Types of Commercial Aluminium Doors, Sizes and How to Specify Them

Commercial aluminium doors are doorsets made for buildings used by staff and the public, such as office entrances, shops, lobbies, schools and healthcare buildings. Compared with a domestic door they have heavier frames and leaves, and hinges, closers and locks rated for hundreds of openings a day, and they often have to meet accessibility, means-of-escape, fire and security requirements at the same time. This guide compares the types of commercial doors, sets out the door sizes that Approved Document M and the fire strategy call for, explains when an aluminium door can be fire rated, and covers the hardware, standards and specification. For the doors we supply and install, see commercial aluminium doors.

Types of commercial aluminium doors

• Hinged entrance doors: single or double glazed doors, usually set in a glazed screen or curtain wall, with heavy-duty hinges and an overhead or concealed closer
• Automatic doors: sliding or swing doors driven by a powered operator, used at busy main entrances and where access needs make manual doors difficult; the safety of power-operated pedestrian doors is covered by BS EN 16005
• Pivot doors: large, heavy leaves that turn on a pivot set in from the edge, used for statement entrances, such as Aluprof MB-86N pivot doors
• Commercial bifold doors: open a whole frontage or terrace wall, for restaurants, cafés and office roof terraces, with a traffic door for everyday use
• Fire doors: doorsets tested to resist fire for a classified period, for compartment walls, stair cores and protected routes; see fire rated doors
• Escape and service doors: for escape routes, plant rooms and back-of-house areas, where hardware and robustness matter most

Shopfronts and frontages often combine several of these in one glazed screen. Changing the frontage of an existing building can need planning permission, particularly in a conservation area, so check with the local planning authority early.

Most commercial doors are aluminium, because aluminium is light, takes any powder-coat colour and matches the glazed screens and curtain walling around the door. Steel gives slimmer frames for the same strength and is often chosen for fire doors and for the Crittall look in restaurants and office fit-outs; see our slim steel windows and doors on Jansen Janisol Arte 2.0.

Hardware for heavy-use commercial doors

Most commercial door problems are hardware problems. Hinges and closers have to suit the leaf weight and daily use, and everything has to work with the access control, fire alarm and escape strategy.

• Hinges or pivots rated for the leaf weight, with enough hinges per leaf for the door size
• Door closers to BS EN 1154, sized to the leaf and adjusted so they close the door reliably without exceeding the opening force limits for accessibility
• Panic exit devices to BS EN 1125 (push bars) where members of the public may use an escape door, or emergency exit devices to BS EN 179 (lever handles) where only staff who know the building will
• Locks, electric strikes or magnetic locks coordinated with the fire strategy, so doors on escape routes release when they need to
• Hold-open devices linked to the fire alarm, to BS EN 1155, where fire doors on busy routes need to stand open in normal use
• Mechanical durability: ask for the doorset's durability classification from cycle testing to BS EN 12400, not just its appearance

Commercial door accessibility: Approved Document M

In England, Approved Document M Volume 2 gives guidance on access to buildings other than dwellings, and the Equality Act 2010 places duties on service providers and employers. The points that most affect entrance doors are:

• Clear width: a minimum effective clear width of 1,000 mm for external doors to buildings used by the general public, measured past any door furniture that projects into the opening
• Opening force: where a door has a closer, the force at the leading edge should be no more than 30 N from closed to 30° open, and no more than 22.5 N from 30° to 60°
• Threshold: level wherever possible; where a raised threshold cannot be avoided, no more than 15 mm high in total, with any upstand over 5 mm chamfered
• Vision panels: door leaves across circulation routes should give a zone of visibility between 500 mm and 1,500 mm above floor level
• Manifestation: glazed doors and screens need markings so people can see them; Approved Document K recommends manifestation at two levels, 850 to 1,000 mm and 1,400 to 1,600 mm above floor level

Commercial door sizes

There is no standard commercial door size. Commercial aluminium doors are made to measure for each opening, and three things set the size: the minimum clear width for access in Approved Document M, the exit width the fire strategy needs, and the largest leaf the chosen system can make. Effective clear width is the usable opening with the door open, measured past any door furniture that projects into it, so it is always less than the leaf width.

Exit widths come from the fire strategy. Approved Document B Volume 2 relates the minimum width of escape routes and exits to the number of people using them, from 750 mm for up to 60 people to 1,050 mm for up to 220, so a busy entrance that is also a final exit may need a wider door, or a pair of doors, than access alone requires. Check the edition that applies to your project.

Fire doors on commercial buildings

Where a door sits in a compartment wall, a protected stair or a protected corridor, the fire strategy sets its fire resistance class, such as E30 or EI30, and whether it also needs smoke control. Fire doorsets are tested to BS EN 1634-1 and classified to BS EN 13501-2; smoke control is tested to BS EN 1634-3 and shown as Sa or S200 in the classification. The whole doorset, including glass, seals, hinges, closer and lock, has to match the tested configuration, so hardware should be chosen from the system's tested scope rather than added later.

Can an aluminium door be fire rated?

Yes, but only as a fire rated doorset: a door, frame, glass, seals and hardware from an aluminium system designed and tested for fire resistance to BS EN 1634-1, built and installed to its tested configuration. A standard aluminium entrance door is not a fire door, and fitting fire-resistant glass or intumescent seals to one does not make it one. Steel keeps its strength at higher temperatures than aluminium, which is one reason slim fire doors are often steel; fire rated aluminium doors suit projects where the door has to match aluminium screens and entrances around it. We supply both as fire rated aluminium and steel doors.

In steel, we supply Jansen Janisol 2 fire doors, thermally insulated and tested to EI30, with smoke control, panic and emergency exit, and burglar resistance options within the tested system scope. Our guide what is fire rated glazing explains E, EW and EI classes in more depth.

Security: PAS 24 and resistance classes

PAS 24 is the UK test standard for the enhanced security performance of doorsets and windows. Approved Document Q refers to it for new dwellings; commercial buildings are outside Approved Document Q, but PAS 24 is still widely used as a security benchmark, including by Secured by Design. Higher-risk entrances may be specified to a resistance class under BS EN 1627, such as RC2 or RC3, or to LPS 1175. Either way, the rating applies only to the tested configuration, so ask for the test evidence for the doorset being supplied.

The aluminium systems we work with include Aluprof MB-79N, with security configurations to RC3, and Aluprof MB-86N, which includes PAS 24 configurations. The security level for each door is confirmed against the system's test evidence at technical review.

Thermal performance and Part L

Approved Document L Volume 2 (2021 edition) sets limiting U-values for doors in new non-domestic buildings in England: 1.6 W/m²K for pedestrian doors, and a less demanding 3.0 W/m²K for high-usage entrance doors; check which edition applies to your project. An entrance lobby or automatic door helps reduce heat loss at the busiest entrances.

How to specify commercial aluminium doors

• Schedule each door by location and use: main entrance, escape door, fire door, service door or terrace door
• State traffic levels, leaf sizes and weights, and the opening direction and handing
• Set the performance for each door: weather performance to BS EN 14351-1 for external doors, fire and smoke class, security level, U-value and acoustic rating
• Write the hardware schedule alongside the door schedule, and coordinate thresholds with floor finishes and drainage so doors can be level and still weathertight
• Match frame systems and finishes to the curtain walling and glazed screens around the door, so the entrance reads as one design

At Prescot Street in Whitechapel we installed a full aluminium commercial door suite alongside the curtain walling; the main entrance has bronze-finish automatic double doors with glazed side panels. At Blackfriars in the City of London we fitted black aluminium bifold doors across the ground-floor commercial units.