Wall panel

A prefabricated wall system for creating internal building walls, said system comprising:

• one or more prefabricated wall panels, each panel comprising:
• a rear board;
• a front board forming an internal face for a room, said front board spaced away from said rear board to form a cavity;
• and
• a first side stud and a second side stud, each side stud connected to the front and rear boards on opposing sides of the cavity;
• and
• a wireway disposed within the cavity, wherein the wireway runs substantially from a base of the wall panels to a top of the wall panels to allow services to pass through the panels, and wherein the wireway constrains cabling of the services therein;
• and
• one or more steel support rails connected across said side studs and between the rear board and the wireway for supporting the wireway,
• wherein the first side stud comprises a male mating means and the second side stud comprises a female mating means such that each prefabricated wall panel is configured to mate with an adjacent said prefabricated wall panel to form a continuous internal wall surface;
• wherein the side studs comprise a plurality of tabs, said tabs extendable away from the side studs into the cavity and providing a fixing point for the support rails;
• and a guide rail provided on a floor of a building,
• wherein said guide rail comprises a raised profile configured to be received within a correspondingly shaped recessed portion in a base track of the panels.

A method for installing services in a prefabricated wall panel, said method comprising the steps of:

• forming a wall comprising at least two prefabricated wall panels, each wall panel comprising:
• a rear board;
• a front board forming an internal face for a room, said front board spaced away from said rear board to form a cavity;
• and
• a first side stud and a second side stud, each side stud connected to the front and rear boards on opposing sides of the cavity;
• and
• a wireway disposed within the cavity, wherein the wireway runs substantially from a base of the wall panels to a top of the wall panels to allow services to pass through the panels, and wherein the wireway constrains cabling of the services therein;
• and
• one or more steel support rails connected across said side studs and between the rear board and the wireway for supporting the wireway,
• wherein the side studs comprise a plurality of tabs, said tabs extendable away from the side studs into the cavity and providing a fixing point for the support rails;
• wherein the first side stud comprises a male mating means and the second side stud comprises a female mating means such that each prefabricated wall panel is configured to mate with an adjacent said prefabricated wall panel to form a continuous internal wall surface, said wall panels mated together to form a unitary wall;
• creating a cutaway through said front board of at least one of said panels to access the wireway therein, said cutaway located solely within the wireway;
• installing a backbox within said cutaway;
• and
• feeding said services cabling through one channel to the backbox through an opening in a top portion of the front board.