Reading Borough Council
Shopfronts and shutters in Reading
Reading’s 2022 shopfront SPD puts laminated glass first and internal grilles second, and calls solid shutters — inside or out — generally inappropriate.
- Planning authority
- Reading Borough Council
- Planning system
- England
- Main document
- Adopted January 2022
- Status
- Adopted supplementary planning document
- Main retail streets
- Broad Street, The Oracle, Friar Street
- Our repairs
- Installation work only
Reading adopted its Design Guide for Shopfronts SPD in January 2022. Its security section is short and direct, and it makes a claim worth knowing: that 10–15 mm laminated glass can often give the same security as a shutter.
It also allows one practical exception that many councils do not spell out — an external shutter across a recessed doorway, to stop the recess being used out of hours.
Shutters and security
- Laminated glass
- Internal grilles
- Demountable or removable grilles
- External shutter to a recessed doorway, as see-through as possible
Security shutters should be avoided in favour of laminated glass; the SPD notes that 10–15 mm glass can often achieve the same level of security.
Design Guide for Shopfronts SPD, para 4.40If laminated glass is not possible, internal grilles. Solid internal or external shutters are generally inappropriate, and demountable grilles are preferred to external roller grilles.
Design Guide for Shopfronts SPD, para 4.40An external shutter that closes off a recessed doorway outside trading hours may be appropriate, as long as it keeps as much visibility as possible.
Design Guide for Shopfronts SPD, para 4.40On listed buildings and in conservation areas, exterior shutters should be avoided in favour of laminated glass, and original timber shutters kept.
Design Guide for Shopfronts SPD, para 4.71
Sources
- Design Guide for Shopfronts SPDAdopted January 2022 · Adopted supplementary planning document · read on 9 October 2026
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