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All Project Categories Mezzanine Floors Mezzanine Floors Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Offices on a Mezzanine Floor

Client: H J Knees of Trowbridge
Value: £45k

We are asked to look at making some office alterations to a new office for HJKnees in Whitehorse Business Park. The customer wanted to fit some new offices on a Mezzanine Floor. At first glance we could see straight away that the work would need extra work to make the project comply with Building Regulations as none of the existing mezzanine floor had any fire protection on it at all.

Mezzanine Floors and Building Regulations.

Our first consideration when considering an office project is Building Regulations, does the existing structure comply?, and whatever we do as far as changing things also has to comply. In each case we consider the Regulations and obtain approval before the work starts, during the work we usually have an inspection carried out before the walls all get closed in, and then a post project inspection.

We can then give the client a proper certificate from a Building Regulations Inspector that certifies the design and our work to confirm that all legal requirements have been met.

Please see our articles on Mezzanine floors and what you need to do with Building Regulations on the News section of this website. Unfortunately the customer has never been aware that their existing floor does not comply, and we do come across this quite a lot, so we are always on the back foot before we even start talking about what they want as the whatever work is done, adequate fire protection, escape routes and distances need to be considered to comply with the law.

The additional problem in this situation is that it is a legal requirement to have a 1 hour fire rated separation between offices and warehouse. The construction of a 1 hour wall is not an issue, often it is the height that is the problem as you have to construct the wall to meet the plasterboard and metal stud work manufactures specifications.

The most expensive parts are the doors and windows, so the plan is always to keep these to a minimum.

Initial site Photographs.

Original upstairs rooms not meeting fire regulations

Another view of old offices

Another view of old offices

Another view of old offices

They stored things next to the offices

They stored things next to the offices

Underneath the mezzanine, hardboard used a potential fire hazard!

Toilets needed doing

None of the mezzanine floor steels protected.

Edge of mezzanine not protected.

As you can see from the above photographs, a general builder has built the offices ontop of a steel mezzanine floor with no fire protection using timber windows and non fire rated materials. The offices look ok but does not comply at all. The whole lot needed to be stripped out and started again. All of the mezzanine floor underneath needed a 1 hour fire rated suspended ceiling, along with column encasement protection (1 hour) and some re-organisation of the access routes with toilets, a small office and warehouse access with some basic security.

Construction Photographs

The other constraint that we had is the whole job had to be completed in 3 weeks as a new machine was due to arrive in the unit. The reason why the toilet block had to be halved, was that the new machine was 26 meters long and so it would not quite fit.

Staircase needed to be scaffolded

Main fire wall plastered ready for decoration

First fix electrics underneath mezzanine

Demolition of existing offices

Timber frame exposed to be removed

Timber frame exposed to be removed

Start of dry lining the walls

Boarding of the main fire wall between the offices and warehouse

Building the frame under the angles steels of the building

Suspended ceiling grid is quite quick to go in.

Construction of the new offices started

Outside walls plaster drying out

Ceiling tile just starting to go in.

Fire rated ceiling going in under mezzanine floor

Underneath of stairs

Windows dry lined around and window boards fitted

Offices starting to take shape

LED panels fitted

More office walls going in

Column encasement system fitted to steel uprights

Offices starting to take shape

Offices starting to take shape

Window boards fitted, insulation for ceiling arrived

Completed column encasement and ceiling tiles fitted.

More fire rated walls downstairs

Mezzanine floor edge protection

You can see the back of the light fitting has a 1 hour smoke hood fitted.

Downstairs work nearly finished

Offices nearly done

Offices nearly done

Offices virtually done

Final Result

We do not have any finished photographs as the customer needed to move in straight away. We kept to the dates that we advised the customer and we did have a couple of snag items to deal with which was not a problem once they were in. The project was inspected by Building Control and a passed certificate was issued to the client, as well as the Health and Safety file. The Health and Safety file included all of the as built drawings, certificates and evidence of emergency lighting and fire detection equipment that acts as a reference binder for the client to use in the future.

We chose demountable partition for the main office upstairs due to the speed of construction and the final finish looking much more modern and professional that a traditional stud and plasterboard wall.

Summary on Demountable Partitioning

  1. Using Demountable Partitioning is very tax efficient as they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on Demountable Partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything as well as taking about all kinds of partitioning including Demountable we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

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All Project Categories Partitioning

Glass Partitioning to Create an Office in Swindon

Client: Johnson Matthey
Value: £8.5k

The customers’ main requirement was to segregate the large reception area to give some protection for the staff as they suffered from draughts and noise when the visitors went in and out of the entrance doors. They did not want solid walls but glass partitioning.

