Office Applications

Meeting Room Solutions — Operable Partitions for Offices

Operable partitions and movable acoustic walls allow large open-plan office spaces to be divided into multiple meeting rooms while maintaining acoustic separation and speech privacy. This guide explains how meeting room partitions work and what to consider when specifying them.

Glazed folding partition creating a meeting room within an open-plan office

Why Use Operable Partitions for Meeting Rooms?

Traditional fixed partitions create permanent meeting rooms that cannot be reconfigured as the business evolves. Operable partitions give organisations the flexibility to create meeting rooms when needed and restore the open-plan layout when they are not required. This is particularly valuable in modern agile working environments where the demand for meeting space varies significantly throughout the day and week.

Operable partitions allow meeting room capacity to be adjusted in real time to meet demand.

Acoustic Performance for Meeting Rooms

For most corporate meeting rooms, an Rw of 40–45 dB provides adequate acoustic separation for general business conversations. For rooms where confidential discussions take place — HR meetings, legal consultations, senior leadership meetings — an Rw of 45–52 dB is recommended to ensure speech privacy. The ModernGlide MG200 (Rw up to 49 dB) and MG100 (Rw up to 59 dB) are commonly specified for high-performance meeting room applications.

Glazed vs Solid Meeting Room Partitions

Glazed operable partitions — such as the MG500, MG600 and MG700 — allow natural light to pass between the meeting room and the open-plan office, maintaining a sense of openness and transparency. This is often preferred in modern office designs where visual connection and light transmission are important. Solid opaque partitions provide higher acoustic performance and greater visual privacy, and are preferred for confidential meeting rooms and boardrooms.

Pass Doors in Meeting Room Partitions

Meeting room partitions can incorporate integrated pass doors to allow access between the meeting room and the open-plan office without opening the full wall. Pass doors are available in both solid and glazed configurations, and can be specified with acoustic seals to maintain the acoustic performance of the wall. A pass door is particularly useful in larger meeting rooms where the full wall does not need to be opened for everyday access.

Creating Multiple Meeting Rooms from One Space

Operable wall systems can be designed to divide a single large space into two, three or more meeting rooms simultaneously. Multi-track systems allow panels to be arranged in different configurations to create different room layouts. This is particularly useful in large office floors where the meeting room requirement changes throughout the day — for example, combining two smaller rooms into one larger room for a full-team meeting.

Integration with Office Design

Modern operable wall systems are designed to integrate seamlessly with contemporary office interiors. Panels are available in a wide range of finishes — including fabric, veneer, lacquer and glass — to complement the office design. The ModernGlide MG Series panels can be specified with custom finishes to match the interior design scheme. Glazed panels can be specified with manifestation patterns or frosted glass for privacy.

Recommended Products for Meeting Rooms

For glazed meeting room partitions, the MG500 (flush glazed sliding folding, Rw up to 42 dB) and MG600 (glazed office partitions, Rw up to 40 dB) are popular choices. For solid acoustic meeting room walls, the MG200 (Rw up to 49 dB) provides excellent performance. For the highest acoustic performance — boardrooms, legal suites, confidential meeting rooms — the MG100 (Rw up to 59 dB) is recommended.