The board room has the same function the world over: as the largest meeting room in the office, the most important, private meetings occur. They’re also a great place for Friday night socialising, but that’s not usually the reason Soundmask is called in!
Forest and Wood Products Australia
The privacy problem in the board room was one of the reasons Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) called us in. The organisation provides research and development services to the Australian forest and wood products industry. The office exemplifies forest and wood products, with beautiful Australian wood featured.
The problem
As a result of a “green” retrofit to their new office, the open plan office space and meeting rooms were too quiet. This presented FWPA with the dual problems of distracting noise and a lack of speech privacy.
In particular, the board room (pictured above) had privacy problems. You can see that the aesthetic features glass and wood, and the glass walls are not full height. While the design is easy on the eyes, it also allows sound transmission.
The solution
One important consideration for FWPA was aesthetics. They’d spent money designing and fitting out a space that exemplified Australian wood products. Honouring this aesthetic was important. Fortunately, Soundmask’s systems are generally installed out of sight, and this installation was no exception. We installed a system comprising a rack generator and transducers throughout the entire office. This offering a cost effective solution to FWPA’s sound problems, both in the board room, and throughout the space.
Happy customer
It’s always nice to get positive feedback from customers, and the FWPA had this to say:
“All went very well yesterday – your install team was fantastic – no disruptions and very efficient to boot. System going fine so far – makes a real difference in the office space. Happy customer thus far.”

