How Much Does a Shop Fit-Out Cost? 2026 Prices per m² for UK and London Stores

Shop fit-out cost per m² and per sq ft in 2026

We price retail work in three bands. They follow Laxton's 2026 price book, which puts shop refurbishment at £750 to £1,400 per m² and new shops at £1,050 to £2,200.

These are national price-book rates. Laxton's puts London about 9 % above the national level, and we do not add that uplift. So a London store usually lands in the upper half of its band.

An independent benchmark agrees. The City of Edinburgh Council publishes a building cost guide based on BCIS rates from mid-2025 to early 2026. It puts an average shop fit-out at about £1,683 per m², between our full fit-out and flagship bands.

What a shop fit-out price includes

A fit-out rate covers the build from the unit as handed over to the day you trade. Ask every contractor to price the same list, or the quotes will not compare.

What the rate usually covers:

• Strip-out of the previous tenant's fit-out
• Partitions, stockroom and fitting rooms
• Ceilings, floors and decoration
• Lighting, power, data and fire alarm
• Heating, cooling and ventilation
• Counters, shelving and fixed display joinery

What sits outside it, as separate lines in your budget:

• VAT at 20 % on the works
• Loose fixtures and mannequins bought direct
• Tills, EPOS and security tagging
• Design fees, if the designer is appointed separately
• Planning, advertisement and building control fees
• The landlord's surveyor and legal fees

Display lighting is the line most often cut and most often missed. Our calculator adds about £80 per m² for display and accent lighting on top of the build rate. Light the stock well and it sells; light it badly and the fit-out looks cheap.

Need the scope and the programme as well as the price? Our retail fit-out and shopfitting in London page shows how we run a store from drawings to keys.

What pushes shop fit-out cost up or down

Two shops of the same size can differ by half in cost. Six things explain most of the gap.

1. The unit you inherit. A shell needs everything. A Cat A unit has ceilings, lighting and services. A previous retailer's fit-out may be reusable, or may need stripping first.
2. The shopfront. New glazing, doors and a fascia are priced per frontage. A listed building or conservation area adds design time and often costlier materials.
3. Bespoke joinery. Made-to-measure counters, shelving and fitting rooms cost more than system fixtures. They also take longer to make, so order them early.
4. Lighting and air. Track and display lighting, and cooling for a busy floor, add to the mechanical and electrical line.
5. Trading through the works. Keeping the shop open means night and weekend shifts, phasing and protection. That costs more than a closed site, and less than lost sales.
6. Access and centre rules. Upper floors, tight delivery windows on busy streets and a shopping centre's fit-out guide all add time, and time costs money.

The landlord can change the net cost too. Ask early about a landlord contribution towards the works. Agree a licence for alterations before you order anything.

The same drivers apply at a larger scale to a car or furniture showroom fit-out.

A real London flagship: Drake's, Savile Row

Drake's flagship at 9 Savile Row shows what the top of the market costs. We refitted the 120 sq m store in 12 weeks, and it traded every day of the works.

That is about £3,400 per m², by our calculation. It sits well above our flagship band of £1,500 to £2,200. We say so plainly, because the reasons are the lesson.

1. Bespoke timber fixturing. Curved rails, shelving and a shoe wall, each drawn for the stock it holds.
2. A reworked made-to-order area. Fitting rooms with a pull-out mirror and rails that move garments between rooms.
3. A new shopfront and lighting. A shopfront in keeping with the street, gallery-grade track lighting and floors for heavy footfall.
4. Live trading on Savile Row. Deliveries and noisy work were booked around opening hours and the neighbours.

A small flagship also spreads a shopfront and a design team over fewer square metres. Per m², that alone lifts the rate.

Medusa on Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge, tells the same story. Its 180 sq m of salon and spa over four floors was valued at £460K, design included: about £2,550 per m².

Drake's came back to us for their 500 sq m railway-arch HQ in Bethnal Green, designed and built in 8 weeks. Read the Drake's Savile Row refit in full.

Consents and landlord costs outside the build

The build rate excludes the approvals around it. Budget for them separately and start them early, because they set the programme.

1. Shopfront: planning permission. Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, works that materially affect a building's external appearance are development. A new shopfront usually needs planning permission.
2. Signs: advertisement consent. No sign may be displayed without express or deemed consent. In a conservation area, an illuminated fascia or projecting sign needs express consent, because the deemed class excludes it.
3. Listed buildings. Altering a listed building's character needs listed building consent. Works without it are a criminal offence.
4. Building regulations. Fire safety and access follow Approved Documents B and M for buildings other than dwellings. Building control fees sit outside the rate.
5. Access for disabled customers. The Equality Act 2010 expects reasonable steps where a physical feature puts disabled people at a substantial disadvantage. A fit-out is the cheapest time to fix steps and doors.
6. The landlord's approval. A licence for alterations, with the landlord's surveyor and solicitor reviewing your drawings. Leases often pass those costs to the tenant.

Letting the unit after the fit-out? Since 1 April 2023, a landlord must not continue to let a non-domestic property below EPC band E without a valid exemption. Fixing it during the works costs less than after. Our guide to minimum energy efficiency standards covers the rest.

Budgeting a shop fit-out in five steps

A budget you can defend to a board or a lender takes five lines. Build it in this order.

1. Measure the area. Sales floor, stockroom and back-of-house, in m².
2. Pick the band. Refresh, full fit-out or flagship, from the unit's condition and your brand's finish.
3. Add the shopfront and signs. A separate line, priced per frontage after a survey.
4. Add consents and landlord costs. Planning, advertisement and building control fees, and the landlord's surveyor.
5. Hold a contingency. Keep a contingency for what the survey cannot see. Then ask for a fixed figure after a site survey.

Before you sign the lease, check the six points below. Each one moves the figure.

Already have a quote? Send us your quote. We price the same scope, show you where the difference is, and give you a fixed figure after a survey.

We take on construction from £100,000, from a single boutique to a multi-site roll-out.