Can Pocket Doors Be Used In Commercial Spaces For Office Partitions?

The pocket door is well known for its primary feature, that of creating space in a room because it opens into a wall recess rather than into the room itself. This provides a great deal of flexibility with regards to what you can do with space you have available, and how you can make rooms multi-purpose to really maximise space. But another lesser-known solution pocket door systems provide is to divide larger spaces and create two smaller rooms. This is a great advantage when the landscape is very fluid in a commercial environment and the needs of a business are constantly changing.

Why a commercial business needs extra office space

Any commercial organisation has the aim of growing and being successful. This means taking on new staff, diversifying into new areas of business and developing premises to allow the business to expand. This often means that businesses have to maximise available space and create the right environment for people to thrive and be productive. And this usually has to be done quickly and cost-effectively, because budgets are tight.

It is common for businesses to have to act quickly to provide workstations for new staff, or to accommodate departmental changes, and in that sense, a quick and affordable way to create new office space is to divide a larger single office into two smaller offices. Open-plan offices are an efficient use of space, but are not suitable for some situations where people need privacy and peace and quiet or have the authority and seniority to have their own office. In this case, the pocket door provides the ideal solution.

How a pocket door can create two offices from one

If you want to divide an office space into two smaller spaces, it is simply a case of creating a new stud wall construction. This can be covered with plasterboard as normal, but the key difference is that you can use this to accommodate the pocket door frame system. This frame sits inside the stud wall and can be encased by the plasterboard and completely hidden. The pocket door is then installed to divide the larger office space and create two new spaces.

Of course, the space-saving qualities of the pocket door are still key to making this happen, because you are creating two smaller offices which would not be practical or usable if you had to install a traditional hinged door. The pocket door means you can open and close it and still have sufficient room in each office space to fit a desk and chair and perhaps also some shelving units or a set of drawers. It is important that employees feel comfortable and at ease, so they can be productive, and the pocket door enables this.

Pocket door systems that work as an office partition

The word ‘partition’ suggests that these newly created offices don’t have proper walls, but you should find that the stud walls you have created provide sufficient sound-proofing and environmental protection. Nevertheless, a properly installed pocket door system has sufficient construction quality and air-tight seals so that noise and cold air travel is not a problem.

When creating two smaller office spaces it might also be a consideration to install a glass pocket door. These provide all the same space-saving qualities but, crucially, also maximise light available in adjacent rooms and corridors and any natural light available nearby. This makes smaller spaces less claustrophobic and therefore more comfortable and potentially productive. The employer has a legal duty to provide a safe and comfortable workspace and a smaller office space may only be suitable if fitted with a glass pocket door. It is well known that spending many hours alone in a small room with only artificial light is not healthy in terms of mental wellbeing, and any good employer needs to consider this.

A glass pocket door can also be customised to have a satin opaque finish, which allows light to shine through but also provides an element of privacy, while glass pocket doors can also be personalised with sand-blasted lines or a bespoke coloured glass design. You can also opt for a company logo design. These solutions all act to improve the aesthetics of the new office space you have created and makes employees feel valued and comfortable.

It is also worth noting that this same principle of dividing a larger space into two smaller spaces also applies to domestic homes. It is common for families to find they are growing in number but not able or willing to move house, so a larger bedroom can be divided into two bedrooms using this same process.

Contact our sales team at MB Direct

If you want to speak to our sales experts about any element of choosing, ordering or installing a pocket door system, then contact our team at MB Direct today.