As a trusted North East construction company, we are often approached to work on both commercial and residential projects. This blog post is all about the commercial side of our business, introducing eight of the most common commercial construction project types that you are likely to come across..
But first, what is commercial construction?
Commercial construction defined
Commercial construction refers to those projects which are created and designed with industry and business in mind, whether they be private business offices or public spaces made to represent your company. One of the primary differences in commercial construction lies in the people we work with on a daily basis, dealing with corporate representatives rather than private homeowners and thus changing the focus and priority of the work in many cases.
Each of the following eight types of commercial project introduce us to different core priorities and design preferences, compelling us as contractors to find new and unique ways of representing each business in a commercial space.
Restaurants, pubs, bars and cafes
All of these hospitality venues must be constructed and designed to optimise the customer experience during the hour or more that they spend sat in the venue. It must become a space which represents the brand as a whole and the values of both the business and their team, which offers a cohesive experience to all customers, and which ticks all the regulatory boxes of business premises in the hospitality market.
For chain eateries, bars and pubs, these projects will follow similar patterns and layouts to ensure consistency for the brand across all their venues, while for independent projects we have the freedom to explore and express the brand in a different way.
Offices
Every office space is different, however what unites them is a focus on brand and functionality, and on the facilities that offices need in order to operate effectively. This means access for all offices to toilets and fire escapes, electricity, and plenty of natural light to name but a few core needs.
Beyond that, layout and a natural journey through the office should be considered in the construction, as well as access and the little details which make an office a nice space to be in.
Retail units
As is the case with hospitality venues, chain retail units will be met with branding consistency requirements and updated design rollouts – enabling every chain of a brand to be the same in terms of its aesthetic presentation and the customer experience. Beyond that, space and location plays a big part in the constructive design of retail units, considering how best to use the space so that it is interesting for visitors and so that it compliments the way that they want to use and navigate the space.
Hotels
Building for a hotel project means focussing on room size and giving each room the amenities and facilities that it needs in order to help the business make the hotel a success. That means toilets, full bathroom facilities, and a fluid course of movement through the hotel to ensure that every room has good access to the outside and the main communal spaces of the hotel.
Medical facilities
Medical facilities are perhaps the most complex in terms of construction because they rely heavily on having the right facilities in the right places and ensuring access for plumbing and electricity throughout the entire building. This requires extensive planning and a detailed focus on what needs to go where.
Other aspects to consider in a medical facilities construction project include navigation and ease of movement for patients, and accessibility for all types of user.
Sports facilities
Sports facilities serve a unique purpose and so require a unique construction design – creating large spaces with plenty of seating to allow for the smallest and the largest games or events that the facility might hold. Safety is also a crucial aspect of sports facility construction, as is ensuring that plumbing reaches the right places.
Educational facilities
Educational facility projects are some of the most interesting to work on because the brief is always hugely varied – depending on the size of the school, its core focus in terms of classroom allowance and specialisations, and the way it chooses to use the surrounding land as well as the building itself. Location can play heavily into the way the educational building is designed and built, with safety and access high up on the list of priorities.
Factories/warehouses
It may seem like factories and warehouses require little planning – after all, they are simply big open structures – however, the need for high ceilings and large rooms with good ventilation and oversized access doors makes these projects complex and highly detailed in their design. Planning for heavy equipment is another focus point, requiring the contractor to put heavy focus on foundations and the stability of the construction.