The Origin Bifolding Door receives updates and upgrades

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Nick Dardalis

The Origin bifolding door is well established in the UK market, and has been for over 10 years.  From the outset the Origin door was a very well-engineered and designed British made product.  Updates to the first generation door have included colour coded gasket, the use of Q-Lon seals, colour and handle enhancements.

Origin Bifolding Doors are a £20m turnover business manufacturing bifolding doors and windows.

an origin entrance door in light oak wood effect finish
Locks, handles and the running gear fitted to bifolding doors must be of high quality to ensure reliability.

The product was originally designed by Neil Ginger and today, Neil and his team of R&D designers continue to innovate with their market leading aluminium bifolding door.

There are many different bifolding door systems on the market today but only Origin offer a 20 year guarantee on their product.

As a business, Origin report that 5% of turnover is invested in R&D. The company uses the latest in design and 3D printing technology to create test samples of their product. We saw the first 3D printer a few years ago when the first generation Origin Window was in development.

Does a bifolding door need “gimmicks’?

The Origin door has continued to be popular with homeowners and the number of Origin dealers also continues to grow year on year.

Having worked with the Origin door for several years and as an expert aluminium information resource we see many different bifolding door products.  In recent years some bifolding door providers have brought bifolding doors to market that offer something different from a typical folding and sliding product.  Examples include automatic bifolding doors, doors with zero thresholds, bifolding doors with “Z” type thresholds that follow the opening action of the leaf or bifolding doors that somehow open differently from the standard offering.

Origin certainly have the know how and resources to provide different types of doors if they so desired.  But rather than bring new incarnations of a bifolding door to market, it is better to improve an already successful product through better security, aesthetics and thermal performance.  This arguably gives more value to a customer than functions that a door may not necessarily need and features a customer may not want.

What are the upgrades to the Origin bifolding door?

Origin have focused on the critical element that makes their doors reliable and enables their bifolds to be offered with an industry leading guarantee of 20 years. That element is the hardware.  The already quality components have been improved and upgraded.

The Origin door new slave gearbox.

Origin have engineered the slave gearbox in such a way that excess weight is removed. The lack of excess weight when a bifolding door is opened is one important factor in ensuring the operation remains smooth.

This component has also undergone extensive cycle testing and exposure to contaminants such as salt.

The Origin fork and carriage assembly.

These are from solid cast components where other bifolding door products use multi components. The use of a solid cast section is regarded as stronger and more durable.

The fork component on the Origin door also has increased strength whilst being designed to need less force when the door is being opened. Additionally it has weather deflection in its design to ensure any wind and driving rain is diverted to the outside of the building.

Origin bifolding door carriage and wheels.

You will notice the carriage on most bifolding doors. The Origin component has also been updated to be stronger and more resilient. The wheels are manufactured from a higher grade metal and benefit from needle roller bearings. This helps the product be more reliable as well as having self lubricating properties.

The Origin door handles.

The latest improvements to the already attractive Origin door handles mean they are more ergonomic, have undergone extensive cycle testing and testing against forces when pulled.

These impressive upgrades to the hardware and design of the latest Origin bifolding door are welcomed and can only enhance an already successful product further.  These updates create a well engineered British made product and one that continues to remain market leading having a 20 year guarantee.