The lease has three years to run, the floor must be handed back as one open room, and the team has grown from eight people to fourteen. Sales calls carry straight across to accounts. The only spot for a catch-up is a table beside the path to the kitchen, where every conversation pauses while someone walks through with a coffee. Office partitions fix this without a builder: they stand on feet or castors and move when the team changes.
This guide covers the main types in the floor and mobile partitions range, how high to go, what keeps a screen upright and where to stand one.
Types of office partitions and what each one is for
Floor partitions fall into seven broad types, separated by how they stand and how often you expect to move them.
| Type | How it stands | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freestanding screen | Fixed feet | One screen beside desks or a walkway | Feet project on both sides |
| Mobile screen | Lockable castors | Rooms rearranged weekly | Lock the castors when parked |
| Linked panel system | Panels joined at corners | L and U shaped enclosures | A lone panel needs feet or a brace |
| Acoustic partition | Feet, with panels joined | Softening noise near calls | Absorbs sound, does not seal a room |
| Whiteboard or pinboard divider | Lockable castors | Project teams and training | Whiteboard faces reflect sound |
| Planter wall | Timber and steel frame | Screening a view with greenery | Visual privacy only |
| Folding wall | Hinged panels on castors | Splitting a training room or hall | Needs parking space when folded |
How high: seated privacy or standing privacy?
Height decides what a partition does. As a general guide, about 1,200mm hides the desktop and most of a monitor, but a seated person can see over it by sitting up. About 1,500mm blocks the view between seated people. About 1,800mm blocks it for most people standing.
Taller is not always better: an 1,800mm run beside a window takes daylight from the desks behind it.
The Acoustic Screens - Free Standing Screen (from $323) comes 1,500mm or 1,800mm high and 1,500mm or 1,800mm wide. It is 50mm thick, with pinnable grey or blue fabric, black PVC edging and a 5 year warranty. It is the lowest-priced partition here and suits one screen between a walkway and a desk bank.
If the trouble is only the neighbour across the desk, desk screens mount to the desk itself and take up no floor space.
Feet, castors and joiners: what keeps a partition upright
A partition is a tall, thin panel, so how it stands matters more than the fabric on it. Fixed feet are the simplest. The freestanding screen above sits on stabilising silver feet and needs no fixing to a wall or desk. The feet run out on both sides, so count them when you measure a walkway.
Castors suit rooms that change often. The Lightweight Room Divider Mobile Screen (from $683) rolls on lockable castors and works portrait or landscape. It is a frameless panel about 50mm thick, in Autex Vertiface Velour fabric that takes pins and Velcro, in eight sizes from 900mm by 1,190mm. Its Delivery line lists metro Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, not WA.
Joined panels hold each other up. The E-Screen Straight Floor Partitions (from $627) use one universal joining post, supplied with each screen, to connect two, three or four screens at right angles. A single screen is not freestanding: screens stand once joined at a 90 degree corner, and a lone screen needs the optional feet. An adjustable glide levels each screen on an uneven floor and leaves a gap for cables.
That suits an L-shaped meeting corner that will stay for a year or two. It comes in blue or grey in 11 sizes, 900mm to 1,800mm wide and 1,200mm to 1,800mm high, though the 1,800mm width stops at 1,500mm high. Screens weigh 15kg to 32kg, so moving the larger ones takes two people.
Acoustic partitions: what the fabric can and cannot do
Fabric partitions help with noise in two ways. They absorb some of the sound that hits them, and they block the direct path between talker and listener.
Acoustic panels are often rated with a Noise Reduction Coefficient, or NRC, between 0 and 1. The higher the number, the more sound the panel absorbs. The ZIP 3 Panel Acoustic Divider Screen ($1,134) is rated NRC 0.85. Its three recycled PET panels have a tackable fabric surface and together measure 1,830mm wide, 1,650mm high and 28mm thick.
