent classes to be run either side of the wall without any disturbance.
Yet when opened, the school enjoys an open plan feel and the creation of large rooms and expansive space for activities which require more room or for greater numbers.
“DORMA Variflex was ideal for this new academy school,” said Andy Gibson, Style’s director for the North. “It accommodated a 3.7metre high ceiling, offered the school a variety of finishes and is effortless and fast to manoeuvre in and out of position.
“As well as being a practical solution, which ultimately saves the school money by using space as efficiently as possible, it also acts a real showpiece. Parents visiting this academy will see truly modern surroundings, and some very clever thinking regarding the overall learning environment.”
Scott Stephenson, Eric Wright’s site manager added, “Style has long been a partner of Eric Wright Construction and has once again fulfilled all expectations and requirements. Their workforce and organisation of works is second to none, and meet all the criteria a principal contractor requires with regards to planning, health, safety and quality.”
Talk to us about your acoustic goals — we’ll help you design a solution that sounds as good as it looks.
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HBN 00-09 sets out these surface characteristics because unsealed joints are a recognised place for moisture and micro-organisms to collect. A genuinely joint-free edge is designed to address that specific detail.
This is a surface and edge specification, not a clinical claim. Zero-joint technology has not been evaluated or certified by NHS England, and does not claim to reduce infection rates.
Food-service and guest-facing areas are typically inspected under hygiene and housekeeping standards that look closely at surfaces and joints. A seamless, moisture-resistant edge is designed with exactly that kind of scrutiny in mind.
Every one of these sectors shares the same underlying surface problem: a bonded-strip edge is a seam, and a seam is a place where dirt, moisture or wear can concentrate in a way a continuous surface can't. Zero-joint technology addresses that one structural detail across offices, schools, healthcare and hospitality settings alike — one construction detail, one shared weak point removed, four sectors that each care about it for their own reasons.
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