Shop fronts

(General information that may be helpful in planning a new shop front.)

The current trend in shop fronts is to minimize the framework and maximize the glass.

A frameless shop front with large expanses of glass maximizes exposure and attracts the best rent.

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Common questions.

What is the cost difference between frameless and aluminium framed?

This is probably the most asked question of all and the answer is not very complicated. Generally framed glass is cheaper, but not by a lot.

The reason is that framed is more labour intensive and frameless has more expensive material.

In the end, most new shop fronts are frameless because the tenants will pay more for the space and even in the short term, the small price difference is soon taken up.

The most expensive component is the door and many owners compromise here and use a framed door with the rest frameless. In some cases, this does not detract from the overall appearance and so, can be a good decision.

In other cases, like the lead photo at the top of the page, framed doors would be a disaster.

This example is used as an internal partition but works equally well as a shop front, especially for smaller tenancies. The approximate cost for this is $4000 with a concealed closer.

What is the effect of the Building Code of Australia (BCA)?Wind load, fins, half fin top supports, Safety glass.

The primary concerns are wind load and safety glazing. The safety aspect for human impact remains the same. This is normally addressed by using standard laminated or toughened glass.

There can be many ways to provide the necessary wind load component, from no requirement in a shopping centre to a high need facing the Coral Sea. Meeting the wind load can often be achieved simply by choosing the stronger toughened glass over the laminated. In addition, for frameless glass, it is common to use glass fins to provide stiffening behind the taller shop fronts. These fins need not always be full height as can be seen in the example below.

By far the most common choice is full height glass fins in preference to having an aluminium post every metre and a half.

In this example is frameless glass with frameless doors, note the stainless rail on the bottom of each door is holding the floor lock. The rial can be replaced with a stainless patch fitting if required.

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For one-on-one discussion ask for Justin Hughes, our most experienced designer and fitter.

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