Commercial Fit-Out Slough

Commercial fit-out in Slough follows the shopping hierarchy the council has set. Slough town centre is the sub-regional centre, with Farnham Road and Langley Village as district centres, and it is units in these centres and their parades that change hands and get refitted. We take on the customer-facing end of that work: a shop, a cafe, a salon, a clinic or a small gym studio, stripped and rebuilt to the landlord's and building control's requirements, with the shopfront built to the design the planners accept.

For Slough, 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 (MyBuilder, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Slough: 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.

Fitting out a unit in Slough town centre, Farnham Road or Langley Village

Where the unit sits decides the rules around it. Saved Local Plan policy S1 names Slough town centre as the sub-regional centre and Farnham Road and Langley Village as district centres. The plan defines other shopping areas too, and the shopping policies, including the shutter rule below, apply inside them. Check the proposals map for any parade unit before the design is fixed, because the shopping area policies travel with the address rather than the tenant.

The use class sets what needs permission. Shops, cafes, restaurants, clinics and gyms all sit in Class E, so moving between them needs no planning permission for the use unless a planning condition restricts it. A hot food takeaway, a pub or a bar is sui generis, and that switch needs planning permission, which you or your agent apply for. In a Slough parade, a cafe that starts cooking also brings extraction and odour control into the design, and the flue route often decides whether the scheme works at all.

If the building is listed, the works themselves are a separate question: anything that affects its character, inside or out, needs listed building consent from Slough Borough Council, and carrying it out without consent is a criminal offence.

Shopfronts and shutters on a Slough frontage

A new shopfront in Slough has to fit the building it sits in. Saved policy S17 refuses shop fronts that do not respect the context and design of the facade they sit in. In practice the fascia depth, stallriser, pilasters and glazing bars are drawn to line up with the upper floors, not simply to fill the opening. An illuminated sign may also need advertisement consent, a separate application. Your designer or shopfitter draws it, you or they apply, and we build to the approved drawing.

Security needs a different answer in the centres. Policy S18 does not allow external security shutters in Slough town centre, Farnham Road or the other defined shopping areas. If you are refitting a shop there, plan for internal grilles, laminated glass or a lattice set behind the glazing instead. We build the shopfront frame and the ceiling void so an internal shutter box has somewhere to go from the start. A unit inside one of Slough's five conservation areas, such as Colnbrook, deserves extra care over materials.

Access, fire and drainage rules for a Slough shop or cafe

A customer-facing unit in Slough is judged on how people get in, get out and use it. Part M applies to the parts you alter and must not leave access worse than before; where a new customer WC or a reworked entrance is provided, it is built to Approved Document M. Part B covers escape routes, travel distances and fire separation from any flats above, which is usually the item that shapes the ceiling. We build to the approved plans and call each inspection before the finishes cover the work.

Food brings drainage into the design. A cafe or restaurant kitchen needs a grease trap, separator or other grease management on the waste run, so fats do not reach the shared drain, and that is easier to fit before the new floor goes down. The floor itself has to suit trading: slip resistant near the entrance and kitchen, hard wearing behind the counter. Slough also notes that building regulations restrict openings in a wall on a boundary for fire safety, which matters for a new rear door.

Working in a trading Slough parade with flats above

A parade fit-out runs alongside neighbours who are still trading. Slough recommends noisy work between 8am and 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, and on a larger scheme the contractor can apply for prior consent under Section 61 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974. We time breaking out, cutting and deliveries away from the neighbouring shops' busiest hours, and book loading for the quieter part of the morning.

The pavement and the flats above both need planning. A commercial scaffolding or hoarding licence over a Slough highway runs for three months, and the charge changes above 30 metres, so it goes early in the programme beside the shopfront order. Residents above a shop hear every drill, so we give them notice before noisy days and keep the stair and their entrance clear. The CDM Regulations apply to a shop as much as a site: the tenant commissioning the work is the client, with duties of its own.

• Back-of-house stores, wash-up areas and staff rooms
• Grease traps and kitchen drainage where food is served
• Internal lattice grilles and shutters designed into the shopfront

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 15 statistical areas in Slough. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Related reading for Slough businesses planning commercial fit-out: office fit-out in Slough, commercial fit-out in Windsor, what a main building contractor does, how snagging works at handover, commercial fit-out anywhere in London and Listed Building Renovation.

Working With GS Renovation in Slough

A shop or cafe fit-out is measured against the opening date on your lease or launch plan. We order the long lead items first, the shopfront frame, counters and any extraction, then run drainage, floor, ceilings and the registered electrician's first fix around their delivery dates. The trading neighbours and the flats above are told what is coming each week. We build to the drawings your designer and landlord have approved, so sign-off does not hold up the keys or your first day of trading.

• Programme worked back from the date you want to open to customers
• Free follow-up visit after completion if anything needs attention
• Fire stopping above the shop photographed before the ceiling closes

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