Commercial Fit-Out Westminster

A commercial fit-out in Westminster can mean a shop unit off Oxford Street, a restaurant or salon in Soho, or a clinic in a Mayfair townhouse. The West End and Knightsbridge are International Centres, the top tier of the London Plan's town centre network, and conservation areas cover over 76% of the City. We fit out the unit, its counter, floors, lighting and frontage, building to the consents that the owner or tenant secures.

For Westminster, 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 Westminster: 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, shutters and signs on a Westminster unit

Changing a shopfront in Westminster normally needs planning permission, and signs may need their own consent. Westminster's shopfront design guide says the alteration and replacement of shopfronts generally requires planning permission, and advertisements may need separate advertisement consent. So the frontage and the fascia or projecting sign can be two separate applications, and the tenant or their designer should have both in hand before we order joinery or glass. For units in the Oxford Street Development Corporation area, planning decisions now sit with the OSDC rather than Westminster City Council. Bespoke shopfront joinery has a long lead time, so the order goes in as soon as consent arrives.

Security shutters are where new tenants get caught out. The same guide says security shutters normally need planning permission and roller shutters will not normally be given consent. The alternatives are laminated glass or an internal grille behind the glass line, which your designer should agree with Westminster's planners. Westminster also says a canopy to a shopfront with no advertisements requires planning permission. We build the frontage to the approved drawings and fit the security the consent allows.

Trading in the West End, Knightsbridge and Soho

Where the unit sits in Westminster changes the policies it is judged against. The London Plan ranks town centres as International, Metropolitan, Major and District, and the West End and Knightsbridge sit at the International level. A unit there trades in a busy frontage, so deliveries, hoardings and waste are timed around shoppers as much as the build. A unit on a smaller local parade has fewer shoppers to work around, but the same street licences and neighbours above.

The Soho Conservation Area was designated in 1969 and extended several times, most recently in 2005. The Mayfair Neighbourhood Plan and Soho Neighbourhood Plan mean applications there must respond to their policies as well as the City Plan. A restaurant extract route or a new shopfront in either area is judged against both layers, so early design work saves redrawing later in the programme. If the building is listed, listed building consent covers works inside as well as outside. We build to the approved scheme once the owner has it.

Use class, kitchen extraction and access in a Westminster shop

Check the use class before signing for a Westminster unit, because it decides what the fit-out may become. Class E covers shops, cafes, restaurants, clinics, gyms and offices, so moving between them needs no change of use permission unless a condition on the unit restricts it. Hot food takeaways, pubs and bars are sui generis, and changing to them needs planning permission. A restaurant also needs kitchen extraction and odour control, with a duct route the owner's designer agrees before the ceiling is drawn.

Building control for a shop or restaurant goes on full plans, because trading premises fall under the Fire Safety Order and Westminster rules out a building notice for work it affects. That application covers Part B escape routes and fire separation from flats above, an accessible entrance and WC under Part M, and drainage with a grease trap where food is served. Counters, display units and floors are then built to suit trading, cleaning and the loads they carry.

Hoardings, trading hours and flats above a Westminster unit

A shop fit-out in Westminster can share its building with homes, and the council's street rules apply from the first day. Hoardings, fencing or a cherry picker on the pavement need a temporary structure licence, and at least 1.5m of footway has to stay clear for pedestrians. On a busy frontage, deliveries and waste collections are booked into the loading times the street allows, before the shops open where possible.

Flats above a shop change the programme more than any other factor. Strip out and core drilling are kept to daytime hours, dust is sealed at the party floor, and the fire separation between the shop and the flats is inspected before the ceiling closes. Neighbouring shops are told before the noisiest days, and slab and extract core drilling is booked for when it disturbs trade least. The landlord's consent comes first. As the business commissioning the work you are a commercial client under CDM, and where more than one contractor works on site you appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing.

• Working around neighbouring shops' trading hours
• Grease traps and kitchen drainage where food is served
• Salon, barber and beauty treatment room fit-outs

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 24 statistical areas in Westminster. Counts rounded by the VOA.

When comparing commercial fit-out in Westminster with other work, it helps to read office fit-out in Westminster, our Westminster area guide, builders in London, what a snagging list covers, our London commercial fit-out page and Conservation Area Renovation.

Trusted Commercial Fit-Out in Westminster

Shops and restaurants usually fit out against an opening date, so we plan the frontage, the services and the trading floor as one programme. You get a written sequence showing when the shopfront joinery is ordered, when building control inspects, and when counters, floors and lighting go in. We work around neighbouring units and the flats above, keep the landlord's surveyor informed, and hand over with the electrical certificates and as built notes you need to open.

• Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
• Fire stopping above the shop photographed before the ceiling closes
• Step-free entrance and accessible WC planned from the first drawing

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