Shopfront design and signage that suits your business and your street

For shop, café and salon owners, landlords and brands planning a new or updated frontage. Compare quotes from professionals who can design your shopfront and signs and handle the planning and advertisement consent.

Your shopfront is the first thing passers-by judge your business on, and it is also one of the most closely controlled parts of a commercial building. A good professional surveys the existing frontage and the street around it, then designs the fascia, glazing, entrance, stallriser and signs as one composition that suits the building and your brand. They check which consents you need, often planning permission for the frontage and advertisement consent for illuminated or larger signs, and prepare drawings a shopfitter can build from, covering step-free access, safety glazing and any security shutters.

How a professional can help

• Proportions that suit the building: They design the fascia, pilasters, cornice and stallriser to sit within the building’s original framework, so the shopfront looks part of the street rather than stuck onto it.
• Signs sized and lit to suit the street: They size and position fascia and projecting signs, choose lettering and lighting that suit the setting, and check whether the signs can rely on deemed consent or need an advertisement consent application.
• Planning and advertisement applications: They prepare the elevations, sections and details councils expect for a shopfront, including materials and finishes, and submit the planning and advertisement applications side by side where both are needed.
• Step-free and safe entrances: They look at the entrance level, door width and door furniture so more customers can get in easily, and specify safety glazing where people could walk into or fall against the glass.
• Security without a blank frontage: Where you need security, they compare options such as laminated glass, internal open-mesh grilles and external shutters, and explain which your council is likely to accept on your street.
• Drawings a shopfitter can build from: They produce construction details and a specification for the frame, glazing, door, fascia and lighting, so shopfitters quote on the same design and the finished shopfront matches what was approved.

Is this right for you?

• You’re taking on a shop unit and want a frontage that reflects your business before you open.
• Your existing shopfront is tired, damaged or has lost its original features, and you’d like to restore or replace it.
• You want illuminated or projecting signs and aren’t sure whether they need advertisement consent.
• Your premises are in a conservation area or a listed building, where the council will look closely at any change.
• You run several branches and need one shopfront design adapted to buildings of different ages and widths.

How the project usually runs

• Survey of the frontage: Your professional measures and photographs the existing shopfront, notes surviving historic features and checks the building’s planning history, conservation status and any lease restrictions on alterations.
• Design options: They sketch options for the arrangement of fascia, glazing, door and signs, with materials and colours, and refine the preferred one with you and, where needed, your landlord.
• Consents: Drawings go to the council for planning permission, advertisement consent or listed building consent as required, and to your landlord for a licence for alterations if the lease needs one.
• Technical details and quotes: Once consent is in place, they prepare construction details covering structure, glazing, access and security, so shopfitters and sign makers can quote and any conditions on the consent are dealt with.
• Installation: The shopfitter removes the old frontage, provides any structural support the opening needs, and installs the new shopfront and signs, with your professional checking the work if you want.

What affects the cost

• The width and height of the frontage, and whether it turns a corner or includes more than one entrance.
• Materials and craftsmanship, from standard framed glazing to hand-made timber or metal frames, traditional joinery and hand-painted lettering.
• Whether signs are illuminated, and how many separate planning, advertisement or listed building consents are needed.
• Structural work over the opening, such as replacing a beam, and any changes needed to make the entrance step-free.
• Heritage sensitivity, for example restoring original features on a listed building or in a conservation area.
• Whether one design is being adapted for several shops, and how involved you want your professional to be during installation.

Planning, signs and Building Regulations

• Changing how a shopfront looks usually needs planning permission, while like-for-like repairs often don’t; your council can confirm what applies to your premises.
• Signs are controlled separately under advertisement rules: some have deemed consent, but illuminated, projecting or larger signs often need express consent. The regulations differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• External roller shutters count as a change to the shopfront and usually need planning permission, and many councils have design guides that discourage solid shutters.
• Listed buildings usually need listed building consent too, and a new entrance, door or glazing will generally need to meet Building Regulations on access and safety glazing.

Questions people ask

Do I need planning permission to change my shopfront?

Usually, if the change alters how the building looks, such as new glazing, a different door position, a new fascia or external shutters. Repainting in a similar colour or like-for-like repairs often don’t need permission, but councils take a stricter view in conservation areas, and a listed building often needs listed building consent even for smaller changes. Check with your council or ask your professional before you order anything.

Does my new shop sign need advertisement consent?

It depends on the size, position and lighting of the sign and on where your premises are. Some signs on business premises have deemed consent, which means you can display them without applying, provided they meet set conditions. Illuminated signs, projecting signs, high-level signs and signs in some protected areas often need express consent. The rules vary across the UK nations, so ask your professional to check before the sign is made.

Can I fit roller shutters to my shop?

Many councils prefer security behind the shop window, such as laminated glass or an open-mesh grille inside the glazing, because solid external shutters create a dead frontage when the shop is closed. External shutters usually need planning permission, and some councils will only accept a perforated or open design. Your insurer’s requirements matter too, so share them with your designer early.

What if my building is listed or in a conservation area?

Expect the council to look closely at materials, proportions and signs. Original features such as pilasters, console brackets, stallrisers and decorative fascias are normally expected to be kept and repaired, and painted or individually lettered signs may be favoured over illuminated box signs. A professional with heritage experience can prepare the heritage statement and drawings and help shape a design the conservation officer is more likely to support.

Does a new shopfront need a step-free entrance?

Where the work is controlled by Building Regulations, building control will generally expect the new entrance to be no harder to use than the old one, and equality law expects businesses to make reasonable adjustments so disabled customers can use their premises. A fully level entrance isn’t always possible on a sloping street, but your professional can look at options such as regrading the threshold, a ramp within a recessed entrance or a wider door, and explain what building control is likely to expect.

Do I need my landlord’s permission as well as the council’s?

Most commercial leases restrict alterations and signs, so you’ll usually need your landlord’s written consent, often called a licence for alterations, as well as any council approvals. Some landlords and shopping centres also have their own design rules for shopfronts. Getting the landlord’s comments on the design before you apply to the council can save redesigning it later.

Available across the UK

Professionals cover the whole of the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Planning and Building Regulations differ between the four nations, and your professional will work to the rules that apply where your property is.

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