Retail shopfront system in Didsbury
A boutique retail unit given a cleaner, brighter entrance with a durable aluminium shopfront and crisp commercial glazing.
The transformation
Drag to compare the original elevation with the completed glazing.
BeforeAfter
At a glance
| Location | Didsbury, M20 |
|---|---|
| Property | Retail unit |
| Timescale | 1 week on site |
| Client | Retail business |
Products used
Inside the project
A retail frontage that had to keep trading
The brief
A retail unit in Didsbury needing a new shopfront system. The commercial constraint is different from a domestic job: the frontage is the shop, so every day it is boarded or scaffolded is a day of lost trade. The work had to be sequenced so the unit stayed open and secure throughout.
The specification
An aluminium shopfront system, which is standard for retail because it carries large panes on slim sections and stands up to daily use in a way domestic framing does not. Glazing is toughened, which building regulations require at this size and position in any case, and the door was specified with commercial-grade hardware rated for the door cycles a shop actually sees rather than domestic use.
Doors and closers
Shop entrance doors fail at the hardware long before the frame. The closer, the floor spring and the hinges take hundreds of cycles a day, so those were specified for commercial duty from the start. It is the cheapest decision on the whole job and the one that determines whether you are calling someone out in eighteen months.
Security
Retail frontages get hit, and a shopfront that has been hit once is likely to be hit again. Where that risk is real, laminated glass is the better specification than toughened: it holds together in the frame when struck rather than dropping out, which turns a break-in into a failed attempt. Manifestation was applied to meet the safety marking duty on full-height glazing.
On site
One week on site, worked around the trading day. Panes were cut at Trafford Park to the surveyed openings and delivered to sequence, so the frontage was never open longer than the fitting itself required.
Shopfronts and commercial glazing in Didsbury
Didsbury village and the parades along Wilmslow Road are dense retail, and shopfront work there has to be planned around trading rather than around us. A frontage that is boarded on a Saturday costs the tenant more than the glazing does.
We manufacture and cut at Trafford Park, about twenty minutes away, which is what makes same-day make-safe and short fitting windows realistic. It also means a smashed pane out of hours is boarded the same night and reglazed to the original specification rather than to whatever a supplier has in stock.
Related
Planning a shopfront? Settle these three first.
The glass is rarely what delays a shopfront. These are.
- Who actually consents to it
- Even on a full repairing lease, the frontage is commonly reserved to the landlord. Get written consent before anything is ordered, because a fabricated shopfront is not a returnable item.
- Planning and listed status
- A new frontage on a listed building or in a conservation area needs consent, and signage is a separate application again. Both take longer than the manufacturing does.
- The shutters
- If there are existing shutters, the new frontage has to work with the box, the guides and the fixings, or they get replaced at the same time. Finding that out on installation day is expensive.
- Trading through it
- The work can be staged so you lose no trading days: frontage boarded overnight, glazed out of hours, shutters up before you open. It has to be planned that way from the start.
Planning something similar?
Let’s talk through your project and what’s possible for your home.