Shop owners are often in between a rock and a hard place with rules and regulations. The insurer wants the frontage locked down as hard as possible. The council, on the other hand, wants high streets to resemble streets and not a row of blank steel boxes with shutters after 6pm.
You can usually satisfy both needs, but knowing where each is coming from can be very helpful when ordering.
The three main lath types
Full cover sheathing, as it is often called, blocks light and completely obstructs line of sight into a shop. Further, nothing can be passed through it or worked on from the outside. Full cover sheathing can also turn a shopfront into a dead frontage at night, which may work against your planning authorisation.
Laths are pieces of wood that have small holes punched through them. From afar, the shutter looks solid but up close, with the shop lights on, you can see inside.
Punched or lattice-style laths provide a greater open area. Retailers and councils like them, as the display is easier to see. However, they do create a larger gap through which objects can be pushed. Smaller open area laths provide greater resistance.
The planning side
Adding an external roller shutter to a shopfront can constitute a material change to the appearance of a building, requiring planning permission from many councils. This is even more strictly enforced in listed buildings and in conservation areas. Some local shopfront design guides have requested shutters to be perforated or latticed, or to sit behind the glass.
local planning authority should be notified before building work begins. The most expensive shutter you will buy is the one that comes down after an enforcement notice.
The insurance side
Insurers review a number of things including stock value, location and claims history when coming up with terms for a business policy. A mobile phone shop and a greengrocer on the same parade can get very different terms. Some policies include specific security standards, for example a particular LPS 1175 rating. Make sure you have that in writing before you place your order.
Where the two can meet
Two compromises seem to appease both sides.
- An internal shutter behind the glass. Security stays elevated and frontage looks normal.
- A perforated shutter with a good security rating. Visibility remains while dropping to a flimsy lath.
Back to the full guide: Commercial Security Shutters
Related: Roller Shutter Costs in the UK | Shopfront Security Grilles