As a combined facility, it is also home to Rushcliffe Borough Council who saved £350,000 in annual running costs by moving head office staff out of its old premises into this multi-purpose building.

Impressed after seeing one of Style’s Skyfold moveable partitioning walls in use at Melton Mowbray Borough Council, Rushcliffe Borough Council asked their architect, CPMG, to contact Style to provide something similar.

Working with main contractor Farrans, and McAdam Design, Style’s brief was to provide flexible meeting areas adjacent to the Council Chamber. This was achieved using two very different moveable wall systems.

Skyfold, a fully automatic, acoustic operable wall was installed to divide the space at one end of the room. This vertically rising partitioning wall is housed in the ceiling cavity, occupies no floor space and is completely hidden from view when not in use. At the push of a button it lowers smoothly into place offering outstanding space division and exceptional acoustic integrity.

DORMA Variflex was used at the other end of the room. This acoustic, moveable wall solution was selected as it offers pass doors which means it can remain closed but still allow access between rooms – acting as a permanent wall most of the time, but easy to open when more space is needed.

“The combination of these two moveable walls worked perfectly for Rushcliffe Borough Council,” said Mike Fine, Style’s director for the midlands.

“It means the area can be opened up into a very large open plan facility, divided into one large and one small room, or made into three individual rooms in a matter of minutes. This saves important public money by having an area that can be used for a multitude of purposes reducing the need to hire off site facilities for meetings, presentations, conferences and gatherings.”