Closing in on the open-plan office

It was supposed to herald a new age of collaborative co-working - but is it all over for the open-plan office? Increasingly, wall-free working spaces, still used by most businesses, are being supplanted by flexible layouts, with spaces for concentration as well as communication. It will be welcome news to anyone who has had to don headphones to block out their colleagues' detailed discussion of last night's TV, or endured the annual office flu season.