Improve Hygiene and energy efficiency with dormakaba entrance systems

Increased importance on maintaining hygiene and improving energy efficiency are becoming ever greater influencers on building design and ongoing management. Choosing the right entrance system can play an important role in helping to minimise physical contact while reducing energy consumption through efficient operation and minimal cold air ingress. Here we explore with Tim Checketts, Head of Specification at dormakaba, explore entrance solutions that can answer both requirements for building owners to consider.

Energy-saving products for buildings are the trend of the future with benefits ranging from financial savings to seeing reductions in the building’s respective carbon footprint – by selecting products that require less energy in use, buildings can limit their impact on the environment. Increasingly, responsible business practices and environmentally friendly products are required by the building industry, customers, partners, legislators, and end-users.

Another key focus for many public sector buildings is balancing the need to operate as conventionally and conveniently as possible, whilst also ensuring government guidelines on hygiene and social distancing are maintained. This includes reducing the number of common contact points and frequently touched areas, as a way of limiting the spread of germs and viruses.

From this perspective, entrance and exit points are key areas to consider for many architects and building owners, particularly if the building uses manual swing or revolving doors.

However, it is very simple for these access points to be upgraded to a touch-free solution. For example, manual swing doors can be converted to automatic operation by simply replacing the standard door closers with automatic swing door operators and installing the required sensors. This is an ideal solution for entry and exit systems as not only does this minimise the contact points, but it also improves the accessibility of the building.

Similarly, for internal sliding doors, a simple upgrade can transform these into automatic sliding doors, with an efficient and virtually silent, magnetically driven operation.

For a hygienic, contactless alternative for push pad doors, a contact free, microwave sensor uses microwave detection to activate the door when the user simply moves their hand in front of the sensor. An ideal solution for low energy doors, this device is easy to use for all, including anyone with limited mobility,

Standard fire door closers can also be replaced with electro-magnetic hold-open or free-swing door solutions. This allows doors to remain open during regular use to limit contact with the door surfaces and ideal where there is heavy foot flow. These closures will automatically close the door upon activation of a fire alarm or in the event of a power failure. This will ensure the doors will still function as designed in the event of a fire, to minimise the spread of flames and smoke and therefore guarantees that occupant safety and compliance with relevant building legislation will still be maintained.

Local authorities are under immense pressure to implement the necessary steps to minimise infection and maintain hygiene across their estates but there are simple solutions that can not only offer touch-free access control, but also improve accessibility and overall level of security of the building. However, compliance of building regulations, such as fire safety is critical, so it is important that authorities understand the potential impact of any access system on other areas. As such, it is prudent to work with a trusted manufacturer that can help advise on finding the right solution that meets all criteria.

dormakaba underlines their contribution to increasing energy efficiency consequently improving the sustainability of buildings with the ST FLEX Green sliding door which , complies with the latest energy saving regulations for England and Wales, and acts as a highly energy efficient product by helping to reduce CO2 emissions by reducing energy and heating costs.

Products such as the dormakaba KTV revolving doors deliver energy savings of over 60% in operation and over 90% when on standby, compared with a traditional revolving door. Tested to EN 16005 and tested and certified up to 2 million cycles, it allows an efficient and safe flow of people, as well as low energy consumption in use and reductions in temperature exchange, noise and dust.

The dormakaba energy-saving portfolio also includes the FFT FLEX GREEN that provides for a maximum clear opening width of 2.4m in tight spaces, offers outstanding thermal separation and a quiet, dynamic operation with enhanced wind load resistance. It is particularly suited to emergency exits and escape routes.

Global entrance systems provider dormakaba, is running a series of webinars on this topic. To find out more about this, as well as dedicated architectural consultancy, please visit: https://www.dormakaba.com/gb-en/specification