Manual Doors
Aluminium & Glass Shopfronts
Glazed aluminium doorsets, screens and complete shopfronts — supplied, installed, serviced and repaired for retail and office frontages.
Aluminium & glass shopfronts
The frontage that sells the building
The shopfront is the handshake: an aluminium-framed glazed entrance is how retail units, cafés, offices and showrooms look open, let light through and still lock up hard at night. Powder-coated aluminium takes the daily traffic that would destroy timber, carries toughened double glazing safely, and comes in any RAL colour the brand needs. Avanti Doors supplies, installs, services and repairs aluminium doorsets, screens and complete shopfronts across East Anglia and the London corridor.
Where they fit
Retail units, cafés, offices and showrooms
Anywhere the public walks in, the glazed aluminium frontage is the standard answer: high-street retail, food and drink, salons, estate agents, office receptions and showrooms. The frame carries the glass; the glass does the selling. Because the system is modular — doors, side screens, transoms, glazing — it adapts from a single replacement leaf to a complete new elevation like the frontage, doors and window we installed at Polegate.
The details decide how the entrance lives: toughened double-glazed units and mid-rails where trolleys and feet will test them, hook locks and flush bolts for real overnight security, and wide double-ramped thresholds that keep the doorway step-free — the same specification we fitted at The Parlour on Bishopsgate, where the manual doorset was designed to carry automation. That is worth knowing at the start: a well-specified aluminium doorset can graduate to an automatic entrance as the site's traffic grows, and a security shutter can guard the glass overnight.
Before specification
What the shopfront survey establishes
Doorset, screens, glazing, locking and threshold are specified as one elevation around the brand, the traffic and the building.
Doorset and screen together
Most frontages are a system — door leaf, side screens, transoms and glazing working as one elevation. Measuring and specifying them together is what makes the finished frontage look intentional.
Glazing and safety
Toughened or laminated double-glazed units, mid-rails where impact protection is sensible, and safety marking on full-height glass are specified to the traffic and the setting.
Locking and hardware
Hook locks to the master leaf, flush bolts to slaves, pad handles or pull handles, and closers matched to exposure — secure at night, effortless all day.
Thresholds and access
Wide double-ramped thresholds remove the trip point and keep the entrance wheelchair and buggy friendly — and the doorset can be automated later if the site's traffic grows.
Common questions
Aluminium shopfront FAQs
Quick answers for owners and shopfitters planning frontage work.
1Why aluminium rather than uPVC or timber for a commercial frontage?
Strength-to-slimness and lifespan: aluminium frames carry big glass with thin sightlines, shrug off commercial traffic, do not warp or swell, and hold a powder-coat finish for years. uPVC struggles with heavy daily use; timber needs constant care on an exposed frontage. For customer-facing commercial entrances aluminium is the default for good reason.
2Can you match our brand colours?
Yes — frames are polyester powder coated to RAL colours, so the frontage can match the brand or the building. Dual-colour finishes (one colour outside, another inside) are also available.
3Can an aluminium shopfront door be automated later?
Usually, yes — a sound aluminium doorset can take a swing operator, or the frontage can be reconfigured for a sliding automatic entrance. Several of our automation projects started exactly this way; if automation is likely, saying so at specification lets us prepare the doorset for it.
4Do you replace just the door, or the whole shopfront?
Either. A tired leaf can often be replaced within a sound frame and screen; where the whole elevation has had its day, we renew the complete shopfront — as with the aluminium frontage, doors and window we installed at Polegate. The survey tells you honestly which spend the frontage actually needs.
Shopfront support
Renew the frontage without closing the shop
From a replacement leaf to a complete new elevation — surveyed, manufactured to size and installed around trading hours, with out-of-hours fitting available.
- Support scope
- Doorsets, screens and full shopfronts
- RAL powder-coat colour matching
- Toughened DGUs and secure locking
- Out-of-hours installation available
Documented work
Recent shopfront projects
These project pages describe the actual equipment, site and work completed.
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