Other requirements includes in the cost were to partition off the end of the office so that the server could sit in an enclosed room, as well as providing LED lighting throughout the space.

As usual when a project like this is a bit tricky, we tend to do some basic drawings for two reasons. The first is so that we can work out what is needed in order to cost the work, and secondly is to double check with the customer that we have correctly understood what is required. There is a subtle difference between basic drawing work and space planning, we can carry out both as well as carry out 3d visuals. If you would like to know a bit more please click on this link. In this case the customer wanted us to use an existing door which was slightly smaller than the one next to it. The glass partitioning wall also had to join onto an existing wall of glass at an odd angle. This means the head track joint at the top of the partition somehow has to join the existing which was difficult to do.

Planning the work.

The project did not require any interior design work, but did need some drawing work so we could work out what could be done. We do carry out space planning and 3d visuals if required. More information about this is on the following page click this link.

Before photographs.

The existing lighting used in the area was CAT2, which everyone used to put in a few years ago, we thought LED panels would give a less direction light for the staff. You can also see the area with the lockers that need to be blocked off. In order to save costs, we had to use an existing door which was actually a good idea as the wood finish would be pretty close to the the existing one next door, and so it would not look too different. We also used a timber frame, as well as taped and jointed the walls so it blended in with the existing wall. There was a slight height difference as the door that we had to use was slightly shorter than the existing.

The partition to close off the existing area had to fix to an external window upright, and there was a gap between the suspended ceiling edge and the edge of the window. The customer also wanted to maximise the amount of glass used, so we used a glass partitioning system. The most expensive item was the glass door. Each panel of glass is individually measured to take into account the rake of the floor and the ceiling, and of course the door has to swing freely so it does not catch on the floor.

The first photo above shows the existing door.

Glass Partitioning construction photographs.

Creating the server room wall actually took longer than to build the frame and new glass door. There was quite a bit of work involved. As well as cutting the wooden frame and fitting the existing door, the solid wall had to be tape and jointed. When tape and jointing two coats are applied and the first coat has to dry overnight, so it can be rubbed down and the second coat put on. Once finished the wall was painted.

Glass Partitioning completed photographs.

We liked this glass partition system as the frame is slimline, and we joined the existing glass wall without a problem. The difficult bits around the window reveal we just fitted plasterboard so this made the glazing very straightforward.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable Partitioning is tax efficient in that this type of partition is seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts. If you would like some more information about demountable partitioning please click this link.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of Demountable Partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on Demountable Partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Glass or Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

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Air Conditioning All Project Categories Design Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Partitioning Projects Storage Walls Visuals

Office Design and Fit Out in Swindon

Client: One Technologies
Value: £260k

We carried out an Office design and fit out fit out project for One Technologies Ltd in Swindon,Wiltshire. The project included creating ideas for the design, detail specification and documents, planning and then organising the work which was completed on time within budget.

The customer is an American company that wanted to set up and office in the UK. They had a breakfast bar in their office in Dallas, we tried to replicate the way they work in the US so part of their culture of how they work comes across into the UK. The customer is a web based company and the new office will be receiving inbound calls so is basically a call center. The image of a phone box in the reception is intended to reflect this and is one reason why there is a  concentration of desks in space. The digital image that is printed on heavy textured wall covering. Desk footprint was important in getting the right numbers in, and we have designed this so they can increase the numbers easily, all of the future space planning has been done. You will see the grey wallpaper in the office is very textured to give some personality to the paper and help with sound performance.

The activities included Office Design, Project Management, CDM regulations, Building Regulations, contracts, stripping out work, demountable glass partitioning, decorations, design of a breakfast bar, supply and fit of all office furniture, air conditioning new and changes to existing, ventilation changes, lighting, electrical work, data cabling, supply and fitting of the communications cabinet, cctv, access control, audio visual equipment and connection, storage wall and flooring changes. We also supplied all of the office furniture, screens, cupboards, plants, graphics, chairs and monitor arms.

Preparation work.

Much of the initial time on the project was spent exploring different layouts and seeing how the space could work. Care was taken in seeing how the customer wanted to use the space to have an area where people could relax and have teas and coffees.

Design Visuals.

We have covered elsewhere in this website our view on visuals. Please click this link for more explanation as to the difference between drawing work, space planning and 3d visuals. As a large proportion of the cost of the project focused around the breakfast bar we felt creating visuals was really important. The breakfast bar being an essential part of the office design. The film taken of this project reinforces how much the finished build reflects the initial visuals we produced for the project. Although they are in the film clip, they can be seen below:

Specifications, contract and planning.

