Security grilles
Closing an opening where joinery cannot do it: shopfronts, entrances, warehouses, car parks.
A security grille is a way of closing and protecting an opening, fitted outside it or in its plane. It is used where a space has to be left open during opening hours and completely closed the rest of the time, or where an opening has to be protected without being turned into a wall.
It is not a single product but a family of construction versions. The choice is made project by project: what counts is the size of the opening, how much has to be visible through the grille when it is down, where it can gather when it is open and how often it is operated.
What it solves
An opening that has to be both open and closed
A grille is chosen when the same opening has to be completely clear part of the time and completely closed the rest.
Closing the opening
It covers the opening over its whole area without turning it into a fixed element. Raised or retracted, the opening remains fully usable.
Protecting the opening
It puts a metal element in front of the shopfront, the entrance or the service opening during the hours when the space is not in use.
Visibility, where it is required
The open-mesh versions leave the shopfront visible at night. The solid ones close off the view completely. The choice depends on how the space is used.
Ventilation, where it is required
On service openings and in spaces that have to stay ventilated, the open or perforated versions let the air through.
It retracts out of the field of view
Open, the grille gathers into the headbox or to the side, depending on the version, and frees the opening.
It matches the rest of the job
When it comes from the same supplier as the joinery, the finish and the details are settled together, not matched up afterwards.
Construction versions
How a grille can be built up
The versions below are the usual construction types. Which of them is right is settled project by project, according to the opening, the room available for retraction and the way it will be used.
Roller grille with open meshes
A curtain of bars and articulated links that coils into a headbox above the opening. It leaves the shopfront visible and lets the air through. The usual version in retail premises.
Roller grille with solid slats
The same coiling principle, but with a curtain of slats. It closes off the view completely; it can also be supplied with perforated slats, as a compromise between the two.
Extending grille, on a guide rail
An articulated structure that folds to the side, concertina-fashion, on a rail. Used where there is no room for a headbox above the opening.
Hinged or folding grille
Panels on hinges that swing open to the side. The solution for smaller openings and for situations where the grille is rarely operated.
Fixed grille
A panel fixed permanently in the opening, where it never has to be cleared: service openings, basement lights, ventilation outlets.
The finish
Galvanising, powder coating or both together, according to exposure and the look required. It is settled together with the construction version.
Operation
Manual or motorised
How it is operated depends on the construction version and on the system chosen. Not every make-up can be motorised, and on those that can, the control is settled before the work starts.
Manual
The solution for small openings and infrequent operation. It needs no electrical supply and does not depend on the mains.
Motorised, where the system allows
On the roller versions a motor takes over raising and lowering. It is the usual solution on large openings and wherever the grille is operated daily.
Control and access
A push button, a key, a remote or centralised control, depending on the system and on how the premises are managed.
Release when the power is off
On motorised systems a means of operation without power is provided. The particular arrangement depends on the system chosen and is settled at quotation stage.
Before the work starts
What we decide together
The actual opening
The measured dimensions, the structure the grille fixes to and the room available for the headbox or for retracting sideways.
How much has to be visible
A shopfront that stays visible at night, or complete closure. The decision changes the construction version, not just the finish.
How often it is operated
A grille opened and closed every day is chosen differently from one used rarely. The frequency decides whether motorisation is needed.
Exposure
The environment the grille stands in — a street, an industrial unit, an industrial area, near the sea — decides the finish and the anti-corrosion treatment.
Integration with the façade
The position in the opening, the way it is fixed and the colour are settled together with the rest of the job, so that the grille does not look like an afterthought.
The client’s requirements
Insurance requirements, the building’s regulations or the tenant’s own may dictate a particular make-up. We check them before proposing a solution.
Make-up
How much is visible through the grille
A grille is chosen first of all by how much of the enclosed space has to remain visible. That is where the type of infill, the weight and the operation all start.
Straight tubes
Links of straight tube, with open meshes. Maximum transparency: the shopfront stays visible at night too, and the grille reads as a regular grid.
Curved tubes
The same principle, with curved tubes. The mesh has a different pattern and the structure is stiffer across its width.
Perforated slats
They close the opening but let light and air through the perforations. The middle way between a visible shopfront and complete closure.
Solid slats
Complete closure, with no visibility. Used where only protecting the opening matters, not displaying the goods.
Transparent slats
Links with an acrylic insert, for shopfronts that have to stay fully visible after closing time.
Material and dimensions
Galvanised steel construction. The manufacturer does not work to standard sizes: the grille is made to the measured opening, and the limits are settled case by case.
