Improving acoustic clarity in a specialist healthcare environment
Broadclyst Community Primary School (BCPS) in Exeter, rated outstanding by Ofsted, was founded in 1810 to serve the children of the local community. Still a community school, now with its own 36-place nursery, it is part of the Cornerstone Academy Trust, a multi-academy trust that provides 21st century education across two schools as well as […]
Broadclyst Community Primary School (BCPS) in Exeter, rated outstanding by Ofsted, was founded in 1810 to serve the children of the local community. Still a community school, now with its own 36-place nursery, it is part of the Cornerstone Academy Trust, a multi-academy trust that provides 21st century education across two schools as well as professional teacher training through the Cornerstone Teaching School.
Working with architect, NPS South West, and contractor, Midas Construction, Style was specified to deliver a moveable wall solution that would make best use of the main hall.
Like any school, the hall is used for a multitude of activities every day, ranging from assemblies, PE, music, dance and becoming a refectory each lunchtime.
Key criteria therefore include, the ability to reconfigure the room quickly and with ease, good quality acoustic integrity so that concurrent activities can be run either side of the wall undisturbed, durability to cope in a busy school environment and the ability to complement the interior design of the hall.
DORMA Variflex was chosen as the ideal moveable wall to achieve this. This superb product is ideal for very high ceilings (such as school halls), offers sound reductions up to Rw 60 dB, a 30 minute fire rating and the panels are manufactured separately to the frame. This means they are interchangeable and easy to swap if one is damaged or scuffed in a school environment.
“We created a flexible room configuration using two Variflex operable walls,” said Julian Sargent, Style’s group managing director.
“This enables the school to either open the entire area up into one huge hall, or sub-divide it into smaller areas, such as the refectory at lunchtime, or at other times of the day when more than one activity is taking place at the same time.”
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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