Property types
Creating a floor plan for a retail unit
For a shop it is not total area that decides lettability but the ratio of sales area to ancillary space and the length of the shopfront. A unit of 120 square metres with twelve metres of frontage is a different product from one with 120 square metres and four.
Retail chains work from fixed search profiles and check the plan for exactly those figures. If you do not supply them, the unit drops out of the screen regardless of how good the location is.
The figures that get read first
State the shopfront in metres, the depth from front to rear wall and the clear ceiling height. Separate sales area cleanly from stock room, staff room, WC and plant — that split is the basis of every tenant calculation.
Columns in the sales area deserve their own attention. Draw every column in its true position: it affects shelving layout, and therefore effective sales area, far more than the headline square metres suggest.
- Give the shopfront width in metres
- Show sales area and ancillary areas separately
- Draw columns, recesses and clear height
- Mark the delivery route and the second exit
Deliveries, access and building rules
Show how goods get in: through the front, from a yard, via a side entrance. For many tenants, a delivery route away from the customer frontage is a hard requirement, and its absence ends the conversation.
The same is true of the second escape route and step-free access. These points do not belong in small print but on the plan, because they determine consentability and fit-out cost.
From an old record drawing to marketing material
Often the only thing that exists is an old paper record drawing. You can upload a photograph of it to the editor and get an editable plan back instead of redrawing from scratch. Then correct the dimensions on site and relabel the areas.
For marketing, produce a PDF with a scale bar and labelled areas; for tendering the fit-out, add a DXF. Both come from the same plan, so the figures are only maintained once.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as sales area in a shop?
Usually the area accessible to customers, excluding stock, staff and plant rooms. There is no universal standard, so make the boundary visible on the plan and name it in the text.
Why does the shopfront matter so much?
Because it drives visibility and product display. Two units of equal area with four and with twelve metres of frontage are valued and priced completely differently by tenants.
Do I have to draw columns?
Absolutely. A column in the middle of the sales floor changes the shelving layout and can make an otherwise suitable unit unusable. A plan without columns produces rejections after the first viewing.