Swaminarayan Hindu Temple, Neasden

Client: Swaminarayan Hindu Temple
Architect: Triad Architects
Contractor: worked direct for client
Value of project: £100, 000
Type of works: installation of NW100 movable walls to acoustically divide the prayer hall

One of the most ornate buildings in the world, the Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Neasden, North London, has Alco Beldan NW100 movable walls installed to acoustically divide the prayer hall.

Forming the central part of the building, the prayer hall has a complete floor area of 2,300m² which is only used a few times each year. The movable walls allow the very large space to be divided into smaller, more efficient areas for everyday use. Alco Beldan was asked to design a system that would divide the hall into three separate rooms and could be manually moved into place by resident staff.

The impressive hall dimensions, 51 x 45m of floor area and 7.2m height, meant that the subsequent weight of the necessarily large panels and their ease of use were of vital consideration.

Each panel is carried on two specially-developed rollers running in heavy-duty steel tracks which have been fabricated to form semi-automatic stacking bays at the end of each of the three walls. Staff only have to roll the panels into the 45° track junction and the panel turns easily into the stacking position. Although the panels are just 100mm thick, they have an acoustic performance rating of Rw 51dB, enhanced by the addition of a special herringbone pattern acoustic wallcovering applied by the main contractor.