The Schüco AD UP 75 is the front door most people mean when they say "aluminium front door with a Schüco frame." It's a residential entrance system built around a 75mm-deep aluminium profile with an enhanced thermal break, designed specifically for the entrance-door application — not a folding-door frame retrofitted with a door leaf.
Why entrance doors need a specific system
A front door is loaded differently to a bifold or a window. It's slammed, leaned on, and stands vertically bearing its own weight through two or three hinges for years. Systems designed for the entrance application — like the AD UP 75 — reinforce the parts of the frame that take that load, and use hardware rated for entrance-door duty cycles.
Thermal performance
The AD UP 75 achieves overall U-values from around 0.79 W/m²K in optimised configurations with insulated door leaves. In practical residential builds with typical glazing panels, expect Ud in the 1.0–1.3 W/m²K range. That's comfortably inside current Building Regulations for replacement doors, and inside Passivhaus territory in the higher-spec variants.
Security
The system is available with PAS 24 : 2016 and Secured by Design certification. Standard equipment includes:
- Multi-point locking with hooks and rollers.
- Anti-lift and anti-pick cylinder options.
- Reinforced hinges with concealed adjustment.
- Laminated inner glazing on any glass panels.
Panel designs
Schüco publishes a catalogue of standard front-door panel designs — solid, part-glazed, full-glazed, with vertical or horizontal grooves — and fabricators can also produce bespoke leaf designs. In editorial coverage of the UK market, the most-specified panels in the residential premium segment are the full-height narrow-vision-panel designs (a single vertical glazed strip alongside solid aluminium).
Colour and finish
Standard powder-coated RAL colours are included at no upcharge. Dual-colour finishes — for instance anthracite outside, white inside — typically add around 15–20% to the door cost. Textured finishes, wood-effect finishes, and non-standard RAL codes similarly add a specifiable premium.
Smart lock integration
The AD UP 75 accepts a range of smart lock retrofits. The most straightforward smart integration in the UK market is Kubu, which fits behind the existing multi-point lock and reports open/closed state to a phone app. That approach preserves the physical security of the multi-point mechanism — the smart layer is monitoring only, not the locking device itself.
For a fuller picture, see our companion piece on Schüco smart doors with Kubu.
Cost expectations
Installed cost for an AD UP 75 in a residential UK application:
| Specification | Approximate installed (ex-VAT) |
|---|---|
| Solid leaf, standard RAL colour, standard hardware | £3,800 – £5,200 |
| Part-glazed, dual colour, standard hardware | £4,800 – £6,500 |
| Full-glazed vision panels, dual colour, smart lock ready | £5,800 – £8,500 |
Sourcing near St Albans
The AD UP 75 is supplied and fitted through Schüco-authorised fabricators. 5EC Aluminium's front-doors range covers the AD UP 75 and comparable systems across the Hertfordshire area.
For manufacturer-level product datasheets, Schüco UK's residential entrance systems page lists all leaf designs and hardware options.
Editorial verdict
The AD UP 75 is the aluminium front door we'd specify by default for a St Albans property in the £4,000–£8,000 range. It clears every meaningful performance standard, it accepts modern smart-lock retrofits without compromising physical security, and it's supported by a mature UK fabricator network.