Thermally Broken Commercial Windows, Doors and Curtain Wall
Two thermally broken families for commercial and architectural work: the broad 10755 system and the heavy 160mm section. This page carries their tested numbers with the qualifiers attached — including two gaps we publish rather than paper over, and acoustic figures that are simulations, labelled as exactly that.
What we build in these systems
Our 10755 thermally broken system is the broadest — fixed lites, awnings, casements, sliding doors, stacker doors, open-in and open-out hinged doors, French doors, bi-fold sliding doors and curtain wall. Our 160mm thermally broken system is the heavy architectural one — fixed lites, awnings, hinged and French doors and stacker doors, including bi-parting stackers.
Energy performance against other commercial systems
Against systems in their own weight class the break does real work. Our 160mm thermally broken awning improves on the standard 10055 centre glazed awning by 1.1 to 1.2 across 29 shared glazing make-ups — 3.2 against 4.3 on the same Low-E unit. The 10755 improves on the 15055 centre glazed fixed by 0.7 to 0.9 across 34 make-ups.
Doors are worth particular attention as the largest single frames in a wall: the 10755 open-in hinged door certifies 0.7 to 0.9 better than our standard entry door on identical glass, reaching Uw 2.1 at its best; the thermally broken sliding door reaches 2.0.
Where the thermal break does and doesn't pay
One comparison we publish against our own interest: on the same residential-grade glass, the 160mm thermally broken awning beats a standard Comet awning by 0.0 to 0.2 — effectively nothing, because the deeper frame's glass-to-frame ratio eats the break's gain. Judge these systems against their weight class and by the certified number for your actual configuration, never by the words "thermally broken". The full like-for-like tables are on the pillar page.
Glazing options
Substantially thicker units than residential: 24, 26, 28, 30 or 32mm through the frame, 24 to 30mm in a sash bead, and a 24.76mm laminated option; the thermally broken sliding and hinged doors take 24 to 30mm. Double glazed only, across every certified rating we hold. One caveat we state openly: the glazing pages in these manuals are marked as still to be confirmed by the manufacturer, so we verify the pocket against the current specification before ordering glass.
Wind ratings and tested performance
Our thermally broken open-out hinged door is the strongest tested result we hold in any system: N5 general / N4 corner, 1200 Pa serviceability, 3000 Pa ultimate, 500 Pa water. The thermally broken awning-over-fixed tested N4 general / N3 corner at 2000 Pa ultimate. The open-in hinged door with side lite records N4 and N3 across two general-position conditions; the sliding door without subsill records a wide position-dependent spread, N4/N2 general and N3/N2 corner.
One gap, published deliberately: our test report for the 160mm stacker door records 2000 Pa ultimate but no wind class, no serviceability and no water figure. We won't borrow a class from a neighbouring system to fill it. Send us the site's classification and we'll tell you what we can certify.
Acoustic performance — simulated, not tested
For the 10755 system we hold simulated acoustic results — not laboratory tests: the awning models at Rw 30 to 36 depending on the unit, the sliding door one point lower at 29 to 35, with the top figures requiring an acoustic laminate. The reports themselves state that modelling can't guarantee in-practice performance and shouldn't be used directly for detailed design. If your project carries an acoustic planning condition, these figures must not go on a compliance certificate — we'd specify against laboratory-tested glazing data instead.
Sizes and configurations
Both systems take door panels up to 3250mm high — hinged and sliding in the 10755, stacker panels in the 160mm. Awning sashes in the 160mm follow stay capacity, up to 1800mm at 30kg on the largest stay. No maximum widths or panel weights are stated in our documentation, and these are heavy double glazed assemblies, so we size against hardware before quoting.