Commercial Fit-Out Old Street

Commercial fit-out in Old Street means shops, cafes, clinics, salons and studios facing the street rather than big retail. Old Street is one of the Local Shopping Areas listed in Islington's Local Plan, and Whitecross Street Market sits beside it, so the units in question are ground floors on a shopping street, some with homes above. Fitting one out brings in the shopfront, signs, the use class, kitchen extraction, accessible entrances and WCs, and a programme that keeps the neighbours trading.

For Old Street, 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 Old Street: 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 and shutters on the Old Street parade

A shop fit-out on Old Street starts at the front, and Islington's guidance is firm on shutters. The Urban Design Guide says security shutters should always be placed internally and be an open mesh or grille, and that permission will not be granted for external security shutters unless exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated. We allow for an internal grille in the new shopfront from the start, with its box hidden behind the fascia, so the front reads as glass and frame when the shop is closed.

Keeping an older shopfront is often the simpler route. Islington Policy R3 requires historic shopfronts and features to be retained in development within a designated Town Centre. Old Street appears in the Local Plan as a Local Shopping Area, a different designation, so your designer confirms which policies apply to the unit. A new shopfront that changes the appearance of the building needs planning permission, which the owner or their designer applies for. Repairing an existing timber frame, stallriser and fascia can avoid that application and keep the programme short.

Old Street units in the St Luke's conservation area

Part of the Old Street frontage lies in the St Luke's conservation area, which straddles Whitecross Street and Old Street and which the council describes as an important surviving part of historic Finsbury. A shop there is judged against its setting: timber frames, stallrisers, pilasters and consoles are repaired rather than replaced where they survive, and a new fascia sits within the existing frame rather than running across it. Your designer confirms whether the unit falls inside the boundary before the shopfront is drawn.

Islington has removed permitted development rights in 40 of its 42 conservation areas by article 4 direction, and in those areas planning permission may be needed for minor alterations such as changing external doors and windows or painting brickwork on the outside. Where an Old Street unit sits in one of those 40 areas, that can include painting the brickwork of the upper floors or replacing the entrance door, so we hold those items until the owner's consent is confirmed. Signs are separate: an illuminated sign generally needs advertisement consent, and we fit it to the consented drawing.

Use class, extraction and building regulations for an Old Street unit

The intended use decides the planning route before any fit-out drawing is final. Class E covers shops, cafes, restaurants, clinics, gyms and offices, so moving between those uses in an Old Street unit does not in itself need planning permission. A hot food takeaway, pub or bar is sui generis, and a change to one does. A cafe or restaurant that cooks on site also needs kitchen extraction and odour control, and a flue running up the back of a building with homes above is the element neighbours notice first.

Islington excludes non-domestic premises from the building notice route, so a shop or cafe fit-out in Old Street is checked on full plans or by a registered building control approver. The points checked are an accessible entrance and, where toilets are provided, an accessible WC under Part M, fire separation from any homes above and a clear escape route under Part B, and drainage with a grease trap where food is prepared. Islington's charges treat a commercial fit-out of shops that is not the initial fit-out as eligible for a discount on larger jobs, so ask building control once the scope is fixed.

Trading neighbours, deliveries and hours on Old Street

A shop fit-out in Old Street sits between neighbours who keep trading and residents who may live above, and the programme has to suit both. Islington restricts noisy construction work to 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, unless prior approval is given, and that is when strip out, floor breaking and core drilling happen. Quieter work such as second fix electrics, joinery, counters and decorating can continue outside that window where the landlord agrees, which helps a unit that has to open on a fixed date.

Access near Whitecross Street Market needs planning around the market as well as the traffic. Deliveries of counters, glazing, refrigeration and flooring are booked into slots, bay suspensions have to be applied for at least 14 days ahead in most Islington bays, and a highways licence covers any skip, hoarding or stored materials on the pavement. On City Road, a red route, permission comes from Transport for London instead. We keep the pavement outside clear for the shops either side and hoard the frontage while the new shopfront is built.

• Cafe, restaurant and bakery fit-outs around the kitchen
• Working around neighbouring shops' trading hours
• Step-free entrances and accessible customer WCs to Approved Document M

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Old Street & St Luke's. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Related reading for Old Street businesses planning commercial fit-out: office fit-out in Old Street, commercial fit-out across Islington, builders in Islington, how snagging works at handover, commercial fit-out anywhere in London and Choosing a Builder.

Trusted Commercial Fit-Out in Old Street

A commercial unit in Old Street has to open on a date, and the landlord, building control and the neighbours all stand between you and that date. We visit, read the lease and the landlord's requirements, check the shopfront and signage drawings, and give a written quotation with a programme that shows the day the unit can trade. One site team runs the strip out, services, counters, floors and finishes, a registered electrician certifies the installation, a registered gas engineer does any gas work, and you receive a handover pack for the landlord.

• Site left safe and secure at the end of every day
• Handover file with the certificates your insurer and landlord will ask for
• A single point of contact for your landlord, the residents above and your shop staff

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