Commercial air conditioning
London
Offices, shops, salons, restaurants, gyms and server rooms. Designed from a heat load calculation rather than a guess, installed out of hours so you do not close, and maintained on a contract with a fixed response time.
- Designed from a real heat load, not a rate per square metre
- Out of hours and weekend installation as standard
- F-Gas leak checking and record keeping handled for you
- Maintenance contracts with a fixed response time
Shop or salon: 5,000 to 9,000 pounds. Office floor: 12,000 to 30,000 pounds.
- Electro Heating LimitedCompany 12609754, registered in England and Wales
- NICEIC and Gas Safe registeredHeld by the parent company
- MCS certifiedFor heat pump and solar work
- 10+ years in LondonSame engineers, same company
Commercial air conditioning in London costs 5,000 to 9,000 pounds for a small shop and 12,000 to 30,000 pounds for an open-plan office floor.
The number comes from a heat load calculation that counts people, lighting, computers, cooking equipment and glazing, because two units of the same floor area can need completely different plant.
What each type of premises actually needs
| Premises | Usual system | The thing that catches people out |
|---|---|---|
| Small office, up to 8 desks | 2 to 3 ceiling cassettes | Computers and people add more heat than the sun does |
| Open-plan office floor | VRF with zoned cassettes | One thermostat for the whole floor causes complaints |
| Shop or showroom | Wall units or slim ducted | Door open all day doubles the load in winter |
| Hair or beauty salon | Ceiling cassettes | Dryers put out 2kW each and the extract has to keep up |
| Restaurant or cafe | Cassettes plus dedicated kitchen extract | Cooling the dining room does nothing for the kitchen |
| Gym or studio | High capacity ducted | Air changes matter as much as temperature |
| Server or comms room | Dedicated close control unit | It must run in January as well as July |
| Warehouse or workshop | High-level ducted or destratification | Cooling the whole volume is rarely the right answer |
The compliance side, which most quotes ignore
Commercial air conditioning carries duties that a domestic system does not. Three of them are commonly missed, and all three sit with the business occupying the building rather than with whoever installed the plant.
F-Gas leak checking
Systems containing 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more must be leak checked at least annually by a certified engineer, every six months above 50 tonnes, and every three months above 500 tonnes with permanent leak detection fitted. Records must be kept for five years. Most office VRF systems are comfortably over the first threshold.
TM44 inspections
Any building with air conditioning over 12kW effective rated output needs a TM44 inspection by an accredited assessor at least every five years, with the report lodged on the national register. Several smaller systems in one building count together towards the 12kW. We are not an accredited assessment body and do not issue these, but we will tell you if you need one.
Workplace temperature
There is no legal maximum workplace temperature in the UK, despite what most people believe. The duty is to keep the temperature reasonable and to provide clean, fresh air. What that means in practice for an office is usually a design condition of 21 to 24 degrees, and it is what an employer will be measured against if a complaint is made.
How commercial work is priced
We quote from a heat load calculation and a drawing, and the quote separates the plant, the installation, the electrical work, the builders work and the out-of-hours premium so you can see what you are paying for. That matters when you are comparing three quotes and one of them is 30 percent cheaper because it left the electrical work out.
- Survey and heat load calculation, free on jobs over 5,000 pounds.
- Design drawing showing unit positions, pipe routes and condensate runs.
- Fixed price broken into plant, install, electrics and builders work.
- Programme with the out-of-hours windows agreed before we start.
- Handover pack: commissioning records, F-Gas log started, O and M manual, electrical certificates, warranty registrations.
Maintenance contracts
| Contract | Visits | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 1 per year | Full service, F-Gas check and log where required |
| Standard | 2 per year | As basic, plus priority response and no call-out fee |
| Critical | 4 per year | As standard, plus agreed response time and consumables |
Priced per unit rather than per site, so a two-unit salon is not paying an office rate. We will survey an existing installation and tell you what condition it is in before you commit to a contract.
Commercial questions
How much does commercial air conditioning cost in London?
A small shop or salon on two or three wall units is typically 5,000 to 9,000 pounds. A single open-plan office floor on ceiling cassettes is 12,000 to 30,000 pounds depending on the number of zones. A full VRF system serving a building runs from about 45,000 pounds.
Commercial work is quoted from a drawing and a heat load calculation, not from a rate per square metre, because the occupancy and the equipment load change the answer more than the floor area does.
Is my business legally required to leak check its air conditioning?
If the system contains 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more, yes. Leak checks must be carried out at least every twelve months by a certified engineer, more often on larger systems, and records must be kept for five years. Most office VRF and larger multi-split systems are above the threshold.
The duty falls on the operator of the equipment. In a leased building that is normally the tenant, not the landlord, and it is one of the most commonly missed compliance duties we see.
Do you work outside business hours?
Yes. Most retail and office installations are done evenings, weekends or over a shutdown, because the alternative is closing the business for a week. It is quoted as part of the job rather than added afterwards.
Do I need a TM44 air conditioning inspection?
If your building has air conditioning with an effective rated output over 12kW, an accredited energy assessor must inspect it at least every five years and lodge a TM44 report. That includes several systems in one building that add up to more than 12kW.
We are not an accredited assessment body, so we do not issue TM44 reports. We will tell you if you are likely to need one, because the penalty for not holding a current report is a fine per building.
Can you take over maintenance of a system another firm installed?
Yes, and we do it regularly. We start with a condition survey of what is there, so the first thing you get is an honest list of what is wrong before you sign a contract, rather than after.
Send us the floor plan
A drawing and the opening hours are enough for us to tell you the likely system and a realistic budget before anyone visits.