Reception automatic doors are the part of a building everyone touches – or rather, the part nobody should have to touch. This Pretoria office needed a smart, low-maintenance main entrance that presented well and handled daily staff traffic without a handle in sight.
Location: Pretoria, Gauteng | Sector: Commercial office | Scope: Automatic sliding entrance
The solution
We supplied and installed an automatic sliding glass door and aluminium shopfront, delivering a bright, glass-forward entrance with reliable hands-free operation and quiet, controlled closing.
What makes reception automatic doors feel right
A good reception entrance is one nobody notices. It opens early enough that no one breaks stride, stays open long enough for the person behind, and closes without slamming or hesitating – all of which is commissioning rather than hardware.
Speed, hold-open time and closing force are adjustable on the operator and set once the door is installed and the real approach path is known. It is the difference between an entrance that feels considered and one that feels twitchy.
Low maintenance, on purpose
Powder-coated aluminium was specified for the frame because it does not rust, does not need painting, and cleans up with a wash – which matters on a frame that gets touched, knocked and cleaned constantly in a commercial lobby.
Safety, sensors and compliance
Any automatic entrance runs unattended, so the safety devices matter as much as the operator itself. Presence and motion sensors hold the door open while somebody is still in the opening, safety beams guard the closing edge, and hold-open time and closing speed are set on commissioning to suit the traffic. Glazing in and around a door is a recognised human-impact position, so the glass specification should be confirmed against the applicable South African standards – see the South African Bureau of Standards, or our glazing compliance centre for a plain-English summary.
Keeping reception automatic doors running
An entrance that opens hundreds of times a day is a mechanical system and needs to be treated like one. Sensors drift out of alignment, floor tracks collect grit, and operators need periodic adjustment. We install these systems and can keep them serviced afterwards, which is what keeps a busy entrance reliable rather than becoming the thing everyone complains about.
Why it works
- Professional, glass-forward entrance for a corporate look
- Touch-free access for staff and visitors
- Low-maintenance powder-coated aluminium frame
- Adjustable speed and hold-open to suit the traffic
Specifying an office entrance?
If you need reception automatic doors for an office building or lobby, we can survey the opening and set the operator up for your traffic. See our automatic sliding doors page or browse other completed projects.
Which door type suits the opening
Traffic and wall space decide the layout for Corporate Office, Pretoria — automatic entrance doors. Single sliding is the everyday shopfront answer; bi-parting halves the travel and handles the busiest public entrances; telescopic stacks the leaves where there is not enough wall to park them; and a swing operator automates a hinged door you already have.
- MC-125 sliding: single leaf to 150 kg, or bi-parting 2 × 120 kg, openings 1450–5000 mm.
- MCW-100 swing: existing hinged doors to 1,200 mm / 150 kg (interdependent).
- Tested to one million operating cycles, 2-year manufacturer warranty on the operator.
Survey and specification for Corporate Office, Pretoria — automatic entrance doors
A survey for Corporate Office, Pretoria — automatic entrance doors is short but specific: structural opening width and height, the condition and support of the head, what runs above the ceiling line, the power position, and how people actually approach the doorway. Those notes become the specification, and they are also what makes two quotations comparable instead of guesswork.
Keeping Corporate Office, Pretoria — automatic entrance doors working through a power cut
South African entrances have to answer a question most overseas specifications ignore. An optional battery backup keeps the operator running through a slot; without one, the door should be set to fail open or fail secure to suit the building, with a manual release your staff know how to use. If card readers, intercoms or a time clock are wanted, specify them now rather than cutting into a finished ceiling later.
What lifespan should I expect?
Cycles matter more than years. The MC-125 is tested to one million operating cycles; how long that lasts depends on the traffic the doorway carries and whether it is serviced on interval.
Which glass comes as standard?
6.38 mm laminated safety glass, with powder-coated framing in the finish that suits the frontage.
What to send us for a quote
A useful quotation needs very little: the structural opening width and height, a photograph of the doorway taken square-on, a note of what is above the opening, and a rough idea of daily traffic. Tell us whether access control or a battery backup is wanted and the quote comes back complete rather than caveated.
- Structural opening width and height in millimetres.
- A square-on photograph of the doorway and what sits above it.
- Rough daily traffic, including deliveries.
- Whether access control, intercom or battery backup is wanted.
- Any deadline the entrance has to meet.
Accessibility and everyday use
A powered entrance is the most reliable way to make a doorway usable by somebody with a pram, a wheelchair, crutches or an armful of shopping. Hold-open time is set so that a slower user is through before the door begins to close, and presence detection keeps it open for anyone who stops in the opening. Those settings are chosen for the people who actually use the building rather than left at factory defaults.
Estimating the traffic honestly
One cycle is one open-and-close, so a doorway used by 400 people a day is not doing 400 cycles — it is doing far more once deliveries, staff and trolleys are counted. Estimating that number before ordering is what separates an entrance that lasts from one that needs a call-out every few months, because the operator, the sensors and the service interval are all chosen against it.
Can the hold-open time be changed?
Yes — it is adjustable at commissioning and afterwards, which is how sites run a longer hold during deliveries and a shorter one at quiet times.
Can access control be added later?
It can, but cabling into a finished ceiling costs more than specifying it with the door. Readers, push buttons, intercoms and time clocks are all straightforward at installation stage.
Reception automatic doors in short
If you are pricing reception automatic doors, send the structural opening sizes and a photograph and we will specify the system, the sensors and the glass against the traffic the doorway really carries. Reception automatic doors are supplied, installed and serviced by one team, with spares held locally.
Ask us about reception automatic doors and we will confirm the opening, the power supply and the traffic flow before quoting a fixed price.
Reception automatic doors at a glance
- Pricing for reception automatic doors follows the opening width, the glass and the sensor layout.
- Ask us to confirm the opening before ordering reception automatic doors.
- Every enquiry about reception automatic doors gets a written specification, not a verbal estimate.
How a reception automatic doors installation actually runs
Every entrance starts with a site survey rather than a catalogue number. We measure the structural opening, check what the floor and lintel will carry, look at how people actually approach the doorway, and confirm the power supply position. Only then does the operator get specified, because the same opening can need a different unit depending on traffic, exposure and how wide the clear opening has to be.
The frame and glazing are then manufactured to the confirmed sizes, delivered, and installed. Commissioning is the step that gets skipped most often elsewhere and matters most: opening speed, closing speed, hold-open time and sensor coverage are all set on site, with the door running, against the real approach path rather than a default profile. It is the step that separates reception automatic doors that feel effortless from ones everybody in the building complains about.
What we need to know to quote
Most of the quoting delay on reception automatic doors comes from missing information rather than complexity. If you can give us these up front, we can usually come back quickly:
- The structural opening width and height, measured rather than estimated
- Roughly how many people pass through on a busy day
- Whether the opening is internal, or exposed to weather and wind
- Any landlord, centre-management or fit-out specification that applies
- Whether an existing frame is being replaced or it is a new opening
If you are not sure on any of it, a site visit sorts it out faster than a drawing exchange – and it avoids the most expensive mistake in this trade, which is an operator specified for the wrong duty and replaced a year later. Specified properly at the start, reception automatic doors should run for years with nothing more than servicing.
