Bespoke Glazing and Bi-Folding Doors for The Motorist, York

Bespoke bi-folding doors from Solarlux are used to great effect to showcase the impressive interior of a unique automotive venue between York and Leeds.

The Motorist is an outstanding destination for people to come together and share their appreciation of modern and vintage cars and vehicles. With a specialist garage and bodyshop alongside a themed restaurant and café, the site in Sherburn in Elmet is the perfect place for car enthusiasts. It features a number of event spaces for meetings and activities, and hosts classic car shows, supercar days and meet-ups that attract nearly a thousand people at a time.

There's also a recently-opened store selling a range of gifts, merchandise, car care products, and artisan food and drink - all presented in a quirky way on metal stands with a vintage car on the top of each.

We’ve installed five sets of bi-folding doors in various stages at The Motorist as the site has developed over the last few years. It’s been a pleasure to be part of this exciting ongoing project and to provide and install some really fantastic glazing that complements the modern, sleek and spacious feel of this superb venue.

The Arnage at The Motorist

The Motorist’s restaurant caters for the main dining area downstairs as well as a corporate upstairs lounge and three private dining rooms. Named The Arnage after a legendary corner at Le Mans, it’s headed up by Ian Matfin, a chef who has worked alongside the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc. The restaurant’s design reflects the motoring passions of its guests. Vintage cars are parked between tables, dining chairs are styled as stitched leather car seats and car memorabilia and artwork adorn the walls.

The glazing

A combination of custom-made Solarlux and Reveal Aluminium glazing was used to fulfil the aesthetic and practical requirements of The Motorist as a go-to destination for car enthusiasts.

For The Arnage restaurant, we installed four sets of 2.5m-high aluminium bi-folding doors from our Reveal Aluminium Vista Plus range, manufactured at our factory in Leeds. These three-pane and five-pane doors in a fine structure (textured) anthracite grey colour stretch across the whole ground floor width of the gable end of the building, creating an expansive view into the stunning interior space as people draw up to the car park outside. There is also another set at the junction between the restaurant and the store, complete with flush floor track to ensure no trip hazard.

Bi-fold doors stretch across the whole width of The Arnage restaurant.

Twelve months later, when we returned to carry out the aftercare on those doors, we also supplied and installed a set of five-pane Solarlux Highline bi-folding doors in the remodelled café area which now acts as the new store.

Solarlux Highline bi-folding doors

These premium bi-folds offer the scope to reach heights that are rarely achieved on the market, with maximum pane sizes possible up to 3.5m high and ultra-thin sightlines of 99mm.

The Solarlux Highline bi-folds at the launch event for The Store.

The light, space and unhindered views to the outdoors that this Highline offers were a key plus point for the glazing choice at The Motorist. It allows the aperture to be fully opened up, showcasing the fantastic interior space from the outside looking in. It also offers the flexibility for vehicles, forklifts and other motorised tools to easily be manoeuvred in and out of the space. The flush, watertight threshold is also essential in this respect. As with the doors in The Arnage, these bi-folds were manufactured in a fine structure (textured) anthracite grey colour.

The green oak structure of The Arnage and The Store had to be taken into consideration when planning and installing the glazing. This kind of timber expands and contracts as it retains moisture from the atmosphere, so real timber noggins and pegs were used in the fixtures to ensure allowance for movement (see centre image below).

The full package

As well as being a Solarlux partner, here at Reveal we are a well-established manufacturer of aluminium and alu-clad timber doors and windows. We also have our own in-house installers who have been trained and developed according to our high and exacting standards. This means we have the technical expertise and manufacturing capabilities to offer the full glazing package for your project.

Why is this important? If you're looking to create a unique space using a bespoke Solarlux glazing solution, we have the knowledge and experience to ensure it is specified, designed, manufactured and installed to perfection. In addition, we can custom manufacture all the other glazing components needed to complement your Solarlux glass system such as windows, roof lanterns, curtain walling and balustrades.

We'll look at your project as a whole and use our knowledge to look at the critical items in terms of design, interfaces, U values, usability, wind loads and a range of other considerations to create glazing solutions that fulfil your vision and are technically correct. This can be particularly useful for complex designs.

Add to this our attention to detail and we offer an immaculate finish with all the glazing components within your space working in harmony with each other to produce stunning aesthetics and outstanding functionality.

And even better, as your sole glazing supplier and installer, we help save any confusion about who to contact should you need anything before, during or after your project. From advising on design and practicalities, to ironing out any unexpected challenges, and right through to the warranty and after-service, we really do offer the full glazing package for your project.