# Retail unit lighting and EPC upgrades > Why a retail unit has two separate lighting jobs on two different paybacks, and how trading hours change the economics of an EPC upgrade. Source: https://commercialepcupgrades.co.uk/buildings/retail-unit --- # Retail unit lighting and EPC upgrades A retail unit is the one building type where lighting is not purely a cost line. The display lighting is part of how the shop sells, so the occupier has a strong view about colour, contrast and the look of the fitting that an FM in a warehouse does not. That changes the conversation, and it changes which parts of the job are easy to agree. Usually the tenant for display lighting and the landlord for the shell, which pulls in opposite directions. ## Two jobs, two paybacks Front of house and back of house are genuinely different projects in the same unit. - Display and accent lighting at the shopfront: high output, long trading hours, and a specification driven by how the merchandise needs to look. Fast payback because the hours are long, but the occupier has to be happy with the light. - Ambient, stockroom and rear-of-unit lighting: nobody is merchandising here, the specification is straightforward, and this is where a retrofit is easiest to agree and quickest to deliver. Starting at the back is often the way to get a retail scheme moving, because it needs no aesthetic sign-off and still cuts a meaningful share of the load. ## Trading hours do the work Retail runs long, consistent hours, often seven days, and frequently with lighting left on outside trading for display reasons. That makes the saving per fitting larger here than in a building used nine to five, and it makes crude time scheduling unusually effective — the biggest single waste in many units is simply lighting running when the shop is shut and nobody is looking in the window. ## The landlord and tenant problem, retail version On a let unit the landlord holds the compliance obligation and the tenant owns the shopfit, which commonly includes the display lighting. The landlord cannot improve the part of the lighting that matters most without the tenant agreeing, and the tenant has no particular incentive to improve a certificate they do not hold. Lease events are where this gets resolved. A unit between tenancies is a landlord opportunity, and a shopfit is the moment to get the specification right rather than to inherit whatever the last occupier installed. ## The glazed frontage A large single-glazed shopfront is a meaningful part of a small unit, and it is usually the fabric element the model notices most. It is also often the element that cannot be changed, whether for planning, listing or shopfront design reasons. That is worth knowing early, because it can cap what the unit can reach regardless of how good the lighting becomes. ## Questions we get asked ### Will changing shop lighting change how the products look? ### Can a landlord improve the rating of a let retail unit? ### Is it worth upgrading just the stockroom? Sources - A non-domestic EPC is an asset rating: it is based on the fabric of the building and its services rather than on metered consumption. [A guide to energy performance certificates for the construction, sale and let of non-dwellings, DCLG, 2014](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-performance-certificates-for-the-construction-sale-and-let-of-non-dwellings) Last updated 8 October 2026 . - [Lighting replacement What the two jobs each involve](https://commercialepcupgrades.co.uk/measures/lighting) - [Lighting controls Scheduling outside trading hours](https://commercialepcupgrades.co.uk/measures/controls) - [MEES and letting What applies when you re-let a unit](https://commercialepcupgrades.co.uk/mees) Next step ## Get a quote for your retail unit One commercial contractor, quoting off a survey of the actual building rather than a rate per square foot over the phone. Or call [07367 293494](tel:+447367293494). Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.