Spitfire's New S-700 Pivot Doors Look Damn Sexy

When it comes to luxury in the UK fenestration market, the entrance door sector has that absolutely on lock. In a few short years we have seen the range, quality and designs of high-end entrance doors skyrocket. There are some seriously sexy doors out there on the market right now, and Spitfire, part of KAT, have released a brand new iteration of their already stunning entrance doors. The S-700 Pivot Door.

It’s damn sexy.

The S-700 Pivot Door

Take a look at these gorgeous designs:

I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but for me, these are absolutely stunning. Not that Spitfire has many poor door designs across their whole range anyway. But these are particularly beautiful door designs. If you go to the S-700 page on their website there is a gallery of even more door designs to browse though. Follow this link: http://www.spitfiredoors.co.uk/s-700-pivot-doors/

You can have the best locks, best hardware, best energy efficiency, best lead times. For a home owner though, if you have the best design, this is perhaps now the most valuable USP to any product. Spitfire will say that the pivot feature of these doors is a big deal, and yes, it is one of the main USPs of this product, but these doors also stand out from so many others because of their designs. Spitfire’s design department really does a fantastic job in creating their door designs.

Focusing back to the mechanics of the door though, the main feature is of course it’s pivot. It does serve two purposes. The pivot allows much of the opening space to be used. Useful for people who want to bring furniture or other large objects in and out of that entrance…carefully of course, these won’t be cheap doors! It also creates that sense of grandeur and spectacle every time to door is opened. A bit like gullwing doors on cars but less gimmicky and far more classy.

Of course these are feature doors. Doors designed to be installed on properties at the very highest end of the residential market. I cannot see these being fitted to an end terrace or three bed semi. These are doors aimed at the self-builders, architects and those with a home that can pull off a door like this. Then again, I don’t think Spitfire would mind that. They are a company aimed at a certain demographic, and the S-700 Pivot door is certainly aimed at the more affluent out there.

So what else do we know about these doors?

The spec

Here are some of the S-700 Pivot door’s important technical detail:

• Min. width 1400mm / min. height 2200mm

• Max width 2000mm / max height 3000mm

• Frame + sash depths 113mm

• 3mm Aluminium walls

• Standard lock is five point – upgrades available

• Integrated recessed external handle (with LED option)

• Pivot mechanisms (has) have adjustable pins

• UD value of 1.5 W/m2k (w/m2k)

• Class 3 air tightness

• Class 1A water tightness

• C5 wind load resistance

• Soundproof to 34db

• Internal opening

• Auto-drop base weatherseal

• Fingerprint entry option

Those maximum sizes, should one of these pivot doors to be made to those sizes, should make for one rather impressive entrance to a home. In fact, the S-700 is now on my list of products I want in our home for when we finally get round to planning our own self-build.

The sound, water tightness and wind loads of these doors are pretty good. I don’t think heat loss or storms are going to prove much of a worry for the product. It’s also worth noting that products at the higher end of our industry are also making a point of things like wind loading and water tightness. In a world full of WERs and ever decreasing U-Values, suppliers are looking for more and more USPs to show off.

At 113mm thick, these are hefty doors. Some thought will have to be taken when retro-fitting these to existing homes. There may be a fair bit of plaster chopping required to make these fit if any existing frames are shallower than this. On a new-build it should be less of a problem. Still, if you’re going to be fitting these, have a good breakfast before the installation starts!

I also like the tech included in the S-700 doors. I personally like the design touch of rebated door handles with LED lights. I saw these on another door system at the FIT Show earlier this year and they really did look cool. I also like the idea of fingerprint entry. When you’re going to pay what I assume to be thousands for one of these doors, you would expect something like this to be available with the door and for it to be reliable.

I haven’t been able to get in front of one of these, or get some printed literature in front of me, so this is a review based on the information and images available on the Spitfire website. But, on the face of it, this appears to be a very polished, high-end, aspirational addition to the world of entrance doors that will only continue to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with entrance doors in this country.

It was once said, including by myself, that we were a good decade or two behind other European countries when it came to fenestration products. Well, with door products like these, I don’t think we’re that far behind any more.