Commercial air conditioning in Croydon

What makes a shop harder to cool than an office?

The door. Every customer lets in a slice of the street, and in a busy café that can be hundreds of times a day. Add display lighting, chillers that reject heat into the room, hairdryers in a salon or a coffee machine on the counter, and the load has little to do with the weather. We size for the customer area with the door open, and we talk to whoever handles your kitchen extract, because air conditioning is not a substitute for it.

Does a commercial installation need planning permission?

Assume so. The Planning Portal's advice for non-domestic buildings is that air source heat pumps are likely to need an application. Where the shop is in a listed building, listed building consent is needed as well, and planning permission does not stand in for it. A law firm's 2026 review of the subject points out that an enforcement notice can require a unit's removal. Finding out first costs a phone call. Sources: Planning Portal; Mishcon de Reya.

What about the flats upstairs?

On a Croydon parade the nearest window to your outdoor unit is usually a bedroom on the first floor. The 2021 Census recorded 2,238 households in the borough living in commercial buildings, most of them above shops. That window matters twice: once for the sound calculation, and once for the relationship with your neighbours. We choose the position and the model with it in mind, and we ask about your hours, because a restaurant running to midnight is a different proposition from a shop that closes at half five. Source: Census 2021.

Which premises come up most often?

• Cafés and restaurants, where the kitchen pushes heat into the dining room.
• Hair and beauty salons, where dryers and lamps run all day.
• Convenience stores with open chillers.
• Pharmacies and clinics, where some stock needs a stable temperature.
• Gyms and studios, where the people are the heat source.

Each gets its own survey. The same 3.5kW unit that cools a small boutique will not keep up with a kitchen-adjacent dining room.

What are your legal duties once it is running?

Two recurring ones. Once the systems under your control pass 12kW in total, a TM44 energy inspection is due at least every five years, and you keep the report. Refrigerant leak checks are required from 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, which GOV.UK gives as 2.4kg of R410A, at least every 12 months, and every six months from 50 tonnes. A service agreement keeps both on the calendar. Sources: GOV.UK guidance; GOV.UK guidance.