Younger Hall is the main venue for graduation ceremonies at the University of St Andrews, in Fife. The hall was recently renovated as part of a £12m project. In recent years, the university had created a mandatory technical specification for access control and electric locking. It was identified early on that electric magnetic locks and electric strikes were not secure methods of locking, and the Abloy EL560 product was introduced to the university, and has been installed ever since.
The Abloy EL560 lock is in use with single leaf doors. However, the uni has many double leaf entrance doors. As most of these doors are on an escape route, escapes needed to be considered, so panic bars were also introduced. The project had several requirements, including matching the traditional doors with non-fire and fire rated doors, besides compliant access control ironmongery.
The specification was challenging, as what might work from ironmongery and user perspectives may not offer the best lifespan of the doors. Due to the historic nature and design of the building, the university was not able to use the standard Abloy EL560 locks normally specified on campus for the external doors.
While the installer had to fit the cabling required for electric locks, the heritage aesthetic needed to be retained, and there was no standard size of any internal or external door. The external double leaf doors presented the most difficult part of the project, as they were narrow, and alternative options considered would not work.
Aspex worked with Johan Doors and Abloy to offer compliant installation on double doors that had a narrow leaf. Abloy proposed the PE590 motor lock with a PBE002 panic bolt. This configuration allows for the panic bar to be cut to suit the doors reduced width, as a compliant and safe solution.
Most of the doors in Younger Hall had been in place since the 1920s, and one side of the building was more exposed to sunlight. This had caused the doors on this side to drastically fade more than the other, and the doors which sat centrally were a darker tone.
The ironmongery specified also needed to meet building regulations, and practicality for everyday use, while considering the heritage surroundings and volume of people visiting. To get the correct finish, Johan Doors used solid walnut, and after several samples they found a stain to use on some locations with frames and detailed architrave. Johan Doors prepared the doors and supplied Abloy compliant satin brass levers to complement the walnut door finish, which were installed by Aspex along with the compliant Abloy locks.
As a heritage project, doors had to blend in. The design had to also allow for the positioning of panic bars or electric locks while mirroring the doors already in place, without compromising safety in terms of mounting heights and operation. Doors requiring electric locking had to be made to allow for electrical wiring from the Abloy lockcase through the centre of the door, into the concealed door loop and through the frame.
Although this is quite simple on a flush door, on a solid mortice and tenon door with joints and panels, quite a lot of detail and drawing is required ahead of manufacturing to ensure the longevity of the doorsets.
Louie Woodland, Director at Johan Doors Ltd, said: “We all wanted to give the best result for the contractor and end client, so being open minded was essential to working collaboratively, and pulling together to ask, ‘how do we get this done?’
“We have had great feedback from the Estates Project Manager in charge of the Younger Hall redevelopment. It’s a beautiful traditional building, and yet the heritage doors with modern technology does not look out of place. The need for heritage doors combined with technology has never been greater, so hopefully we can work with Aspex and Abloy again on similar projects in the future.”
Alan Thomson, Installation Manager at Aspex UK, added: “Aspex has been installing access control for the University of St Andrews for decades, and in that time the company has become adept at understanding what type of locks are tailored for each individual building. As Aspex currently have the maintenance contract for the access control and have had since 2007, we can categorially state that the Abloy products are by far the most versatile and the most reliable locks on the market. Working with Johan Doors on the Younger Hall project has been a great success which we hope to repeat.”
