Warehouse and distribution

Warehouse LED retrofit cost and EPC upgrades

Distribution buildings are the clearest case on this site. Lighting is a large share of what the building uses, the plant is often minimal, and the roof is high — so the lighting is both the biggest lever and the most expensive thing to reach. Installed high bay fixtures run at a few hundred pounds each, which is why the quote for a large shed is driven by the fixture count and the access equipment rather than by anything clever.

Schematic drawing, not to scale. Drawn to show where the decision sits rather than to represent a specific building.

Usually the owner or the occupier directly, because the lighting is in the demised space.

Mounting height is the number that matters

Everything about a warehouse lighting job follows from how high the fittings are. Height sets the output each fitting needs, which sets how many you need, which sets the cost. It also sets the access equipment, and in a live warehouse the access is frequently the harder half of the programme — you are working above racking, around traffic, and usually out of hours.

This is why a per-square-foot rate quoted over the phone means very little for a shed. Two buildings of identical floor area with a four-metre difference in haunch height are different jobs.

Light the aisles, not the racking

The common failure in a warehouse relamp is lighting the floor plate evenly as though it were an open space. It is not an open space. Racking creates canyons, and a uniform grid of fittings lights the tops of the racks while leaving the aisles people work in darker than they were before.

A specification worth paying for is set out against the racking layout, with the aisle as the thing being lit. That also tends to reduce the fitting count, because you stop lighting volume nobody occupies.

The interior of an empty distribution warehouse, with high racking either side of a lit aisle and high bay fittings far overhead. — Illustrative image generated with AI. Not a photograph of a building we have worked on.

What a large shed costs

For scale: a 200,000 sq ft warehouse relamp sits at roughly tens of thousands of pounds for fixtures and installation, and around meaningfully more once controls are included once lighting controls go in with it. The gap between those two figures is the decision worth thinking hardest about, because aisle occupancy sensing and rooflight dimming are unusually well suited to this building type — a warehouse has large stretches that are genuinely empty for long periods, and often has rooflights already.

Sub-£1,000 installations exist, but they are small workshops and single bays, not distribution sheds. Anyone pricing a shed off that figure is pricing a different building.

Why the rating often moves a long way here

Because a non-domestic EPC is an asset rating of the building and its services, not of your metered use, and in a distribution building the fixed services are mostly lighting. There is frequently very little heating to speak of, limited hot water, and a large floor area lit for long hours. Change the lighting and you have changed most of what the assessment is looking at.

That makes warehouses the building type where lighting most often gets you where you need to be without touching plant or fabric.

Questions we get asked

How much does a warehouse LED retrofit cost?

It is driven by fixture count and mounting height rather than floor area alone. Installed high bay fixtures run at a few hundred pounds each. For a sense of scale, a 200,000 sq ft building is in the region of tens of thousands of pounds for fixtures and installation, and more once controls are included. A survey is the only way to get a figure for your building.

Can we do it without stopping operations?

Almost always. Warehouse lighting work is normally done zone by zone, out of hours or around shift patterns. The constraint is access over racking rather than the electrical work.

Will lighting alone get a warehouse to a better band?

More often here than in any other building type, because lighting is such a large share of what a distribution building uses. It is still a question for an assessment of your specific building, not a promise.

Are controls worth it in a warehouse?

Unusually so. Large areas sit empty for long periods, aisles are naturally zoned by the racking, and many sheds already have rooflights to dim against. If you are paying for access equipment anyway, this is the moment.

Last updated 8 October 2026.

Next step

Get a quote for your warehouse and distribution

One commercial contractor, quoting off a survey of the actual building rather than a rate per square foot over the phone.

Get a quote Estimate the cost first

Or call 07367 293494. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.