The Lings courts are residential, so shopfront painting for this part of NN3 means the units at Weston Favell Shopping Centre and its retail park, right beside the neighbourhood and about 3.3 miles north-east of Northampton town centre. Dean plans each job around trading hours and any centre management requirements.
Where the shops are for Lings
No source we found names a shopping parade inside the Lings courts. Hangerfield Court, Poppyfield Court and the other closes off Lings Way are homes. The local retail is next door at Weston Favell Shopping Centre, which opened in 1974 and has 68 units over two levels, around 330,000 square feet, anchored by a Tesco Extra, with a small retail park at the rear. If you trade from one of those units and want the frontage repainted, this is the page for you.
A unit that faces shoppers every day usually needs repainting long before the houses in the nearby courts do, because the lower parts of a frontage take knocks, cleaning chemicals and sun through the glass.
Painting inside a managed centre
A unit in a shopping centre is a different job from a high-street shop. The centre has its own landlord and management, and work on frontages usually has to be approved before it starts. Before we quote a Weston Favell unit we will ask you to check what the centre requires, which can include:
- approval of the colour scheme or finish against the centre’s design rules
- a method statement and risk assessment for the work
- evidence of insurance (we are fully insured and can supply details)
- set hours when contractors may work
- rules on where materials can be stored and how waste leaves the site
We plan the messiest stages, such as sanding and priming, for the hours the centre allows, so dust and wet paint stay out of trading time as far as the centre’s rules allow. Busy walkways get barriers and wet paint signs, and nothing is left standing in a route people use.
Retail park frontages
The units in the retail park at the back of the centre face the car park rather than an indoor mall. Their frontages are more exposed to weather, so exterior primers and topcoats apply, and the forecast decides the dates. These frontages often combine large glazing with painted metal frames, fascia boards and bulkhead panels, and each material gets its own primer. Access is usually from the car park, so we work out with you and the site where the van can sit and how to keep shoppers well away from ladders.
Hard wearing finishes for high footfall
A centre that draws shoppers from Lings, Weston Favell and the surrounding estates puts a lot of hands, bags and trolleys against the lower part of a frontage. We use durable, washable finishes on stallrisers, door frames and anything at hand height, so you can wipe marks off without dulling the colour.
Colour matters inside a centre too. A unit sits beside dozens of others, so a frontage that is clean and consistent with your brand reads well from across the walkway. If your brand guidelines specify colours, bring them to the quote and we will match them in a suitable trade finish, checking the result against the samples in daylight and under the centre lighting before the full coats go on.
The same planning applies to the larger public buildings on the site, such as Lings Forum leisure centre, which is annexed to the shopping centre. For those, see our commercial painting service. The main shopfront painting page covers preparation and finishes in general, and the Lings area page lists the residential work we cover nearby.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