A metal roller grille is not the same thing as an aluminium external roller shutter. The shutter has a curtain of solid or perforated slats and its main purpose is shading; the grille has open meshes or links and its main purpose is closing and protecting the opening, with visibility retained.
Colours and finishes
The grille palette
The grille is made in galvanised steel. Over the zinc layer, the visible parts can be coated in the colour the project calls for.
Operation and automation
From a crank handle to a scene
The operation is chosen before manufacture: it changes the make-up of the barrel, the electrical runs and, sometimes, the size limits. Below are the versions we fit on this type of product.
No power — mechanical operation
Counterbalance springs
They balance the weight of the grille and allow it to be operated without a motor. They are also fitted as a fallback on motorised grilles.
Switch control — wired motorisation
Tubular motor
Fitted inside the barrel, for grilles where the space at the sides is tight.
Side-mounted motor
Fitted to the side of the barrel, for large or heavy grilles, where the torque required exceeds what a tubular motor can deliver.
Radio control — motors with a radio receiver
Remote control
Radio control, the usual version for shopfronts opened and closed every day.
Wall push button and key switch
A fixed control, visible or key-operated, where operation must stay with authorised staff.
Grilles are not catalogue products: the operation is sized on the actual grille, by its weight and by how often it is used. Photocells and a safety edge are specified at order stage.
Control technologies
What RTS, io and TaHoma mean
Three levels, in increasing order: a wall switch, a radio remote and a unit that ties everything into a scene. They can be added later, but the motor has to be chosen from the outset for the level wanted.
Wired control
A switch wired directly to the motor. The simplest and the cheapest solution, but it needs an electrical run at every opening and does not centralise easily.
Somfy RTS
One-way radio at 433.42 MHz, with a rolling code and 16 million combinations. The command is transmitted three times, to be sure of arriving. Somfy declares a range of 20 m through two concrete walls or 200 m in the open. The motor carries out the command but does not confirm it.
Somfy io-homecontrol®
Two-way radio: the motor confirms what it has done and reports its position. It scans three frequencies between 868 and 870 MHz and picks the free one, and the communication is encrypted on 128 bits. The same declared range as RTS.
SIMU-Hz and SIMU-BHz
SIMU’s own radio, with the receiver built into the motor or separate. The BHz range also works in the 868–870 MHz band. It is used where the motorisation is SIMU.
Somfy TaHoma
The unit that ties the equipment into a single app: remote control, groups, timed programmes and scenes. Somfy has supplied it since 2008 and declares compatibility with over 280 products, including through the io-homecontrol® partners’ protocols.
Control points
Smoove wall switches, Situo and Telis remotes, Nina io and Nina Timer io screens. Roller shutters are routinely operated from a Smoove or a Situo remote, and io systems can be added to TaHoma.
Sensors — the automation that works on its own
Sun sensor
It lowers the shading when the radiation passes the set threshold and raises it when the radiation falls. Somfy lists Sunis io Wirefree in the io range and Soliris RTS, which combines sun and wind, in the RTS range. SIMU has an external sun sensor in the BHz range.
Wind sensor
It retracts the system before the wind loads it. Somfy lists Eolis RTS, Eolis 3D io and Eolis Wirefree io. It has to be discussed on screens and awnings, where the fabric is the exposed part.
Temperature sensor
Thermis io measures the temperature and can start the shading before the room heats up. It works on the same io network as the rest of the equipment.
The sensors and the control units are chosen to match the motor’s technology: an io sensor does not control an RTS motor, or the other way round. Which is why the technology is settled together with the motor, not after installation.
A professional note
The particular system is settled at design stage
Security grilles are not a catalogue product with a single data sheet: the make-up, the maximum dimensions, the type of operation and any declared classes differ from one system to another and from one manufacturer to another.
That is why you will not find maximum dimensions, material thicknesses, resistance classes or motor ratings on this page. We settle the right system at quotation stage, on the actual opening and on the way the space is used, and record in the project documentation the values declared by the manufacturer of the system chosen.
Technical details
The data sheet comes with the system chosen
The maximum dimensions, the declared classes, the profile sections and the drive data belong to the particular system and to the configuration ordered. We settle them at quotation stage and send them to you with the manufacturer’s documentation.
Technical documentation
Do you need the data sheet?
Tell us the dimensions of the openings and the type of installation. We will send you the data sheet for the right system, for the configuration you are interested in.
Applications
Where they are used
- Shopfronts and retail spaces
- Building entrances
- Industrial units and warehouses
- Car parks
- Service openings
- Basement lights
- Industrial buildings
- Refurbishment
Next step
Do you have an opening that has to be closed and protected?
Send us the dimensions of the opening and photographs of the area, together with how the space is used. We will come back with the right construction version and a quotation.
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