Case Study: Hush 50 Desk Screens for Totum Partners, London

How we planned, made and installed Hush 50 acoustic desk screens for Totum Partners' new open-plan office in the City of London, from quote to installation in about two weeks.

Client: Totum Partners, a London professional services firm
Location: 72 Cannon Street, City of London (EC4N)
Products: Hush 50 acoustic desk screens in Abbotsford Moss fabric, bench (single-side) brackets and oval freestanding feet
Service: layout design from photos (no site survey needed), manufacture and installation
Timescale: about two weeks from quote to installation

The client

Totum Partners were moving into a new office at 72 Cannon Street and fitting out an open-plan workspace with long bench-style desks.

The challenge

• Divide long rows of bench desks so staff get some privacy and less noise from calls, without losing the open-plan feel.
• Leave room on each desk for monitor arms that clamp onto the desk.
• Avoid any damage to the brand-new desks.
• Install by 22–23 October, ready for the office move on 26 October.
• Fit the quoting and invoicing around the leasing company that was funding part of the fit-out.

Before: the new bench desks, with the curved cable cut-outs the screens had to work around.

Our approach

We sent the client photos of past installs showing how bench (single-side) brackets hold each screen slightly off the desk, leaving room for monitor arms and cables. We then asked for photos and measurements of the desk backs, including the curved cable cut-out, and checked them with the manufacturer. We didn't need a site survey: from the photos, we could see exactly what would work.

We sent fabric samples, and the client chose Moss from the Abbotsford range. We then made a 3D render and a plan of the layout and refined it with the client into a seven-screen setup:

• Three large desk screens along the length of the bench.
• Side panels to split the long desks into pods.
• No panels on the side next to the wall and window, where none were needed.

The 3D render we made to agree the layout with the client.

The layout plan: four 1400 × 700mm bench desks plus a 700 × 1400mm end desk, with seven screens.

For the middle side panels we used oval freestanding feet instead of screw-down brackets, so the new desks weren't damaged. Each screen is held securely on its own, so no plastic linking strips were needed, which looks far neater too. Without strips, every screen is independent, so if the client changes the desk layout later, the screens can be moved and reused, and the fixings can be swapped at any time, for example from brackets to freestanding feet.

We took payment through the client's leasing company, and put the extra freestanding feet on a separate invoice so the signed-off lease wasn't affected.

The result

• Quote to installation in about two weeks, for made-to-order screens.
• Installed on 22 October, ahead of the 23 October target and before the office move.
• A consistent Hush 50 layout in the client's chosen colour, compatible with monitor arms and with no damage to the desks.
• The client was kept updated throughout: layout drafts, delivery timing, a 9–10am arrival window, and parking and access planned in advance for a central London site.

Products used

• Hush 50 acoustic desk screens, Abbotsford fabric in Moss
• Bench (single-side) brackets
• Oval freestanding feet for the dividing side panels

Planning something similar?

Browse our fabric desk screens and acoustic desk screens, or get in touch with your desk sizes and a few photos of your space. We can usually tell you what will work from photos alone. For larger orders, we can also carry out a site survey once the order is placed. See another project in our Vorwerk case study.