Because the bracket is only as good as what it is anchored to. A partition panel applies a lever action to its wall fixing every time someone leans on it, and that force ends up in the wall build-up.

Masonry, concrete, lined stud and tiled backing each accept a different anchor, and the failure mode differs too: masonry crumbles at the anchor, board pulls through, and tile spalls at the face.

So the sequence runs the other way from how it looks on a drawing. The substrate is established first, the anchor is chosen for it, and the bracket is chosen to suit the anchor and the panel edge.

It captures the panel edge on both faces along its full height, so the load is spread down a continuous line instead of concentrated at two or three bracket positions.

That matters in an alcove, where the panel is doing more than dividing: it is closing the run against the wall and taking side load from users on both sides.

A channel also hides an out-of-plumb or uneven wall, since the panel sits within it and the channel takes up the discrepancy. Angle brackets leave any gap between panel and wall on view.

With a filler panel or a closure clip sized for the actual gap, measured on site rather than taken from the drawing. Washroom walls are rarely square to the cubicle line, and the gap usually tapers.

Where the gap is small, a channel with a deeper throat absorbs it. Where it is larger, a purpose-cut filler strip fixed into the channel keeps the sightline consistent with the rest of the run.

Leaving the gap open is not just a visual matter. A gap at a wall return breaks the privacy the cubicle is there to provide, and it collects dirt where nothing can reach.

They can, with care, and the tile is the fragile part. Drilling needs a tile bit at low speed without hammer action until the tile is through, and the anchor has to reach the substrate behind instead of depending on the tile and its adhesive bed.

Tightening is the other risk. Pulling a bracket hard against a glazed face concentrates load on the tile edge and cracks it, so a compressible washer and controlled tightening matter.

Where the tiling is over board, the same board limitation applies as anywhere else: the tile adds no pull-out capacity, and a nogging behind is still required.

Profile and continuity. Brackets that project from the panel face with an open top create the exact hazard anti-ligature specifications are written to remove, which is why continuous sloped channels are used instead in those settings.

In secure environments the panel-to-wall connection is usually a full-height channel with a sloped top cap, or the panel is captured in a rebate so there is no projecting fitting at all.

Fasteners come into it too, because an exposed screw head is both a grip point and a vandalism target. Concealed or security-drive fixings are standard in those specifications.

It depends on panel height, thickness and the system, and it is set by the manufacturer rather than by rule of thumb, because the bracket spacing and the panel stiffness are designed together.

As a general shape, taller and thinner panels need more restraint, and a panel carrying a grab bar or a baby change unit needs its fixings reconsidered entirely because the load case has changed.

Adding brackets to a panel that flexes is a reasonable remedy only if the substrate can take them. Where the wall is the limitation, more fixings into weak backing does not help.

Visually it is worth it, and functionally it can matter. Mixing an aluminium bracket with a stainless fastener in a wet, chloride-rich washroom sets up galvanic corrosion at the joint.

The bracket is also usually at eye level in an alcove, so a finish mismatch is more obvious here than at floor level. Satin stainless against a satin panel edge is the common default.

Where a coated finish is chosen for appearance, the coating has to tolerate the cleaning regime. Powder coat that survives an office washroom can chalk in a pool changing room.