Remodelling and refurbishment of Coffee Shop

A run-down coffee shop on a busy Sheffield high street is going to be given a new lease of life with Remodelling and refurbishment. The local charity that runs it has a vision to transform the space into a warm, safe, and welcoming community hub.

The old coffee shop was structurally unsafe, in a huge state of disrepair and in need of a full refurb. It’s now going to be completely remodelled and renovated to meet current regulations. The aim is to create a space where people from all walks of life can feel welcome and supported. Whether you’re just popping in for a drink, a snack or you’re looking for some help and advice, this should be a great place to be, whatever the time of the year.

The opportunity has been seized to modernise, upgrade energy efficiency + improve the flow and layout. As the property is solid walled, we’re probably looking at breathable cork insulation + lime plaster dry lining upgrades. An air source heat pump is likely to be used to provide heating which reduces the long term environmental impact of the project.

Fitting in a new commercial staircase and a fully accessible toilet has been challenging, especially when most of the walls are not at right angles and are a bit wonky. These elements take up a lot of space, which reduces the amount of customer seating space. Ensuring the safety of the occupants in the event of a fire was also difficult to achieve. We’ve worked closely with the Clients and the various regulatory authorities to ensure the new layouts achieve what the Clients want while also complying with the necessary legislation. This meant that we had to introduce an extra spiral fire escape stair to provide a further escape route from the upstairs seating area.

Some of the Client team found it hard to understand the flat 2D drawings for the Remodelling and Refurbishment, so we exported a full 3D VR model from our software into a format that the Clients could use. The Clients then explored the VR model at their own leisure on their personal devices. Some of the Client team mentioned that they found this really helpful to understand how things fitted together, how the space would be used and also how it looks.

There’s going to be a new high quality coffee machine, lots of snacks and other drinks, plenty of cozy seating and even a small events space upstairs for live music and the like. We’re really excited to see the project progressing and can’t wait to see it finished and being used.

Watch this space for further updates !