Commercial Fit-Out Hammersmith and Fulham

Commercial fit-out in Hammersmith and Fulham means shops, cafes, restaurants, salons and clinics on the borough's high streets and parades, from the streets around Fulham Broadway to the period frontages of Uxbridge Road in Shepherds Bush. Westfield London is the borough's best-known shopping landmark, but the work we take on is the independent unit behind its own shopfront on a street or parade. We strip out, build the counter and service areas, fit floors and lighting, and repair or rebuild the frontage within the council's rules.

For Hammersmith and Fulham, published UK guides put refurbishing a retail space at £1,500 to £3,000 per m² and a restaurant or cafe at £2,000 to £4,500 per m², and London units usually cost more (MyBuilder, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Hammersmith and Fulham: our own trades do the strip-out, back of house, counter fitting and finishes, and we coordinate the shopfront, extraction, electrical and fire specialists the unit needs.

Shopfronts on Hammersmith and Fulham's period high streets

The shopfront is the first design decision on a Hammersmith and Fulham unit. Replacing a shopfront normally needs planning permission, because it changes the look of the building. Where the premises is changing use, Local Plan Policy DC5 (Shopfronts) goes further: it expects an original or traditional shopfront to be retained and restored when a commercial premises is converted to another use. If your unit still has its timber stallriser, pilasters, console brackets or fascia, plan the fit-out around repairing them rather than replacing the whole frontage with a new aluminium screen.

That changes the order of work inside. Signage, lighting and the entrance are designed to sit within the old frame, and a new sign, particularly an illuminated one, may need advertisement consent, which the owner or designer applies for. The internal layout, the counter and any display are set out once the frontage survey is done. Where old timber is rotten, we splice in new sections to match the profile and prime every repair before paint. A retained shopfront also needs protecting through the strip out, so hoarding goes up inside the glass line rather than across the pavement where possible.

Conservation area frontages in Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith

Some of the borough's shopping streets sit inside conservation areas, and one run has its own design rules. Hammersmith and Fulham Council has adopted illustrated Design Guidelines for numbers 54 to 108 (even) Uxbridge Road in the Shepherds Bush Conservation Area. If your unit is on that run, read the guidelines before the shopfront, sign or canopy is drawn, because they describe what the council wants to see on that frontage.

Around King Street, the former King Street (East) Conservation Area was renamed Hammersmith Town Hall Conservation Area on 13 November 2018, the same day as boundary changes to 11 of the borough's conservation areas. A unit inside it sits on designated land, which brings design scrutiny to external alterations. If the building is one of the almost 500 on the statutory list, alterations inside or out that affect its character need Listed Building Consent, and doing them without it is a criminal offence. We build to the drawings once the owner or their designer has the consent, and hold the approved details on site.

Use classes, takeaways and extraction for Hammersmith and Fulham units

Check the use class before signing a lease on a Hammersmith and Fulham unit. Class E covers shops, cafes, restaurants, clinics, gyms and offices, so moving between those uses does not in itself need planning permission, unless a condition on the unit's permission restricts it. Hot food takeaways, pubs and bars are sui generis, and changing a unit to one of them does. The council has also consulted on removing the Class E to residential right at 44 retail and employment locations, which it said would come into force on 5 December 2025 subject to confirmation. That is the kind of targeted direction London Plan Policy SD8 describes for sustaining town centres.

Cooking changes the build more than anything else. A cafe or restaurant that cooks on site needs kitchen extraction with odour control, and the duct usually has to rise past the flats above to discharge at roof level, which can need its own planning consent. Where food is served, the drainage needs a grease trap or separator so fat does not block the shared sewer. We build the kitchen, the duct route and the drainage to the specification from your designer and the extraction supplier.

Fitting a Hammersmith and Fulham unit below flats and beside traders

Where a shop, salon or clinic fit-out in Hammersmith and Fulham includes building work, it goes on a Full Plans application, because the council's guide says the London Fire Authority must be consulted on premises such as shops. Allow for that consultation before the counter is ordered. Part B covers escape and the separation between the unit and any flats above, which can mean a new ceiling and sealed service holes. Part M covers the entrance and an accessible WC where the works affect them.

In a parade, the neighbours are trading while we build. Deliveries are timed around their opening hours and loading restrictions, materials are brought through the front only when the pavement is quiet, and dust screens go up behind the glass on day one. The landlord's consent to the works comes first, and a business commissioning building work has client duties under the CDM Regulations. We supply the drawings, method statement and programme the landlord's surveyor asks for, and keep the unit tidy for viewings and inspections.

• Step-free entrances and accessible customer WCs to Approved Document M
• Gym and fitness studio fit-outs with hard-wearing floors
• Display, shelf and window lighting, certified by a registered electrician

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 25 statistical areas in Hammersmith and Fulham. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Plenty of Hammersmith and Fulham projects start with one job and grow, so it helps to see office fit-out in Hammersmith and Fulham, our Hammersmith and Fulham area guide, builders in London, how snagging works at handover, how we handle commercial fit-out across London and Building Regulations Explained.

Working With GS Renovation in Hammersmith and Fulham

A shop or cafe fit-out runs against an opening date and a rent-free period, so the programme matters as much as the finish. We visit, read the drawings, the landlord's conditions and the fire strategy, and give a written quotation with dates. One team handles strip out, shopfront joinery repairs, counters, floors, ceilings and decoration, with registered specialists for electrics and gas. We keep deliveries and noise within what the parade and the flats above will accept, and hand over the certificates the landlord needs.

• Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
• Step-free entrance and accessible WC planned from the first drawing
• Till, fridge and coffee machine circuits certified by a registered electrician

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254).