Improving acoustic clarity in a specialist healthcare environment
With a desire to create flexible room configurations in several classrooms, the University was looking to make its space as adaptable as possible to cater for its growing number of students.
The University of East Anglia is an internationally renowned university based in a campus that provides top quality academic, social and cultural facilities to over 17,000 students.
Ranked as one of the top 25 universities in the UK, and top 200 universities in the world, the campus is located in 320 acres of rolling parkland just two miles from the centre of Norwich, the cathedral city, and England’s first UNESCO City of Literature.
With a desire to create flexible room configurations in several classrooms, the University was looking to make its space as adaptable as possible to cater for its growing number of students.
Working with Architect Fraser Brown Mackenna and contractor RG Carter, Style was specified to install 1 manually operated DORMA Huppe Variflex moveable wall and 5 semi-automatic DORMA Huppe Variflex moveable walls in various classrooms across the campus.
Each wall divides a classroom into 2 evenly sized areas to cater for smaller lectures, lessons or seminars, with each operable partition boasting an incredible 55dB Rw acoustic integrity. Alternatively, lecturers have the flexibility to open up the entire rooms for much larger classes, lectures or seminars.
Finished in a Getalit HPL whiteboard, the partitions also double up as teaching aids, enabling lecturers and students to write notes during lectures and workshops.
The phenomenal 55dB Rw acoustic rating means classes can be held either side of the wall undisturbed, which is a key advantage of these moveable walls in a busy and noisy university, college or school.
“To demonstrate the exceptional quality of our moveable walls, we showed the University a similar wall that we had installed 10 years ago elsewhere, which was still in perfect working order with smooth operation and outstanding acoustics,” said Mike Fine, Style’s director for the midlands.
“We wanted to reassure them that, by choosing Style, they would be benefiting from a very high quality moveable wall from our world-leading manufacturing partner, Dorma Huppe, and that this would give them a long-term return on investment.
“Due to social distancing and safe teaching requirements, all educational establishments are looking at how they can create flexible space and, if you also choose a routine servicing contract with Style, moveable walls can last up to 25 years.”
Style is the UK market leader in moveable walls and the exclusive UK partner to DORMA Huppe, Skyfold and SWG.
Talk to us about your acoustic goals — we’ll help you design a solution that sounds as good as it looks.
2026 © Style Group
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.
Fill in the form below and we’ll get back to you within one working day.
Fill in the form below and we’ll get back to you within one working day.
Fill in the form below and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can.