The next step was to provide much more detail in the the specifications in the form of written documents. We had a commercial contract drawn up, as well as produced a full build specification document detailing every aspect of the build. Due to the amounts of money involved £250k +, we produced a project plan which showed the phases of when payments were due to be made depending on when various parts of the project were delivered. The final document was a detailed Gantt chart showing project timelines, dates, slack periods, completion dates and contingencies. Also built in were times required for the American IT team to visit and have all of the computer equipment installed and configured.

Build Photographs.

As you can see from the photographs there was quite a bit to organise, in particular we had to follow the progress to a programme, as well as maintaining dates that had to fit in with the American IT team visiting the UK to install the server the programme had to be met for the financial reasons in order to maintain a steady flow of payments coming to us from the USA. The main office design and fit out project for us was only one small part in order to get the office up and working. The customers IT people only had 3 days to install all of the equipment, so all of the infrastructure cabling, power, air conditioning, cabinets and of course all of the security access controls and cameras had to be fully working before they came over to visit. They were bringing with them a special server built by Dell to handle the call volumes anticipated in the office and the server itself cost 7 figures.

Final photographs finished office.

We are very please with the final office design and fit out. If you have not seen the video in the first part of this page then you can also see it here by here by clicking this text..

Moving / expanding or have problems with your existing office space?

Many offices have problems with sound, problems with fitting enough people in, and may look dated and need reworking which is where we can help. From an initial brief as to what the problems are to the final completed office we can carry out everything that you need inside an office. In the project above we used demountable partitioning but using a special type of glass to enhance sound performance. The system was also a propriety demountable partition system called Komfort Polar. The glass wall was double glazed, with seamless glass joints for a smooth simple look.

Why Demountable Partitions in Office Refurbishments?

  1. Demountable partitions are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts, we can also lease elements of office refurbishments. Anything that can be moved.
  2. We mainly lease Demountable Partitions as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of movable items is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions in an office as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Not sure what to do?

Please give us a call and we can help with any aspect of interior office fit out, along with space planning and design work.

01380 73 88 44

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All Project Categories Office Refurbishments Partitioning Toilet Refurbishment

Office Fit Out and Design work in Melksham

Client: Oakhouse Foods
Value: £100k

The office fit out project for Oakhouse foods in Melksham involved initial space planning and design, through to stripping out and refurbishing the office space. The project included: partitioning, new air conditioning to server room, new kitchen and flooring, building of a shower room, decoration and office furniture

Design Work

Once we had a good look at the current space and taken a brief from the customer, then we draw it. We use Autocad, and we first have to identify exactly what is in the current space which will include the existing lighting, electrical and air conditioning aspects, as well as the walls and other items in the space. In coming up with a new design we first look to see what the customer wants and then try to squeeze it in. We always draw technical drawings which allows our suppliers to cost items, but sometimes customers can’t visualise what something may look like. We therefore organise some visuals to be produced which help the whole process in getting the project approved.

Existing Photographs.

Construction Photographs.

Finished Photographs.

Why Demountable Partitions in Office Refurbishments?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Not sure what to do?

Please give us a call and we can help with any aspect of interior office fit out, along with space planning and design work.
01380 73 88 44

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Partitioning Projects

Demountable Partitioning in Chippenham

Client: Sat 7 Chippenham
Value: £7.6k

Sat 7 based in Chippenham contacted us recently as they wanted us to remove partitioning walls within their 2nd floor office which included large glass windows. They also wanted new demountable partitioning put up within this office space, once this was done we had to match and repair the carpet.

Construction photographs.

There are quite a few different configurations possible with demountable partitioning. The glazing can be single or double glazed. In this particular design double glazed was chosen as you get better sound insulation, and you can have integral blinds inside the glass which can be turned via a control knob to open and close the blinds.

The glass window height and width you can also vary, in this case we have tried to maximise the glass height, and have added a side window of glass for the smaller office as well.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

Categories
All Project Categories Office Refurbishments Partitioning Storage Walls

Office Fit Out in West Super Mare

Client: John Hodge Solicitors
Value: £45k

Office Fit out at Morston Court

John Hodge Solicitors required an office fit out in Weston Super Mare. They had previously occupied a prestigious location in Weston Super Mare and wanted to maintain the location but the property available next door was not big enough to accommodate all of the administration tasks that need to be carried out in a busy office.

The solution was to take on the building next door which was the old Choices video store and is covered in another new item. (click this link), and to take on a modern office which needed fitting out. This post relates to the fitting out of Morston Court.

