Bespoke Acoustic Wall Panels at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York
Date 06.01.2026 Author: Stuart Jones
Right from the start, this was an exciting project for AgileAcoustics. We were delighted to be approached by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to help improve the acoustics of several meeting room spaces within their York offices.
As with many collaborative workplaces, these meeting rooms needed to strike the right balance between openness and acoustic control — ensuring conversations were clear and private, without creating spaces that felt enclosed or overly engineered.
From First Visit to First Ideas
Stuart, our Managing Director, popped over to York early in the project to measure the spaces and begin those all-important initial discussions about what solutions would work best. While performance was key, it was clear from the outset that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation team were also keen to explore something visually distinctive.
It was Holly from the JRF team who planted a brilliant idea: acoustic wall panels with inset shapes, rather than traditional flat panels. After several conversations about how this might be achieved — and whether it was even possible — our design and manufacturing team began exploring new ways to bring the concept to life.
Pushing the Design (and Ourselves)
We could have created panels with 3D pop-out shapes, but after careful consideration we felt the aesthetic — and more importantly, the acoustic performance — wouldn’t be good enough. Instead, we challenged ourselves to do something different.
After a number of prototypes, we developed bespoke shaped sub-frames, allowing us to inset circular forms directly into the acoustic wall panels. This approach maintained excellent sound absorption while delivering a truly unique visual result — something we genuinely believe hasn’t been done before in this way.
The finished panels offer depth, texture and acoustic control in equal measure — enhancing the character of the rooms while significantly improving how they sound.
Client Feedback That Makes It All Worthwhile
Holly and the wider Joseph Rowntree Foundation team were delighted with the final installation. Holly kindly sent us a post-install email that really made our day:
“Just a message to say a huge thank you for all your hard work on the panels. I’ve just got into the office, and I’m blown away with how good they look 🥰. It has been so nice working with you and to have you all so keen to help create our slightly off-piste ideas. We have already had so many compliments on them. The company doing our new tech are also very impressed and so we have passed on your details. Anyway, please pass on our sincere thanks to the rest of the team.”
Feedback like this is exactly why we love what we do.
Collaboration Leads to Better Spaces
At AgileAcoustics, we genuinely welcome new ideas from clients. Collaborative projects like this mean customers get exactly what they want — and sometimes those ideas go on to inspire solutions for other spaces and organisations too.
If you like these unique inset acoustic wall panels, we’d love to hear what shapes you might choose — whether abstract forms, branding elements, or something entirely different.
Wishing everyone a prosperous 2026 from all of us at AgileAcoustics.