Flexible zippers join the panels and let each one rotate, so the set can run straight or angle around a table. Extension panels are sold separately.
Sound still travels over and around any freestanding screen, so a partition takes the edge off a noisy floor without making a conversation private. For confidential calls, an enclosed booth is the right tool, as the guide to acoustic pods and office phone booths explains.
Partitions that do a second job: whiteboards, pinboards and planters
A divider takes up floor space, so it may as well earn it twice. The Communicate Magnetic Whiteboard/Pinboard Room Divider (from $707) has a magnetic whiteboard on one side and charcoal pinnable fabric on the other, or whiteboard on both sides. The screen is 900mm wide and 1,800mm high, on large lockable 90mm castors, with a pen tray and two flipchart hooks. Units link into any shape, with links sold separately, and it has a 3 year Australian warranty.
Wheel one beside a project team and it is a planning wall facing in and a screen facing out. The mobile whiteboards and flipcharts range has more boards on castors.
The Planter Wall (from $1,432) divides with greenery instead of fabric. It is a timber and steel frame with 25 pots for real or artificial plants, sold with or without plants, and has a 10 year warranty. It screens a view rather than a noise, which suits a reception area or the edge of a breakout space.
Dividing a room in an Australian office: leases, walkways and exits
Many Australian businesses lease their office, and leases commonly ask for the space to be handed back as it was found. Freestanding partitions suit that: they are furniture, so they leave with you.
For a training room or hall that changes use during the day, a folding wall is quicker than moving single screens. The Great Screen Divider Mobile Partition Starter Set (from $3,574) is 2,520mm wide, with three blue fabric wall panels and two end panels on locking castors. It folds up and rolls away as one unit. Add-on panels, sold separately, extend it up to 7.5 metres, and it comes in two heights, nominally 1,800mm and 2,400mm.
Safe Work Australia's model code of practice on managing the work environment and facilities recommends aisles and walkways at least 600mm wide, kept free of furniture and other obstructions. Treat that as the minimum, and measure from the feet, not the panel. Never stand a screen across an exit door, in front of a fire extinguisher, or where it hides an exit sign.
Deliveries go to the ground-floor entrance, and goods arrive flat-packed unless the product page says assembled, so measure the lift before ordering a 1,800mm panel.
Office partitions — frequently asked questions
How high should an office partition be?
Choose about 1,500mm for privacy between seated people and about 1,800mm to block the view of people standing. About 1,200mm screens a desk while keeping the floor open.
Do freestanding partitions reduce noise?
Fabric partitions reduce noise by absorbing some sound and blocking the direct path between people, but they do not soundproof a space. Look for a stated NRC, such as 0.85 on the ZIP 3 Panel screen.
Can office partitions be joined together?
Many can, and each system joins differently. The E-Screen uses a joining post, ZIP panels zip together and Communicate dividers use separately sold links.
How much space should be left around a partition?
Leave at least 600mm of clear walkway past any partition, measured from its feet, and keep exits, exit signs and fire equipment clear.
Shop the range
See every option in floor and mobile partitions, or browse all screens and acoustics.
- Acoustic Screens - Free Standing Screen (from $323): one 50mm thick pinnable screen on fixed feet beside desks
- Lightweight Room Divider Mobile Screen (from $683): a pinnable screen on lockable castors for rooms that change
- E-Screen Straight Floor Partitions (from $627): joined panels for L and U shaped meeting corners
- ZIP 3 Panel Acoustic Divider Screen ($1,134): three zip-joined panels rated NRC 0.85 for noisy floors
- Communicate Magnetic Whiteboard/Pinboard Room Divider (from $707): a mobile whiteboard and pinboard for project teams and training rooms
- Planter Wall (from $1,432): a 25 pot frame that screens a view with greenery
- Great Screen Divider Mobile Partition Starter Set (from $3,574): a folding wall on castors for training rooms and halls
Metro delivery is a flat $75 per order, and prices include GST.
