"What size locker do I need?" is really three questions: how big each compartment is, how many compartments you want in a column, and how many columns you bolt together. Get those three right and the overall footprint takes care of itself. This guide sets out the standard locker sizes and dimensions used in the UK, what each step up actually costs, and where the two different size grids — metric and imperial — catch people out.
The standard locker height: 1800 mm, or 1780 mm
Almost every full-height commercial locker sold in the UK is roughly 1.8 metres tall, and ours are no exception. The Probe metric range is 1800 mm tall. The imperial range is 1780 mm — 70 inches. That 20 mm difference sounds trivial and usually is, but it matters if you are adding a bank alongside existing lockers and want the tops to line up, or if you are fitting under a low soffit.
Height is the one dimension you generally do not choose. What you choose is how that 1800 mm is divided.
The two size grids, and why they do not match
Locker compartments are quoted as width × depth. There are two conventions in circulation in the UK and they are three to seven millimetres apart, which is exactly enough to cause confusion:
| Metric grid | Imperial grid | Imperial in inches |
|---|---|---|
| 300 mm | 305 mm | 12" |
| 380 mm | 381 mm | 15" |
| 450 mm | 457 mm | 18" |
So a "300 mm locker" and a "305 mm locker" are the same locker in two measurement systems, not two different products. The combinations we stock are 300×300, 300×380, 300×450, 380×380, 380×450 and 450×450 mm in metric, and 305×305, 305×381, 305×457, 381×381, 381×457 and 457×457 mm in imperial. Depth is always equal to or greater than width — there is no shallow-but-wide compartment in the range.
A practical read on the three widths: 300 mm takes a coat, a bag and a pair of boots; 380 mm takes a bulky coat, a helmet or a small rucksack without crushing anything; 450 mm is for full PPE sets, sports kit or anything with a rigid case. Depth follows the same logic — 300 mm deep is fine for a day bag, 450 mm deep swallows a hard hat and a lunchbox side by side.
Door count is the real size decision
Once the compartment footprint is set, the number of doors in the 1800 mm column decides everything else: compartment height, how many people the bank serves, and — by a long way — the cost per person. Taking the single-width Vision Panel 300 mm flat-top lockers, which run from one door to six in the same shell:
| Doors | Price from | Cost per compartment | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 door | £324.04 | £324.04 | Full-height hanging space, one user |
| 2 door | £369.17 | £184.59 | Coats and long items, two users |
| 3 door | £393.98 | £131.33 | Folded clothing and bags |
| 4 door | £417.88 | £104.47 | Day storage, bags and personal effects |
| 6 door | £505.60 | £84.27 | Valuables, phones, daily-use turnover |
A six-door locker costs 3.8 times less per compartment than a one-door locker in the same footprint — £84.27 against £324.04 — because you are paying for one carcass, one floor and one roof either way. The doors are cheap; the box is not. If your users only need somewhere to put a bag and a coat, going from one door to four cuts the cost per person by 68% and takes up exactly the same floor area.
That is the single most useful piece of arithmetic in locker specification, and it is why allocated full-height lockers are an expensive default. Our staff and workplace lockers buying guide works through the allocated-versus-daily-use decision that sits behind it.
Nest width: single, double, triple
Columns are joined into banks that share internal carcass walls, which saves both floor space and money. We stock single, double and triple width nests, plus a wide format range at 380 and 450 mm.
Two things worth knowing before you build a floor plan:
- Single-width lockers only exist in the Vision Panel range. The standard metric and imperial ranges start at double width. If you need one isolated column with a solid door, that is a gap in the range worth checking with us before you design around it.
- Beyond the first nest, price is close to linear. Across the standard metric range at 300 × 300 mm, the 10-door double width works out at £52.89 per compartment and the 10-door triple width at £54.05; the 6-door and 8-door triples land at £55.04 and £55.11. The economy of scale is captured almost entirely by nesting the first two columns — a third column saves floor space, not money.
What a bigger compartment actually costs
Stepping up the footprint is much better value than most buyers expect, because the carcass grows but the doors, locks and hinges do not change. On the 10-door flat-top double-width locker:
- 300 × 300 mm — £1,057.87 (90,000 mm² per compartment)
- 380 × 380 mm — £1,212.35: 60% more compartment area for 14.6% more money
- 450 × 450 mm — £1,330.68: 125% more area for 25.8% more money
One catch: the range is split across two listings, so the 380 and 450 mm footprints are not in the dropdown of the 300 mm product. Look for the 380/450 mm listing separately rather than assuming the larger sizes are unavailable.
Flat top or sloping top — and what it costs
A sloping top stops people storing boxes, coats and rubbish on the roof of the bank, which is the usual reason changing rooms look untidy and the usual reason dust collects. A flat top gives you a usable surface and a squarer look, and is slightly easier to fit under a shelf or a run of pipework.
The price difference is a constant. Across the Vision Panel 300 mm range the sloping top adds £24.76 to £24.78 regardless of door count — the same flat premium we see across the PowerBox charging range. Because it is a flat sum rather than a percentage, it is 7.6% on a one-door locker and 4.9% on a six-door; on a large bank it is close to noise. Decide it on housekeeping, not on budget.
Door type: solid, vision panel or perforated
All three share the same carcass, the same cold-rolled steel, the same Type A cam lock as standard, reinforced doors with ventilation slots and a coat hook in every compartment. The door is what changes:
- Solid — the default, in the standard metric and standard imperial ranges.
- Vision panel — reinforced acrylic set in a powder-coated steel surround, so contents can be checked without unlocking. The answer where contraband control or safety checks matter.
- Perforated — laser-cut perforated steel doors for constant airflow, with a solid carcass and floor. The right choice for wet or damp clothing, used PPE, gym kit and swimming costumes. Standard ventilation slots dry a coat; perforated doors dry a wetsuit.
Every range comes in three carcass colours and seven door colours, so colour is not a size decision — but colour-coding by shift, department or size class is the cheapest wayfinding you will ever buy.
What we do not stock
Being straight about the gaps saves everyone time. Our locker range is steel only, manufactured by Probe. We do not supply laminate or solid-grade-laminate lockers, plastic or GRP lockers for wet areas, parcel or "smart" app-controlled lockers, or lockers fitted with a hanging rail — the compartments have a coat hook, not a rail. If a hanging rail is essential, a steel storage cupboard is usually the better starting point than a locker.
What we do add around the bank is seating. A locker run without a bench pushes people to change standing in the aisle, which is why cloakroom benches are sized in the same modular widths — see choosing a changing room bench and how to choose cloakroom seating.
Sizing by environment
Different settings pull the size decision in different directions. School lockers are usually many small compartments — 6, 8 or 10 doors at 300 mm — because pupils store books and a bag for part of a day. Gym and leisure lockers are daily-use, high-turnover and often perforated. Industrial PPE storage tends to want the wide format at 380 or 450 mm because boots, overalls and a helmet do not fit a 300 mm box. Offices increasingly want small, many-door banks with device charging — see laptop charging lockers and the 16-door charging banks.
Whatever the size, the lock decides how the bank is administered day to day; our guide to locker lock types covers cam locks, padlock hasps and master-keyed systems. Browse the full range at lockers, or narrow by door count with 8-door and 2-door banks.