Office Fit out work

The main building is rented, and so a requirement from landlords is that the partitioning needs to be demountable. The condition of the existing space was pretty good, with cabling and lighting already in place. We did have to re- cable all of the Cat5 data and voice sockets to the comms cabinet position, as well as re-position power sockets in the perimeter trunking so that there appeared in the correct places. All we had to do was to fit some partitioning as well as some storage wall for the main meeting room. We also had to build a small kitchen.

Office fit out for John Hodge Solicitors in Weston Super Mare
Design and drawing work first for both floors

Construction Photographs.

Completed Photographs.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

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All Project Categories Dilapidation work Featured Office Refurbishments Partitioning Projects Suspended Ceilings Uncategorized

Dilapidation Work in Reading

Client: The House of God Evangelical Church
Value: £100k

Dilapidation Work

The House of God Evangelical Church needed us to carry out some Dilapidation work in Reading.

We carry out dilapidation work occasionally and is very similar to the general term of office refurbishments. We carry out this work when a client leaves their current building and it has to be put back to an original state. In this case, the state of the building over three floors was pretty bad, but in essence it just needed all of the things that we currently do. Stripping out, new suspended ceilings, dry lining, painting and decorating, flooring work, demountable partitioning, fitting a small kitchen and minor structural work.

As we were doing the work the client asked us to build some new offices on one of the floors and we constructed the walls from demountable partitioning. Some finished photographs are shown below.

Existing state of the building

As you can see from the photographs below the building needed quite a bit of work doing to it, nothing unusual to what we normally do, just quite a bit of it.

Finished photographs.

Unfortunately we did not get to many finished photographs for this project, please find some below.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning

Office Demountable Partition in Calne

Client: Smart Integrated Solutions
Value: £5.9k

Office Demountable Partition.

This customer contacted us with a demand for a quick turnaround for an office demountable partition. The customer had pretty much decided on the layout he wanted but there was some discussions about sound performance between rooms. We suggested a combination of 75 demountable partitions and 50mm wide demountable partitions. The 50mm wide demountable partitions offer the right balance between cost and performance, we fitted the 75mm wide walls between the meeting room and the office to improve the sound performance in that position.

We recommended that the glass was fitted to door head height for looks, but the customer wanted the glass to go right up to the ceiling to maximize the light in the store room and main meeting room, the customer is always right so we obliged. The demountable partition system is available in a wide variety of colours, the stock colours are white and grey, so for speed we agreed on white frames. The customer also wanted a quick turn around within a week which we were able to do in this case.

Construction Photos.

The main building is rented, and so a requirement from landlords is that the partitioning needs to be demountable. The condition of the existing space was pretty good, with cabling and lighting already in place. We did have to re- cable all of the Cat5 data and voice sockets to the comms cabinet position, as well as re-position power sockets in the perimeter trunking so that there appeared in the correct places. All we had to do was to fit some partitioning as well as some storage wall for the main meeting room. We also had to build a small kitchen.

Construction Photographs.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning

Office Partitions in Bradford upon Avon

Client: IT Focus
Value: £3k

Office Partitions

IT Focus had just moved into new office space in Bradford Upon Avon and needed some office partitioning carried out for a few areas. Initial consultation was free, and Cre8tive produced some drawings and costs for different areas in the office space. The partition system needed to be demountable.

In looking at the areas in more detail the small room to partition off the server would end up being impractical as the server would likely overheat without air conditioning, further adding to cost. The end requirement was to just focus on building a glass office partition screen to separate the meeting room from the main office as noise was going to be a problem.

The usual debate over price versus performance between a 50mm wide demountable system and a 75mm demountable system as office partitions, presented the normal dilemma.  Do you spend the money for a bit better sound performance or just go for price. In the end IT Focus decided on a 75mm wide system but wanted the screen fitted to the underside of the beam running across the office. This presented some construction problems when we came to build it as the floor was not level. The glass had to be cut (raked) at an angle as the door and drooframe have to be plumbed completely square, and everything comes off the doorframe. In the end a couple of the windows had to be made not quite squire to get it all to fit.

Office Partition Construction photos.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning

Demountable Partitions in Swindon

Client: The Outside Clinic
Value: £7k

Demountable Partitions

This demountable partitions project in Swindon consisted of two areas. The first partition had to consist of  two new glazed screens around a central pillar and to match the colour of a partition system that was already installed. The second part of the project was a take down and reconfiguration of the existing layout, with new rooms and further partitioning which was new.

The beauty of using demountable partitions is in the name, the partitions can be demounted and moved elsewhere without them being completely destroyed like a normal plasterboard and stud work wall. Further information is on our page describing demountable partitions, please click this link if you would like to know a bit more. The partitions are built by skilled fitters and cannot be constructed by anyone, or a general builder as they are a specialist product requiring unique skills. The system we used in this instant was manufactured by Komfort, and was their 50mm komfort kameo 50 system. The first area needed colour samples that were sent to the customer to try and match the RAL colour of the partition system. We also matched the colour of the blinds and skirting. The difficult part of this project was that the central pillar was miles out of plumb which meant special trims had to be made to hide the gaps. You cannot see this on the finished result. The door was also made with a large window and some privacy film which matched what the customer had already in the rooms.

The second phase of the project was a different coloured system on a different floor. The requirements were to take down one wall, and re–use the materials with some new materials to make a larger offer and create a new office with lots of glazing.

The other slight difficulty was carrying all of the materials up two flights of very narrow stairs which is always a problem, but we allowed for this in our costings and our quote.

Initial site photographs.

As you can see from the photographs below, the first area needed partitions that had to fit around a central pillar and join onto an existing office. The colour of the aluminium frames presented a problem as even though one can powder coat the aluminium partition frames to a RAL colour, RAL colours have a tolerance on them so with the old and new frames butted up to each other there was a very high chance that there would be a shade difference. The existing partitions had also been in place for about 10 years, and the colour can fade over time, so the chances of getting an exact match was pretty remote. As always we ensure that we make the customer aware of this and when we received the go ahead for the work, the customer stated that our honesty and clarity of what we were doing as well as the price swayed selection of who they wanted to do the work in our favour. The first two photographs below show the first area, the second area showed the general space, many of the existing walls seen would need to be taken down and re-used in a different configuration. The practically of using demountable partitions cannot be over estimated as although there is an initial high cost with the frames, they can be re-used making them really flexible. The other factor of course is that they look pretty good as well, and you can introduce window frames and door combinations much easier than a conventional plasterboard wall.

Working out the materials and sizes.

The first area was a bit difficult to do, and in this case the materials had to be specially ordered to the particular RAL colour. Once the colour is run, it is not possible just to get another piece in case it is cut wrong as a whole new production run would have t be made which would be very expensive to do. Getting it right right time was very important. In this case we took lots of measurements and produced a drawing just to be sure. In this situation it was not necessary to carry out any space planning or design. If you would like to know the difference between drawing work, space planning and visuals please click this link. The second area used many parts of the existing office layout, and was more of a taking down and rebuilding exercise, and the colour of the partition frames were a stock colour, so if we needed some more trims or head channel we could get them next day so we were more relaxed with the second area.

Detailed drawing
Detailed drawing

 Construction work.

We decided to deal with the two areas in separate phases using the same gang of fitters, so they could complete one area and then move on downstairs to the second without any delay or disruption. We also saved on the delivery costs by having all the materials delivered in one visit, getting the materials into the building was not easy. The first area was on the second floor, and the second area was on the floor below. The entrance to the offices was via Barclays bank shared lobby, so we used the rear fire escape to get the materials into the building without having to go through the main office which was quite a considerable distance from the main road. Getting rid of the waste material also presented the same problem. Although you may think this is minor detail, it is actually really important to minimise the disruption to the client, so we did collect all of the waste off cuts and rubbish together in one area, and when both areas were finished got it all out the fire escape in one go.

The earlier photograph above showing the gap between the new screen and pillar is nothing unusual. In order to keep costs down we try and make the glass and frames perfectly square, so if the pillar or wall is out of vertical alignment which they often are, we can make up any out of plumb situations by providing a cover trim to cover any gaps. Optically it is better to keep the frames square, we could actually rake the glass to make it fit, but it would make your eyes funny when you looked at it, you could see something was not quite right. It is surprising how much your eyesight can detect. Raking the glass is also much more expensive. The other reason for making the frames perfectly square is that in one of the elevations we have a door frame next to one of the uprights, all door frames need to be put in perfectly square anyway, as if you make it slightly out of plumb with the ground the door will swing of its own accord due to gravity. When you open and close the door it needs to swing (open and close), without any tendency to close or open, so a neutral situation.

Completed photographs.

Why Demountable Partitions?

  1. They look much better than conventional stud and plasterboard partitions. Glass can be introduced greatly improving the way light gets into an office space.
  2. Demountable partitions are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  3. We can also lease Demountable Partitions as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  4. Leasing of demountable partitions is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  5. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitions or on how to reconfigure your office space?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844